Celebration of Life Service - Rev. Laurence Barber

Opening Words, Message & Closing Benediction

From:  Rev. Laurence Barber,

March 13, 2012,

Introductory words at the beginning of the service

I want to say to the Evans Family…as the rest of us here…we feel like family too!  We have always felt like family, as you have invited us so many times into your home and into your lives.  We are so grateful for that.  When I came to Uxbridge in 1974, I was as green as grass.  One who helped me very much was Laurence Evans and Olive too.  How many times did we sit up under that tree, and talk about…… the world, the church…what was right with the church, what was wrong with the church…this church too sometimes….what was motivating us in life and what our lives wanted to count for.  

We talked about our Lord.  Not only up under the tree, but sometimes after church, when I was exhausted…goodness knows what I said…but we would come and be ministered to in your home by your warm stove and your warm heart and embrace.  And we are so grateful for that and so we feel…many of us, all of us, I trust, as we have come together today we just want to offer you our comfort, our arms of support, our thoughts and our prayers.  You have given…we hope today, that you will receive from us, as channels of blessing.  Above all may we receive from the Scripture, from our faith, words of comfort and solace that Christ alone can bring, as we share together in these moments of tribute, celebration and worship and memory.  The Lord bless us all.

MESSAGE

I can just hear or feel Laurence, chuckling!  Its time to eat really and he is probably thinking, I bet Laurie wondered what he was going to say and I bet now wondering what he is not going to say.  Jane and I want to offer our condolences too, to the Evans family and to say what a privilege it is to be here in this time of sorrow and celebration, this time of history and future and presence with you and with the Lord at this special hour.

…And bright hope for tomorrow, strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow….how can you say that at a time like this?  Well, we have heard many, many reasons already…for the faith that is in us, many of us, planted there like the sharing of the lights because of Laurence’s faith, his conviction, his stamina, his perseverance, this man of truth, this valiant man, this pilgrim.  How is it that Christians can talk about hope?  How is it that, that’s a healthy thing to do?  I mean…someone has died!  And we miss him, and there is a huge void where he was, and there will continue to be.  How can you say that you have bright hope for tomorrow? 

Three things…Laurence, I am going to say three things.  It is a Baptist thing to do….after all…Historically speaking!  Three things… that is that we have a sense as did Laurence, of our place in life, first of all, and we have a second…an appreciation of the persons in our life.  And then we have a deep sense of our mission, if you will or a third ‘P’ of our purpose in life.  If you want to be healthy, if you want to be full of hope, you have to have those things.  You have to know who you are and where you are in life.  And you have to have a deep sense of community and family and an appreciation for those that God has placed around you….even the people that drive you crazy!  The people that say no to you, rather then yes to you…are part of God’s direction in your life.  Have you noticed the Muppets…they are all weird…each one of those little characters.  Each of them has a character flaw.  Compulsive…for cookie Monster!  Whatever it is and we have to become aware that all of us including ourselves are full of strangeness-es and weirdness and idiosyncrasies.  Jim Henson had that ability…. and the Scriptures have that ability to say that God is not perplexed about the human condition, and that in each one of us there are those good things and those bad things and God brings together the sense of family and fellowship and community to have a sense of place of who we are, where we are in this context.

Did any man love this community more then Laurence.  Did any man do more in many very practical ways, as we have already heard today to serve the Lord, not just in some spiritual hymn singing way in church on Sunday.  His life counted, thank God it is Monday through the days of the week, and through neighbours he met and lived amongst and through strangers as we have heard, who came to share with him as well.

God is preparing, Jesus is preparing a place for us.  He is giving us a sense of place, of rootedness.  There is a sense in which we are more then citizens of this world; we are citizens of…as it says in Scriptures…of another place, of another city, of another realm.  And yet that realm is not far away, long ago or far off.  It is the kingdom realm of God’s intervention in human History.  And it is very near to us...it is at the door.  It is very near at hand.  And God’s presence and God’s purposes are all around us today.  God who created the stuff of life, who created us also for himself brings together Heaven and Earth…we pray “Thy will be done...on earth as it is in Heaven”.  It is not that we are unearthly and not mindful of our neighbour and mindful of God’s good gifts of creation.  God made this world for himself and put us in it to tend it, to look after it and all of its creation…splendor, albeit so marred.  Jesus is gone to prepare a place for us that where He is there we may be also.  You know, many scholars believe that that is not the end game.  The end game is the city of God.  In fact the end is a new creation into which those of us, who trust in Jesus, have already become new creatures.  And so there is a sense in which scholars say that those rooms that Jesus spoke of, was really speaking in the context of a week of the feast of Tabernacles, of those temporary booths, tenting…camping…you went camping.  Jesus himself came, the word became flesh and dwelt…tabernacle...built a tent for a while among us.  And so it is where Laurence is today…and it is not purgatory…where Laurence is today…he is in the presence of Christ, with David Evans and celebrating together with all the family that have gone before, and all the members of Christ’s community.  That is not the end.  Because there is coming a day when this broken creation will become a new creation, when these frail bodies that are mortal, will be swallowed up in immortality.

