Eleanore & George Hilton

Eleanore - St Cecilia's Guild, Chalice Minister,  Altar Guild, Daughters of the King, Bible Study, Small group member, Anglican book club

George - Small group member

 

After living over 50 years in one area, we were transferred. Culture shock? Not really. At Good Shepherd we found the comfortable liturgy we knew so well. The priests were understanding. The church was beautiful. The music great. We were offered many opportunities to become part of the parish life. The people made us feel welcome. We have made some great friends here. Good Shepherd is more than a once a week place. It is a vibrant community that can help you feel at home.  

 

We thank God for our church and its family. 
Eleanore and George Hilton

Frank & Ginger Pruitt

Good Shepherd – Our Spiritual Home -  Why do I love Good Shepherd?  I can count the many ways that this place has had an impact on Ginger, me, and our family. 

When I met, courted, was engaged to, and later married Ginger King of Leesville during the Korean War (1951), one of the commitments I made was to attend the Episcopal church, Ginger’s faith.  Ginger and I were married at Good Shepherd fifty-five years ago, upon my return from Korean War service, on February 16, 1953. 

We moved to my home in Miami, Florida, where we attended church at Trinity Cathedral in downtown Miami.  I was confirmed at Trinity, having been brought up a Methodist.  After living seven years in Miami, where I grew up, Ginger and I were presented an opportunity to move to Lake Charles and start a new family business.  This was a difficult decision for us, as we had three young children and were “established” in Miami. 

As I sat in the back row of the Good Shepherd sanctuary, deep in prayer and reflection, I felt that God guided us to the decision to “pull up stakes” in Florida and move to Lake Charles.  Some forty-seven years later, we have never regretted that decision.  Our three children attended church, Sunday School, and the Episcopal Day School.  Our two sons now live in Lake Charles, and our daughter in the San Francisco Bay area, and between them they have raised eleven fine grandchildren in a Christian environment. 

Good Shepherd has been an integral part of our life.  A rock on which we have built our faith, and a haven for lagging spirits when we are down.  We have celebrated the life and death of Ginger’s mother Ruth King, her cousins Eunice and Tom Hall, and her sister Ruth White at Good Shepherd.  Through the ministries of eight rectors and uncounted priests, we have found solace and comfort in those losses.  Our final resting place will be side-by-side in the east wall of the columbarium. 

The warm atmosphere, the windows, the music, the discreet but beckoning sense of place has made Good Shepherd our unquestioned spiritual home.  Our church life has been guided by a saying of “Bee” King, Ginger’s mother, that “We need Good Shepherd a lot more than Good Shepherd needs us,” and have attempted to return our many blessings by sharing our time, talent and treasure with our church. 

Among the things we love about Good Shepherd are the hammered beam ship’s hull sanctuary set with the inspirational stained glass windows.  Our Anglican worship service from the Book of Common Prayer led by vested lay, clergy, and choir praising God with our traditional music and song.  Our Day School, which compliments our church in a synergistic effect to bring new young families into our Anglican way.  The care and respect with which our parishioners treat this place and their participation as lay ministers, lectors, ushers, altar guilders, teacher, summer youth leaders, and on and on in the many ways that our parishioners give back what they have received. 

We are all being tested in our faith every day, and how we respond to the challenges that confront us in the Episcopal Church USA will be a testimony to our character.  What we do here in Lake Charles will be “little known nor long remembered” in the larger scheme of how the Diocese of Western Louisiana and the Episcopal Church USA resolve our national theological problems.  But how we treat each other, our rector, his family, and our fellow churchmen will be well known and long remembered. 

So as we work through these issues at Good Shepherd, we should respect each other’s right to discuss the issues openly and without reproach, not questioning the motives of one another, and secure in the knowledge that God loves us all and we all have a place at Good Shepherd’s communion table. 

Frank Pruitt

February 21, 2008

 

Heather Ryan Kelley

I am grateful to call the Church of the Good Shepherd my spiritual home. Led by a wonderful clergy and staff, the church is a place where I can learn and grow.  It is a welcoming place that allows me to actively participate in its mission. I would be adrift without Good Shepherd.

 Heather Ryan Kelley