My husband and I were both brought up in Protestant households. We were church goers and believers as kids. We drifted away from church until we had children and we decided they should be baptized—if only because our families expected that. Our daughter was baptized at St. Thomas in 1970.

We didn’t come back to church much, or perhaps not at all, until four years later when our son came along. He was two and a half when he arrived from Vietnam. We wanted to have him baptized and I thought it would be probably courteous to go to church once or twice before asking the priest to baptize our child. It was a new priest then, and I found myself making two discoveries.

Some good friends, including in particular, Suzy Larkin, were members of this tiny parish. And the young priest, Cullie Mowers, gave very thoughtful and thought-provoking sermons. That’s why I came, and that’s why I stayed. I have stayed as a regular attendee, and in some respects, a faithful member all these years because the community of this little parish is one I value very highly.