Now my father was a farmer too…a market gardener.  We did not have animals…we had a big cat.  And he said to me one day…as he had some seeds in his hand…”here Laurie...taste these”.   They were radishes and I knew it.  But that seed…you wouldn’t sell in Loblaw’s or Longo’s.  You sell the finished fruit… the produce.  We shall know each other as we are known...but we’ll be quite different.  You heard of the two caterpillars together one day.  And a butterfly flew over and the one caterpillar said to the other…”You will never get me on one of those things!”   But the fact is you will!  And the fact is, says Scripture, that one day we will all be changed…in the twinkling of an eye.  And what is mortal and passing, broken, frail and sometimes sick and full of trial and problems will become immortal and all those things, as Pastor Phil read to us in Revelation will have passed away and we will be new.  Do you know your place in life?  Not just rooted in Uxbridge or wherever it is you live, are you rooted in God?  Are you rooted in the Scriptures?  Are you rooted in this creation in the sense of God’s good gift, looking forward to the new creation when all will be restored and precious as He comes to take us to be with himself?  And as beyond that He brings us back to be here together. 

The persons in our lives.  We have heard about this today.  I won’t go on and on about that.  It is not good, says the Scriptures, that we should be alone.  God creates help meets for us and marriage.  He gives us family, some of us…some of them bigger then others for some reason.  He puts us together in Christian family and community to encourage us…but above all, the greatest relationship we can have is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ our Saviour and our Lord.  We Christians believe that in Him all things hold together.  That in Him, there is the fullness of the Father’s Glory.  That if you want to see God, we need to look at Jesus.  If you want to see who we should be in our full humanity, in our true humanity, look at Jesus.  He is the Man, the Model, the Saviour the One who came, sweeping down to gather us up…to put us back into the place, to the role, the purposes of God that he intends for each one of us and for all of us together as His children.

John Wesley on his death bed, said, “When I am gone, don’t speak so much about John Wesley, speak about my Saviour.”  I pray that today our thoughts will be drawn heavenward and to the Christ who was everything to Laurence…and I trust is to you as well.

The bright hope of the Creation, come to fruition in Jesus Christ.  The place where we are…The people in our lives…and the purpose that God has for us.  We Christians call it mission.  You can just say it is the reason to get up in the morning.  And if it is true that as new creatures…longing for a new creation, having a relationship with God…but also with the earth, we are made.  We enter into the dance of the Trinity into the relationship of God, the relationship with each other, the relationship that has been marred even with this world…or there wouldn’t need to be green peace and ecological gospel.  This is our Gospel, God loves this world…He doesn’t love the world of sin and rebellion, but the creation is God’s good gift, that He is restoring and one day it will be perfect and complete once again. 

It is never too late to get your vocation figured out…you are going to be doing it for eons.  Those of you who are farmers got a head start on those of us who are evangelists.  What would evangelists be doing?  I don’t know but there is a thread and a purpose of why God created each one of us.  And we just have a little bit of a glimpse of some of it, what God is doing in and through us.   You take away sin and you give to us true humanity in fullness in a restored creation…what will we be doing?  God only knows…through eternity.  It won’t be that we are disembodied…although one of the marks of the fall and rebelling is that for a while when we die, we are disembodied.  Says, Paul, …we are unclothed in the sense and we long to be clothed once more.  The whole earth is groaning, longing for the creation once more, for God’s restored purposes.  But when we are restored….You see Jesus is the first fruit of the dead.  He is the man who was God, the God-man who has been raised from the dead, the first that this has ever happened to.  He is the first fruits of those…of all of us…who will be raised from the dead.  He has already entered into the next stage.  And we shall be like him…and we shall be with Him and He with us.  Maybe God will say…here is a planet…knock your self out.

