My St. Luke’s story goes back 65 years to August 21, 1955, the day I was baptized by Rev. Durwood Fleming in what is now Fellowship Hall (the original “temporary” Sanctuary). Of course, I have no memory of that day, but every time I am in Fellowship Hall, I think about how this was the spot where my SL journey began.

My parents Ray and Camille Simpson were not founding members; they hadn’t even met yet in 1945, and didn’t marry until 1948. Because the SL congregation was still holding services at Lamar HS, their wedding took place in the beautiful sanctuary of Bethany Christian Church, right across Eastside St. from Lamar. A few years after I was born, my dad got transferred to New Orleans, where I spent my elementary school years at Lake Vista Methodist Church.

But every summer, we’d spend weeks back in Houston with both sets of grandparents and assorted cousins. And we’d attend St. Luke’s worship services with my mom’s parents, John and Camille Dockery. “Paw Paw and Memaw” would always sit on the left side of the center aisle, about a quarter of the way from the front (kind of like where I sit to this day!). Paw Paw would pass dimes to each of us grandkids for the collection plate.

Dad got transferred back to Houston in June of 1968, and the very first Sunday after we moved, we returned to St. Luke’s and transferred our membership back. We took up an entire pew with grandparents, parents and six children! I was 13 years old and going into the 8th grade at Lanier Jr. High. Once school started, I started going to Sunday School and MYF and made friends with kids from Pershing and TH Rogers in addition to my Lanier friends. Among others, there was Mike Eason, Paul Moore, Danny Woodruff, Sally Anderson, Gretchen Curry, Bill Boss, Susan Semrad, Greg Marchbanks, Mark Minto and this really cute guy named Joel Mohrman, whose family transferred their membership to SL exactly one week after the Simpsons rejoined.

I have fun memories of MYF, roller skating in the old gym, Teen Canteen in the Wynn Blanton Bldg, swimming in the pool, retreats, trips to Galveston, progressive dinners and other such activities. I vaguely recall the youth choir, the “Moveable Feast” (had to look that up!), and have a distant memory of singing in worship. But I don’t recall rehearsing, nor participating in special musical events. Maybe that’s because I don’t have much of a singing voice?

My very first paying job was at SL in the afterschool kids’ care program over in the Blanton Bldg. I was a teen helper and earned all of $1.25 per hour. I can still recall how excited I was to get my first paycheck.

At the time, I was a student at Lamar HS, and since I had no car, I’d walk from school over to my job, and then my dad (who worked in the Exxon Production Research Bldg., formerly on Buffalo Speedway) would pick me up when he left his office.

As is typical for many young people, I drifted away during my college years, although I never dropped my membership. Of course, I attended Easter and Christmas services when I was home, and I always enjoyed reading the weekly Spire newspaper that was mailed to me.

That Joel Mohrman guy and I got married on August 18, 1979, with (the late) Rev. John King officiating (because Dr. Walter Underwood was on vacation in August). It was a simpler time back then, and our wedding was short and sweet! Seven years later, along came Shannon, who can claim to be a 4th generation St. Luke’s member on both sides of her family! The Dockerys/the Simpsons/the Mohrmans (us)/Shannon. On Joel’s side, it was his grandmother Eddith Bell/ Wiley and Betty Mohrman/us/ her. I’ll bet there are few others who can make the same claim.

Shannon’s SL journey began with the Day School’s Mother’s Day Out program and on to pre-school for the first few years of her life. Of course, that meant I participated as a classroom volunteer and supporter. Whatever those teachers needed, I was happy to oblige!

Once she was old enough to go to the nursery on Sunday mornings, we began looking for a Sunday School class of our own. We settled on the Genesis Class, then known as the “young married couples’ class”. We loved our new Sunday School friends and some from our old Lamar days, like Mike Eason (Kathy) and Becky Clowe Palmer (Dave). Genesis was a very active class, and we enjoyed social events, retreats as well as service projects, such as helping build a Habitat for Humanity House, the first and only time I ever wore a hard hat!

Over the years I balanced volunteering with the Children’s Ministry (directed by Ellen Shepard) and taking leadership positions within our own class. My favorite thing was to be the class secretary for both Shannon’s classes and ours! It was a great way to get to know the kids and their parents.

Then there was our monthly After Care assignment (watching a classroom of young children during the 11:00 hour so their parents could attend church in peace). Joel and I did that for years, even after Shannon outgrew the program; she became our assistant, helping on the playground and passing out saltine crackers and water for snacks.

Teaching Vacation Bible School: what a fun time we had! Children’s Choirs under Steve Roddy and later Effygene Bull: because we lived out west of town at the time, it didn’t make sense for me to just drop Shannon off. So I stayed and helped, along with Richard and Karen Ethun and Craig and Tshiew-Ling Lamison. After choir rehearsals came Sunday Night Children’s Activities for parents who attended special classes to leave their kids with something fun to do. My name was “Snack Lady” and worked alongside Dorothy Fontana, whom some kids called “Miss Montana”.

