ETHEL SCOTT

If you don’t frequently attend the 8:00 AM service, you may not know about the phenomenon called the 8:00 coffee hour.  This is a wonderful hour of fellowship, coffee and delicious goodies, that actually runs quite a bit longer than an hour these days.  Folks sit around and debate the news of the week and do a lot of ‘trash talking’ while they savor the goodies provided by Mrs. Ethel Scott.  She has her husband Kenneth bring in the goodies every Sunday morning.  He was overheard coming down the stairs recently saying “This stuff is getting heavier every week.”  He was also been overheard comparing his wife’s food sharing skills to that of Jesus when he fed the 5,000.  Mrs. Scott makes sure that there is enough for everyone each and every week.  Mrs. Scott does this every week out of the goodness of her heart.  The gifts she brings every Sunday do wonders for the fellowship of our members and contribute largely to the congeniality of our congregation.

BEVERLY KING

Hurricane Sandy destroyed her home.  Thankfully she was not in the room where the tree came crashing in at that time.  She knew there was significant damage as soon as the storm passed but she later learned that the damage was much worse than she had imagined.  She had to leave her home and move to northern New Jersey to stay with relatives until her home could be repaired.  Adding insult to the injury of her displacement, dealing with the insurance company was a real headache.  What does someone do when faced with such hardship?  Here is what Mrs. Beverly King did.  She came to the church to see what help she could offer.  Beverly volunteers in the office every week and is of tremendous help to Mrs. Marshall, our office manager.  Beverly was one of several people who made St. Mark’s their home in the days immediately following the hurricane.  During that time, her nights, into the wee hours of the morning, were spent working on the Commemorative Ad Journal for Canon Lyons retirement luncheon.  This is what Beverly does when tragedy strikes.  She helps.

NIRA WARNER

Were it not for this person, at least twenty St. Mark’s teenagers would not have been given the chance to spend ten days at Howard University with other youths from around the country learning about careers in Medicine and Science.  They would not have had the chance to meet members of Congress and tour some of our country’s most important institutions including the Capitol Building, National Institutes of Health and many other federal agencies.  Were it not for this person, the annual St. Mark’s Health Fair would not be the awesome event it is.  These are just two of the many ways Mrs. Nira Warner works steadfastly and quietly behind the scenes for our church and its members.

For well over a decade, Mrs. Warner has made sure that the young people of St. Mark’s apply for and get into the National African American Youth Initiative’s summer program in Washington DC.  At times, she had to bug them for their application forms, which she did in her ever so genteel manner.  Some of our youths have gone on from the ten day program to other NAAYI programs all over the country.

Working with our Health & Wellness Ministry, Mrs. Warner makes some of New Jersey’s best physicians available to us for our annual Health Fair.  If you have never attended a St. Mark’s Health fair, make sure you attend it this year on June 15.  Doctors who are experts in many specialties come right here to educate us on important health issues.  Attendees get free vision and hearing tests along with many other health screenings.  After the outstanding presentations, the doctors stay around to answer all our questions.  Stay tuned for details on this year’s program.

REV. CANON TERRENCE E. ROSHEUVEL

St. Mark’s owes a big debt of gratitude to this person.  He is not our Rector but he allows us to treat him like our Rector in many ways.  HisThe official role at St. Mark’s is that of a supply priest but you would never know that judging from the way he operates around here.  The role of a supply priest is to conduct our worship services.  We are truly blessed that he ‘supplies us’ with so much more every week.  His service to St. Mark’s has helped to ease the transition since Canon Lyons’ retirement.  As “Not-Our-Rector,” Canon Terrence E. Rosheuvel, who lives some 30 miles away, comes to Plainfield to visit and minister to the sick and shut-in members of St. Mark’s twice a week.  While the Vestry wondered what we could offer for Learning in Lent since we didn’t have a Rector, Canon Rosheuvel was already formulating a program for us ... and what an outstanding program it was.  “The Hymns We Sing” was such a great program that 35 members came out in a snowstorm one Monday night to learn from him and our organist, Mr. Curtis Watkins.  The Monday evening programs were scheduled for one hour but always ran much longer because they were so educational, engaging and fascinating.  St. Mark’s is really fortunate and blessed to have Canon Rosheuvel as our priest.

For all that they do in the LOUISE JACKSON way, St. Mark's honors

• ETHEL SCOTT
• BEVERLY KING
• NIRA WARNER
• REV. CANON TERRENCE E. ROSHEUVEL