Maybe this black and blue and green planet is just like a seed in the whole universe that God is going to give us.  I don’t want to sound like one of those cults like new Armstrong or new world order….but the scripture is full of this new creation and we are new creatures.  Why do we have hope?  Why do we have strength for today?  God is with us...and has given us these many pure and precious promises as we look forward to that great day of His coming…of the unveiling and of the re-unification of all, with all who have gone on before to the bright country.

I think the same as may have happened that John Bunyan wrote about in Pilgrim’s Progress…and with this I am done.  “And after this it was noised abroad that Mr. Valiant-For-Truth was taken with a summons.  And when he understood it, he called for his friends and told them of it.  And then he said, “I am going to my father.  My sword I give to him that shall succeed me in my pilgrimage and my courage and my skill to him that can get it.  My marks and my scars, I carry with me to be a witness for me that I have fought his battles who now will be my rewarder.”  And when the day that he must go hence was come, many accompanied him to the riverside in to which as he went, he said Death where is thy sting?  And as he went down deeper, he said Grave where is thy victory?  And so he crossed over and all the trumpets sounded for him on the other side.”

Amen.  So be it!

After the congregational hymn, In Christ Alone, was sung, Rev. Barber closed the service with…

Words of faith and hope and courage, comfort in the Gospel

Now let us pray…

Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all trials that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.  And now the God of peace that brought again from the dead, our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. 

AMEN.

Celebration of Life Service - Rev. Phillip Brown

Words of Memory, Prayer and Scripture Reading

From: Rev.  Phillip Brown,

March 13^th, 2012.

I believe it was an Irishman who said…”Before I speak, I would like to say a few words…!” and, before I read the scriptures…I would like to take just a moment to make a few personal comments.

First of all, I want to thank the Evans Family for the opportunity to share in this memorial service today.  I want you to know that I consider it a real privilege to do so.  Olive, … Ruth and I extend our sincere sympathy to you and to a your very large family in the passing of Laurence.  We don’t say the loss of Laurence…he is not lost…we know where he is.  He was greatly loved and he will be greatly missed.

It was my privilege to serve as pastor of this church for some six and a half years.  It began January 1981.  I‘d like to take just a moment to tell you, how I think that came about.   For seven years prior to that I was pastoring along with Ruth at the Port Colborne Baptist Church in the Niagara-Hamilton Association.  In my last year, I was appointed moderator in that Association of Baptist Churches.  The Assembly that year for the Baptist Convention of Ontario & Quebec, as it was then known, was to be held in Hamilton.  So as moderator, I was asked to bring words of greetings and welcome to the delegates that were assembled.  I didn’t know the Evans family at that time, but I am pretty sure that Laurence was there.  In fact, he was just finishing his term as President of our Convention.  I mention this because it was just shortly after that that the phone rang and I was asked to consider coming to Uxbridge to be the pastor. Well that process of course… I don’t need to tell you about all of that, but I feel quite deeply and so does Ruth that Laurence Evans had a lot to do with that phone call.   What resulted was a deepening relationship and friendship with Laurence and Olive and all the Evans family.  A friendship that we have appreciated very much.

We’ve heard a lot today from members of the family and there’s been a lot written already about Laurence’s life.  I want to take a different tact, if I may… not to be redundant.   I mean, Laurence was a very gifted man.   He was passionate about the Lord and the Lord’s work.  The one thing I appreciated about Laurence was his sense of history.  In fact Ruth and I coined a word for him and we kept it just to ourselves.  We called him Mr. Historical.  The reason was that, whenever we engaged in  conversation with Laurence he would  invariably start his response by saying….do you know what it is?...”Historically speaking….”.   He would then go on to give you this tremendous history of the particular item or topic.  I’ve been thankful that in every church I’ve pastored, I’ve had a man like Laurence, a historical person that when I had a funeral I could call and get the whole background.  Laurence had an amazing sense of history.  I think that this is one reason why he was often sought after to serve on committees and boards because he could process things very quickly, and I think Brian said that.  He could keep things in perspective!  Some people were intimidated by that, in fact.  There are many people today on committees and boards who say “Anything goes,,, well let’s just get on with the work.”  Often Laurence would stop you and say; “well, you know in document such and such, on page 4, paragraph 3 line 4….”, and he would begin to give you the sense of history of a decision that had been made.  I appreciated that about him.  Laurence’s ability and that of Olives’ enabled them to write a history of this Church.  