SL didn’t have a Girl Scout Troop when Shannon was old enough to be a Brownie, so I started Troop 12106 with classmates of hers from River Oaks Baptist School. We had fun for a few years, meeting up in a Youth classroom. It was hard work to come up with interesting activities and outings, but I had a number of helpful moms and dads to share the burden. The scariest activity was teaching the girls knife skills with their new Girl Scout pocketknives (thanks be to all the dads who led that one out on the front campus!).

In 1996, under the direction of the late Rev. Dean Robinson, SL founded a Day Program for adults affected with mild to moderate dementia, called The Seniors Place. There was a small group of pet owners who created a “Pet Ministry”, and they would bring their pets (mostly dogs) to visit the participants once a month. When our dog Shadow was old enough, we became faithful visitors, continuing as the Seniors Place outgrew two of its locations and was rebranded as the “Amazing Place”. My father became a participant a number of years later after his Alzheimer’s diagnosis, and Shadow was instrumental in convincing him to become a regular. Dad would sing, “How Much is that Doggie in the Window”, and Shadow would bark. They always brought down the house!

In 1997 when Shannon entered middle school, the Pure Sound years began with Sid Davis. Once again, I would sit in on the rehearsals and do whatever needed doing there, and also during the Sunday morning warm ups before church, taking direction from the incomparable Ann Yeoman.

Then one day Sid asked me if I would chair the (annual) Spaghetti Lunch and Auction, Pure Sound’s fall fundraiser. Somehow that got elevated into being a camp counselor at the choir’s annual Labor Day Retreat at Camp for All. And then doing it again the next year. Add in coordinating the annual Pumpkin Patch for a few years on top of that. And then being a chaperone (along with Joel) on their biennial tours (to NYC, Washington DC and England during Shannon’s years).

The most fun was helping to stage the annual musicals (since Shannon couldn’t drive, and we lived out west, I had to sit in on these rehearsals, too!). I ended up doing many things, but creating the programs and tickets was key, plus providing publicity for the shows.

What a special delight it was to watch these young teenagers blossom into confident personalities with the discipline to master difficult music and shine as they performed in worship and in musicals. I have always been so proud of them! Even after Shannon graduated from high school in 2004, I have stayed on helping with the choir, because it is so much fun to love on these amazing kids. They keep me young at heart!

It was in 1999 when Sid asked me to chair the Fine Arts Committee at SL. I had no idea what that was, but was interested to explore how to better promote the Music and Fine Arts Ministry, which oversees the music ministry, the permanent art collection and the Rotunda Art Gallery.  For the next four years, I went to a WHOLE LOT of meetings and did a GREAT DEAL of writing on behalf of the ministry. There were articles and a weekly Fine Arts column to write in The Spire, as well as press releases to various newspapers and magazines to promote special arts events. We held Fine Arts Fairs for our members to explore the opportunities to participate in the music ministry and learn more about the visual arts at SL. One year, we had a poetry contest, with the winning poem put on display in our “Poet’s Corners”. I even installed the pieces by the monthly visiting artists in the Rotunda Gallery and created displays for the office showcases during these years.

In the middle of all that, to add some more meetings to my calendar, I also agreed to be the Secretary for the Executive Committee and Board of Stewards. I don’t know what I was thinking, but I somehow managed to pull it all together.

To perfectly balance my employment history, my last paying job was also at SL, this time managing the daily content of its new website, from 2004-2008, under the guidance of David Gow. It paid somewhat more than that $1.25 an hour that I had earned in the 1970’s! I loved this job, because I learned so much about ALL the ministries of our church, took lots of photos of and wrote good news stories about its people and could do it at any time of day no matter where I was, as long as I had access to the internet.

What can I say to someone who asks how to have a deeper relationship with Christ? We have a wonderful legacy of learning at SL, and I have deepened my faith by partaking in Bible studies and attending a Sunday School class (now the Open Arms Class) that explores faith-based topics (Bible study and books by noted theologians). Joel and I also traveled with a group from SL to visit Israel and Jordan a few years ago, which really brought the story of Jesus alive for me. I used to have so many questions about what I was reading in the Bible, but after studying the scriptures with others, putting them into context and discussing what the meanings are, I definitely feel like I have strengthened my faith.

Another way to grow one’s faith is to serve within the church and out in the community. SL has an amazing Outreach Ministry, with a huge variety of ways to serve. I have met so many fun and interesting people over the years by serving at SL, and while I don’t miss going to all those meetings, I do cherish all the friendships I have made by raising my hand and volunteering!

To sum things up, I think the absolute BEST thing about SL is its friendly people. Being in the SL “family” means so much to me, and as a family, we are all able to work together to further the Kingdom of God right here on Earth. I do not know what I would do without my church family!