Gertrude Fox Presented at Sunday worship services on September 22, 2002

Mrs. Martin, wife of the Rev. John Martin, pastor at the Methodist Episcopal Church, phoned Mrs. Halladay, the typing teacher at Baldwin High School. Mrs. Martin contributed articles to the Michigan Christian Advocate and needed someone to type her copy. Mrs. Halladay gave me the assignment and periodically, after school, I ran over to the parsonage where Mrs. Martin had a typewriter set up in the dining room and we prepared her articles for the printer. She was a very energetic lady and I suspect she never took no for an answer. One afternoon we worked later than usual and Mrs. Martin invited me to stay on and accompany her to the midweek evening service. I didn't really care to and thought I had the perfect excuse: "Oh, thank you, Mrs. Martin, but I don't have a hat!" No problem for Mrs. Martin, who walked me out to the hat rack by the front door where she took down one of her perky little numbers, plopped it on my head, and away we went to the prayer meeting! Mrs. Martin must have made another telephone call, because very soon the Rev. Martin was at our home talking with my mother about our joining the church. We bought new hats and joined!

By the time my typing skills landed me a job with offices in the old Hanna Building, Arnold Runkel was at our pulpit, and in the former parsonage next to the church, Bob Surridge and Al Gurley led the youth program on Sundays. That was where I first met Al. He addressed a general assembly in the parlor, then we broke into groups and I met with a little circle of girls in the kitchen. I'm sure I learned more than they.

Al and Helen Gurley were among the young married couples who made up the Keystone group. They were establishing careers and starting new families. And they tackled the Building Fund challenge with great enthusiasm. While they were raising funds with bake sales, minstrel shows and various other projects, my attention was focused on a theater group in Detroit and, especially, a handsome actor newly returned from the service. Happily, Keystone did include me in their production of "The Apple of His Eye" presented in the Baldwin High auditorium.

When the move was made to the new church, I had caught the actor and we were married. His brother being a minister, we were married in his church. But when we started a family, we knew we should worship together and chose "my" church. In 1954, Forrest walked our son Kim to the Toddler Room (now the Library) and, two years later, our daughter Kyle. Daughter Kerry was expected when Forrest suggested one Sunday morning that we sit a little closer to the front. His surprise was rising as Dr. Runkel called new members forward. Forrest had made a Christian commitment in response to Dr. Runkel's preachings, and this was now "our" church.

And the blessings followed: church school, choirs and scouting. Forrest received inspiration from weekly prayer breakfasts with Arbon Dennis, joined Methodist Men, and shared his faith with others as a Lay Speaker. He also joined a choir, but the singing was best left to him and the children. My being a little better at the typewriter opened a great opportunity to serve as secretary in the Christian Education Office to Carl Price and Alta Ice, then Web Simpkins, followed by LaVere Webster and Nellie Barr. Our former space is now the choir robing room. Pushing the limits of our boundaries again, church school classes spilled over into the Holznagel house, and it was so crowded that Forrest's fourth grade class was held in the church basement.

A few years later, Forrest moved up to an eighth grade class with whom he advanced until they were seniors. With the help of Bob Miller as backup, he continued to teach them through his final illness. We laid him to rest in our Memorial Garden.

Several years ago, Al Gurley and I teamed up once more with Keystone. The group had given up evening meetings for noon-time potlucks. Though very few in number, with the help of Paul and Dotty Metzler, they were enjoying a great fellowship and still serving their church, as they have so faithfully for these fifty years and more. They were packing clothes for Sneedville, helping at the Baldwin mission in Pontiac, and contributing generously to East Side Ministries. Al was eloquent in his praise of Keystoners and designed a plaque bearing the Keystone logo with a short commemorative paragraph, hoping to find an artist to refine it for permanent display.

They weren't able to complete the plaque before he left us, so for Al Gurley, please let me salute Keystoners, wherever you are, and say: "Well done, dear friends, and God bless you."

Praise God!