I think most of you would know this, if you’re from a generation back, maybe….three volumes that came out.  It goes back to 1857.  It’s well written and it was produced.  Also a constitution was put together by them.  Laurence’s sense of history led him to research the Evans family tree.  Now I was waiting for that to come up and it just came up in one statement that Brian made about I guess…Mary going to Wales.   That’s an interesting contact because you will know that the Reverend David Evans came over form Wales….the UK in the mid 1800’s.  He preached in Whitevale, Claremont, Uxbridge and this church was founded as a result of his ministry.  In fact when He passed away, so significant was his work that the leaders of our Baptist Convention came and conducted the funeral, right here in Uxbridge.

A few years back Laurence and Olive sent me some material.  Included was this letter that they had typed.   It’s signed by Laurence and it talks about Rev. David Evans coming to this area and then in his own handwriting at the end.  This is what Laurence wrote.  “He”, referring to the man, “is my great, great grandfather and I’m looking forward to meeting him.“   Friends, that reunion has already taken place.  Can you imagine that discussion?   “Great, Great Grandfather, Historically speaking, what was it like?  What was it like to come to Uxbridge in the mid 1800’s?”  Ha, Ha!   Well ….God Bless him.  Wonderful memories we all have.  May they be our strength and stay! 

Let us bow our heads and pray together.

“Heavenly Father, we come today as a family and as friends to celebrate the life and to honour the memory of Laurence Evans.  We thank you O Lord for his life and witness, for his deep love of family, for his contribution to the well-being and welfare of our community, our church and our larger Baptist family.  For all the memories, we thank you too, that hold him dear to each of us.  Grant, we pray, your abiding presence and comfort to those who grieve today.  O, Lord we ask that Olive and all of her family sense underneath and round about them the everlasting arms of their heavenly father.  And may the hope which is ours in Jesus Christ be our strength and stay.  Thank you, our Father, for sharing Laurence with us.  May something of his passion and love for the gospel message be carried by all of us so that others too, may come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  To this end, may we be faithful, through Jesus Christ we pray,  AMEN

I have been asked to read some Scripture,   I want to read … I think first of all from Psalm 1. I’m reading from the New King James Version.

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful.  But his delight is in the Law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night.  He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. That brings forth its fruit in its season.  Whose leaf also shall not whither.  And whatsoever he does shall prosper. 

Then may I read these familiar words from John’s gospel, chapter 14. I’m sure they are familiar to all of you. 

And Jesus anticipating his own death says to his disciples.

“Let not your hearts be troubled.  If you believe in God, believe also in me.  In my Father’s house are many mansions.  If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also.  And one of his disciples… doubting Thomas as we know him….says Lord we don’t know where you are going, how can we know the way?”   Then these Powerful words, “I am the Way, the Truth, the Life, no man comes unto the father, but by me.”

And this passage from Revelation chapter 21 and 14

Part of this greater vision that John received…..  He said, “…and I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.  Also, there was no more sea.  Then I, John, saw the Holy City , the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God,  prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying.  Behold the tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himself will be with them and be their God.  And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes,   there shall be no more death nor sorrow nor crying.  And there shall be no more pain for the former things have passed away”…... “Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me write…Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the spirit, that they may rest from their labours and their works shall follow them.”   

May God bless the reading of this His word.  AMEN 

Grandchildren help Grandma Decorate Grandpa's Grave Site

Grandma, Laura, Andrew and Michael worked together to make sure that Grandpa's grave site now has some of the flowers that Grandpa enjoyed from his garden.

Here's a picture of the area which shows the headstone has also been updated with the date of Grandpa's passing.

Brian advises that 'Evans' was also inscribed on the back side of the stone so that it is possible to identify the plot from the west side of Uxbridge Cemetery as well.

Nice work everyone!  Thanks from the rest of us who weren't able to help.

The Prayer of St Francis Assisi - How it Came to be Sung at the Funeral

As the oldest, my siblings had asked me to welcome everyone to Dad's funeral service and to lead the congregation in an opening prayer.  


I had been toying with the idea of singing 'The Lord's Prayer' in the traditional arrangement by Albert Hay Malotte.  I have sung this version many times at weddings and other events without accompaniment (acapella).  And I thought this might relieve the pressure to find a pianist and time to practice.  Dad had always enjoyed my singing and I thought this would be appropriate.


However, on Monday morning I awoke at the Toronto Hilton with a song playing in my head that just would not quit.  Janice reminded me that I had sung the prayer of St Francis Assisi many years ago under the direction of Marie Devereau and on this day as it wouldn't leave me, I became convinced that it must be the Good Lord's leading to sing it once again.


Although I never found the music, I was able to find the lyrics and the key I should use to sing it.  On Tuesday at Dad's funeral, Bev Foster provided the  'A' I needed from the piano and I sang it acapella.  It seems the prayer was a blessing for many.  May it bless you now as well.



Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury,pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.


O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Mary Dickau Searches for the Evans Homestead

24 hours in Wales

Seeking family threads in Radnorshire

First, the context - I have always wanted to travel to Wales.

Since I was young I have had a day-dream that one day I would walk down the street of the ‘wee village’ of my forebears, and a grizzled and wizened man would walk up, greet me and say, “Ach, yourre an Evans lass, I’ll grant ye; can tell by the look a’ yer eyes”.

Okay, so the dream sounds more Scottish than Welsh, and practically, I favor the Wilson looks, not the Evans,..... However, an active imagination can always get over such a little reality bump, and the desire to walk those streets has never left me.  So when the opportunity came to travel to Wales, alongside a trip to Scotland and England, I jumped at the chance.  

Roots and Wings

are all a part of my family heritage - a historical story has grounded and shaped us; and the continued creative life spark blossoms and fruits in new ways with each generation. What thread in Wales could I find that has been woven through our history and continues even to this day? What if there were people in Wales whom we could name as family? What if we could recognize them and they us, as being held in the same kinship - strangers that nontheless carry the same heartbeat, the same blood?

Visiting you in May and listening to your stories Dad,

filled in some of the blanks for me in terms of David Evans and his second wife Mary Harris; how they imigrated to Canada and how they settled into the land around Uxbridge area - 3 generations of Evans who loved God and cared for their neighbor. Through your stories, Dad, I could see more of what was important to you and how your family had passed these things on to you - shouldering responsibility; not being afraid to take on something new; trusting an inner ability to learn and overcome; loving music, laughter and family; caring for neighbors; and blessing the land as good stewards. I heard your desire that we, your children and grandchildren, would continue to carry on with what you have strived toward your whole life. Your stories in May were shot through with an innate sense of a living God who through all your endeavors and even in what you cannot understand or have been hurt by, is here - present and purposeful - to live in and through you, continuing onward in us. It has blessed you as it blesses us.

It must be a thread that has been strengthened by generations of faith, from even further back than Reverend David Evans, who was born in Abaty Cumhir, County Radnorshire,Wales in 1795, and died near Victoria Corners, Ontario, in 1879. I wanted to see what more I could learn.

Not much to ask with little more than one day in a new country!

How To???

MY PLAN was to travel from

Glastonbury, England to Newtown, Wales on July 1st. This involved catching the bus at 9:30 at the center square of Glastonbury, travelling to Bristol, Temple Meads station in order to catch a train into Southport, Wales; transferring trains in order to travel back to the England side of the border and north to Shrewsbury; transferring trains for the final leg of the journey into Wales, ending at Newtown at 5pm.

So far so good.

Once I arrived at my bed and breakfast I would then pick up my rented car and prepare to drive around the countryside the next day, July 2nd.

Problem: in my adventurous moments I was confident that I could drive in this country; in my realistic moments I thoroughly questioned my confidence!  As I watched the traffic and listened to the welsh language, trying to integrate what I ‘heard’ someone say with what I read on the sign, I realized that along with driving on the ‘other’ side of the road, I would have to use a stick shift with my left hand, and at the same time read all signs and maps using words that I could not read much less understand being spoken.

So I prayed, ‘Jesus, I will be in Wales for one day and I am determined to find the place that Dad has told me about - the picture that he remembers - but I have no idea where it is and I need help. I don’t think I can drive and do this on my own. I will leave it in your hands and ask you to please make a way for me. Whatever you plan will be okay with me. Thank you, Jesus. Amen.’

GOD’S PLAN came about surprisingly,

with me getting lost. (smile) When I arrived in Newtown and alighted from the train I realized that although I had the name of the Bed and Breakfast which I had booked for two nights - Yesterdays’ Hotel - I neglected to write down the directions to it! I went to the grocery store across the street from the station and enquired there. Thankfully, Newtown is small - about 14,000 people, and all very helpful. Yes, they knew the place and if I would just go out of the store, head left until I came to a cenotaph, then follow some short turns of left, right, and right, I would find myself at the B & B. After thanking them, I headed out of the store and went left, (for a little ways) until I encountered some construction (no one said anything about construction!) and thought that they must have meant the first left after I got to a real (according to my perception) street!

So I turned around and headed out, dutifully following (the rest) of the directions, which brought me about 2 miles away without any cenotaph in sight. I saw two women walking toward me and stopped them to ask if I was headed the right direction. They also (thankfully) knew of the B&B and assured me that had I kept marching the way I was going, I would have been out into the countryside before I knew it.

So they turned me around and we walked together as they asked me why I was there. At this point, I want to tell you that I noticed one of the women especially - Elaine James. As I walked beside her, I thought that I was walking with my cousin Cathy! She had some of the same mannerisms, and her voice, turn of phrase, her mouth - I felt like I recognized her. I certainly felt comforted by her and she walked with me for some way, even after her friend left us - asking me more questions. So I told her that my Dad’s family had come from the Llanbister/Felindre area in County Radnorshire, in the mid-1800’s, that their name was Evans, that David Evans had been born in Abaty Cum-din, and that one of his farms had been named Foesy-Feen Farm. I mentioned that my Dad had described a picture of a laneway that went up a hill and divided off; how there was a sign at the beginning of the lane, and how to the left of the lane there was a ditch and a river. I told how I was determined to do my best to find it somehow, and got a bit teary-eyed at that point because, Dad, you had just had the renal failure crisis at the hospital and I was not sure that I would get to tell you about the adventure of finding the place you described!

They were kind, wished me all the best, and I thanked Elaine and blessed her for her help.

I then DID find my way, and arrived at the B&B in time to cancel my order for a car.

Fast forward to 4 hours later after I had met my hosts (the next story to tell), settled into my room, headed out for a walkabout of the downtown area, and then arrived back to kick off my shoes and prepare for bed. Just then there was a knock at my door and my hostess Moyra informed me that I ‘had a gentleman caller’. I was very surprised and when I said that I did not know anyone here she replied that ‘yes, the gentleman told me that you would not know him!’. So I went down and this man began the conversation with “Hi Mary, you don’t know me, but I think we are related!”. It turned out that he was the husband of Elaine, who had gone home and looked at some of her genealogy notes. When she told him the area of the country I was looking at, he wanted to come and meet me because, as he said, ‘I grew up in that area and my family is related to just about everybody there!” His name was Jeff James. After some conversation, he then left to talk to his Aunt Marjorie at the other end of town, and came back about an hour later to confirm that his wife Elaine would pick me up the next evening and we would go compare notes with his Auntie ‘who knows everyone from the 1700’s onward’. (She is 86). That was Saturday evening taken care of!

Meanwhile, once I arrived at the B&B my hosts Moyra and Jim welcomed me. They have lived in Newtown for 20 years after emigrating there from South Africa. I borrowed their phone to cancel my order for a car and asked them if they knew of someone to drive me around the countryside the next day. I could pay. They too, were curious to know why I had come to Newtown, so once again I told them some of the story. About one hour later, Moyra came to tell me that she and Jim wanted to drive me around the next day to find this (now) mythical picture of Dad’s. They would accept no payment.

As we were planning where we would go the next day, I remembered that Ed Evans had given me the phone # of where he had stayed in Wales; he had said that the hostess knew were the chapel was. So I phoned, giving my name and mentioning visitors who had stopped by two years ago! Yes, she remembered them, and knew the way to the chapel, giving us the explicit directions that we would use. That was ALL of Saturday taken care of!

What a visit God planned!

I was overwhelmed with gratitude and it was still Friday night!

Moyra and Jim (mostly) and I spent
a lot of time doing this - Jim is a
map-readerpar excellence

Maesyrhelem Chapel and school is where
David Evans was baptized at 21, and
 married twice.  Were his two children and
first wife buried here?

Looking through the school house
and through to the fields on the
other side of the school-house

We have the key to the
chapel

Entry to the back of the chapel
the top half of the back wooden
walls lift up for air-flow in the
sanctuary

Left side stairs to the wrap-
around balcony

Right side window at the front of the
chapel

Looking at the entrance to the sanctuary and
balcony from the front

The right side of the front - a little
choir seating area?

Standing at the podium where
David  may have preached

Jim and I were singing 'Morning has
Broken' without the electric piano

Looking down from the balcony

Standing at the side of the chapel,
looking down the hill toward the school

Gravestones older than 1880 were
un-readable but Harrises, Prices,
Pughs and Evanses were represented

Jim reading stones

The cemetery wrapped around
3 sides of the chapel

We actually made two trips to the chapel,...

First we found the chapel (hooray!) and explored the outside of the chapel and cemetery.  We spent a lot of time checking the gravestones, but they were very hard to read.  Next we hunted for the key to the chapel, without any success.  We wondered if there were any records of the chapel and cemetery with someone near-by.  So as we drove back down the hill, we decided to turn into the divided lane, and guess what!  There was a home and a woman outside watering her plants.  It turned out that she has been the keeper of the records and her daughter has just taken over the job.  Her daughter was not there, but I was invited to get in touch with her by e-mail and ask for information around specific dates and names.  Further, this woman said that people had been there within the last few months looking for Evanses.  She wants to connect us.  Then, she told us where to find the key to the chapel - about 3 inches from where we had looked!!  It was a big, old, rusty, beautiful key.  So we went back up the hill, unlocked the chapel and went in.  The following is a website that gives a little of the history of Maesyrhelem chapel, and especially note the stories around Joseph Jones, the pastor who baptized David Evans.


Maesyrhelem (1805) an amazing story


Felindre (pronounced and sometimes spelled Velindre)


This little village has one pub which is only open in the evening, and about three houses, and is surrounded by farms.  This is where, according to the records you put together Dad, David Evans and his second wife Mary Harris lived until they emigrated in 1846.  There was a little chapel in this place as well, but I did not get a chance to stop and check the gravestones here.  I wondered whether the little ones, his two children that did not survive, had been buried here.  Maybe another trip???? (smile, again)

The sign for Felindre

Standing at the Felindre sign

Looking down the road to Llanbister

We found the local secret way from LLanindrod Wells, where the chapel was, to Felindre - because when we stopped to look at the map, a farmer came over to help us. When it was mentioned that my family was from around here (even though it was 150 years ago!) He said, Ah, Yes - as if I was one of the  neighbors! He remembered a farm called Foesy-Feen Farm; said that his grandfather used to talk about it. Then, of course, it was alright to tell us the shortcut to Felindre! Jim, wizard of maps, knew exactly the roads that the farmer was referring to! This ‘road’ led us right through the middle of one farmer’s barnyard!

We headed towards Felindre, and then meandered through the hills around the Llanbister area on our way to finding a place for lunch. It was time for tea! This is what an authentic welsh tea looks like!

We had our tea in a very intriguing building that housed a hardware/home effects/bakery/restaurant with the bathroom three floors up and in a hidden little nook around the corner and up two more stairs. I think it was a very old  building by our Canadian count! although new in comparison to others in this little town that sat on the English/Welsh border. (At tea we talked about how the neighbors would respond if those down the hill in England were at war with those who were two blocks up the hill!) (I have a picture but can’t remember the name of the town!!)

So Dad, I was wondering when I would see ‘the picture’ that you described, and when I looked back as we were leaving the chapel I think I found it.  It was at the bottom of the hill leading to the chapel.  The road to the chapel has a sign, becomes a dirt lane that leads up a hill and divides off to the right.  On the left there is a ditch in which a river runs.  That is how I remember you describing it.  The road to Maesyrhelem chapel.   THE PICTURE!! 

The dirt lane divides part way up

Bridge over the river leading to
the chapel

Sign on right side of bridge

Another little creek between
the divided laneway

Onward. 

We were ready to head out, and Moyra and Jim were game to find Abaty-CwmHir.

In the first paragraph of our records we have one sentence, which reads, ‘(David Evans) was born in Abaty-Cumhin, Parish of Abbey, Radnorshire, Wales’. I was assured however, and later saw that the correct spelling was Abaty Cwm-Hir, or Abbey Cwm-Hir.

In the little history book that I picked up at the Parish Church of Abbey Cwmhir, there is a historical reference to a Cistercian abbey church that was founded in 1143. The ruins of this abbey are still there, and another parish church which was built in 1680 (picture below). The registers of this church date from 1831, the year in which this church was parted from Llanbister and separate registers were kept. The book mentions some hostility amongst the farmers - Methodist and Baptist - against keeping this church open for they had to pay a tithe for it; although at the same time they liked the curate and would attend the church on Sundays. It also mentions a Rev. J. J. Evans who was curate of the church in Abaty Cwm-Hir for 50 years. There are quite a few Evanses in the cemetery surrounding the church, and some which could have been within the age range of David’s parents (?). There is a man listed in the history book named W.Evans who was an incumbent at the church from 1834 - 41.

Through our day I kept watching the landscape. Wales is so beautiful and it did remind me of Ontario in some places. High on the hills it was more barren, but in the valleys it was so green and the roads followed what had probably been a foot-path in days gone by, so they curved and meandered. It reminded me of some of the roads we travelled in May, Mom and Dad, on the other side of Elgin park, and on the way that you walked to school Mom - under the umbrella of trees and beside the streams and creeks.

Quite an amazing day,and still the evening to come! We arrived home around 4:30pm, and at 5:00 Elaine (remember ‘cousin Cathy’) James came to pick me up. It was so kind of her because she had just come from a day of spinning wool at a fair/festival. She had her spinning wheel in the back seat of her car!

In the morning before our grand trip, I had made an errand to the only wool shop that I found on my whole trip through Scotland and England included! Every ‘Woolen Mill’ that I found sold t-shirts from China! But Newtown was historically a center for wool, so my expectations were high to find some welsh wool to bring home for Emily! But even at the town’s wool shop - the wool was from Turkey.

So when I saw the spinning wheel, I asked Elaine if she ever sold her wool but she was shy to show me her stuff and said it was only a hobby. (As the evening went on, I thought that if we had more time together we would really have enjoyed talking crafts, for it seemed as if she could do anything she set her hand to!)

We drove across town to her husband’s Auntie Marjorie who was waiting for us with 6 binders of information that she had gone to London, England to acquire, over the years. She had census reports from 1851 onward, and as she read through them she had all sorts of anticdotal comments and stories about the people she named. However, it seemed after some investigation of my information, that there was no family connection to her family. She was disappointed, but together we still looked through the census reports and found the name Foesy-Feen farm on two of Llanbister reports - 20 acres belonging to the Jones family in 1851, and growing to 24 acres in the 1881 census, belonging to the Mills family. This would have been after David Evans auctioned off the farm in 1839, in preparation to emigrate. Marjorie could not remember where the farm was, but she re-called the story of going to the farm to pick up the barm for making bread. (pre-cursor to yeast).

At this point, Elaine revealed that her maiden name was Evans, and that the name Foesy-Feen farm was part of her history. I saw it on her genealogy pages. Then I was excited all over again, for even as we had talked that evening, I kept watching her and marvelling each time I noticed a ‘Cathy moment’ - which was many times! I had no more historical names to give her  because I did not carry your book with me Dad, so we exchanged e-mails and I will send her some names to see if and where we connect. It is like a giant puzzle and it has me hooked!

Aunt Marjorie was a lovely host, and I learned a lot about what it was like for her to be a single woman in Wales and a teacher of hand-craft arts till she retired. We talked about how to make rag rugs, and fancy needlework. She served us tea and tarts which she had baked fresh that morning! She said that when she was 7 and watched how her mom could not do anything without her husband’s consent, she decided that she would never marry in order that she could make her own decisions! She is a wonderfully alive, curious, feisty person!

When we arrived back at the Bed and Breakfast, I was tired and happy. Elaine and her husband had welcomed me; Aunt Marjorie had showed me a sincere hospitality; Moyra and Jim had offered me a hospitality and friendship that could not be re-paid. I could not have planned this; it was abundantly beyond all that I had hoped for.

The next morning after one more delicious breakfast of poached eggs on toast - I have never tasted such mushrooms as Jim cooked! - I hugged Jim and Moyra good-bye and walked to the station. I took the round-about way in order to check out the churches. Within only a few blocks, I counted at least 5 churches - all of them closed, even on a sunday. It made me sad. They were beautiful churches, but shut tight, making them feel towering and heavy, almost prideful to the breaking point.

The Newtown station was empty with only one train leaving within the hour - mine. So I sat and considered the goodness of God, and prayed for his blessing and peace to attend these dear ones who had blessed me so much here in Wales, and the dear ones - you - who were together in Uxbridge.

We are held together by the thread of Love Itself that weaves through our story and all stories, a thread from which we cannot be separated; through generations past and into the future, through what is known and what is yet unknown, no matter the distance, and always with welcome.

Dad, I hope you like the story and the pictures. Love you. Peace.

Mary Dickau
1-3 July 2011