Mother’s Day: “I Am the True Vine…”
May 14, 2006
Rev. Este Gardner Cantor

I would like to begin, on this Mother’s Day, with the story of a mother from long ago. In 1881 Louise Deforest Hanscom and her husband Weldon L. Hansom traveled from Oregon to Berkeley. We don’t know how they came down – perhaps it was by train, perhaps it was by covered wagon – they were still being used by traveling families in those days. But they came all that way with their 6 children (all boys) and Louise’s father, Mr. Hyde. They arrived in Berkeley and moved into the house at 1525 Walnut Street, right around the corner from where we are right now – you can still go see it. After they settled, they began to travel across town to St. Mark’s Church to attend Sunday services.

Perhaps it was the memory of traveling with those six boys all the way from Oregon that made them tire of making the journey across town on foot, or by horse or buggy each Sunday. But for whatever reason they began to teach their children Sunday School in their own home there on Walnut Street. After a while several other families followed suit, and at last no house was big enough to hold all the children and they rented a big space on Vine street possibly where the Fruit Juice collective, Peets and all those other indispensable stores now stand. The Rector of Saint Marks, Edward Lambe Parsons, knew a happening thing when he saw one, and he sent his deacon, W.R.H. Hodgekin to oversee the Sunday school. Father Hodgekin’s wife and their three fetching daughters, Elizabeth, Mary and Nancy, went with him. Although we have a picture of Mrs. Hodgkin there is no record of her contribution to the new mission, but if she is like most clergy wives, I bet her contribution was considerable.

But Louise Hanscom and her family were the very beginning of All Souls Church. The note pasted in the registry that Tom Burcham showed me said nothing about the personality of Mr. Hanscom or the children, but it did say that Louise Hanscom was “a saint on earth.” This might have been a comment on what life was like with her husband and six boys. But it probably implied that she did the work of Jesus – caring for the needy, spreading love and supporting the church. Mothers have always been my favorite symbol for Jesus. And if Jesus is the true vine, I think that he is personified by the women in general, and mothers in particular who have always loved the church, who have lifted the church up, who have held the church together.

During the first World War, one of the mothers of All Souls Parish had her worst nightmare come true: her son went off to war and died on the battlefield at Ypres, June 13, 1916, at 21 years of age. He fought with the British before the United States declared war. The women of All Souls, probably joined by the grieving mother, channeled their grief into doing work for the Red Cross and the British Overseas Club. Good Friday 1917 was a dark day indeed for the mothers of All Souls Parish. War was declared by the United States Congress and their sons answered the call and left them to wait and wonder.

In 1923 during the great Berkeley fire, Kathleen Harris Luke, who was the organist and choir director in the 20s and 30s rescued all of the church music out of the library saving it from potential loss. Josephine Stewart welcomed in the homeless whose houses had gone up in smoke. She set up a welcoming room in the downstairs vestibule off the parish hall where she waited with a single burning candle and ushered the disoriented refugees into the shelter of the church. This was perhaps All Souls’ first all-night vigil. As she welcomed the strangers she never let on that she too had lost her house in the fire. She only showed them a face of love and comfort, further demonstrating that women have always tended to be the true vine that lifts the church up, that holds the church together.

Two women that remain long in the memory of Father Bill Fay are Emily F. Clement and Mrs. Harris, his Sunday school teacher in the 1930s. Emily Clement was a tall and very strict pillar of the church. She never let a choir boy or acolyte by her without straightening up his vestments displaying a kind of tough love that is no longer popular in youth ministry. The plaque that honors her in the downstairs chapel lists her life span as 1871-1971. She lived to be one hundred years old and a great chunk of that stern and solid life was lived at All Souls Church. When Bill’s Sunday school class of all boys was playing baseball during Sunday school, it was Mrs. Harris who saved face for them when the superintendent came by. After stealing a glance at the boy with the bat, she solemnly intoned, “They are re-enacting the Cleansing of the Temple.”

It has almost always been the case that women have been the keepers of the flame of children’s ministry. In the year 1950 the women of All Souls must been doing something right. The parochial reports show that there were 363 children in the Sunday school. In fact, he whole church was flourishing. On Easter Sunday of 1950 1,000 people came to All Souls Church.

At the annual parish meeting of January 15, 1957, a motion was raised by Mrs. Robert Hall that the bylaws be amended to permit women to serve on the vestry. Had this never happened, our present senior warden, Caroline McCall would have a whole lot more free time today! There was some dragging of feet and it wasn’t until five months later, in the vestry meeting of May 14, 1957 that a committee was appointed to meet with representatives from the women’s auxiliary to discuss the issue. Finally, at the December 10, 1957 vestry meeting, almost a year after the first motion, a vote was taken and the amendment was passed, providing of course that the majority of vestry members would always be men.

The passage of this amendment must have been somewhat inspirational, because early in 1958, the All Souls Girls Choir recorded a half-hour tape of hymns, set to come out as a long playing record the following fall.

In the fifties and sixties, the wonderful and dedicated altar guild member, Glenn Gibson carried on the sacred duties of tending vestments, sacraments and candles as so many of the most formidable women of All Souls have. During her tenure the beautiful square silver communion box we still use today was stolen from the sacristy. No one thought they would ever see it again, but Glen went straight to the Berkeley Ashby Flea market where she figured it would turn up. Sure enough, there it was, before her on a table of wares for sale. Glen made a beeline for the Bart Police who told her she had to go and stay with the box, but could not purchase it, until they could send in an officer. Glen said that she had never prayed harder in her life than during those long minutes. A few people picked the box up and admired it, but no one bought it. The officer arrived, the thief was arrested and Glen brought the box home to the church with much celebration at the returning of the prodigal silver. The first woman ever to be in an official clergy role at All Souls Parish came in 1967. Her name was Esther Davis and she was listed on the sign outside as “deaconess.” In an article from Saturday, July 31, 1971 the headline reads, “Deaconess at All Souls Pulpit.” This was big news – a woman was going to preach!! In 1967 she had graduated from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific and became the first female deacon in the country with precisely the same training as candidates for the priesthood. The article notes that Esther’s clerical career has been a “pilot project in the tradition-bound Episcopal church.” The article also notes that before Esther found her calling as a deacon she had previous careers in science, editing and business administration.

A ruling of the 1970 General Convention of the Episcopal Church granted to deaconesses the same rank as deacons, making them official members of the clergy, but they still could not become priests.

Esther preached on Sunday August 1, 1971 on “False Prophets” which was the lectionary text. But, for all the advancement of the cause of women she represented, the newspaper article ends with the following quote from Esther: “I occupy the pulpit but rarely these days,” she said. “Since the coming of our eloquent Rector, Father Henri Stines, I have given up my ambitions as a preacher.” That may have been true, but she seemed to be just hitting her stride as a political activist. On Tuesday, June 15, 1971 she had accompanied Father Stines and about ten others in a demonstration protesting the Viet Namese War at the Oakland Induction Center. Father Stines and five others including Nathaniel Pierce, a 28-year-old seminarian who later became the Executive Director of the Episcopal Peace Fellowship, were arrested at the demonstration. Esther had one bad leg already, and she had injured the other, so she marched to the induction center on crutches. As always, she wore a kind of abbreviated nun-like headdress. She would have been arrested too, but when the superior of the arresting officer gave the word to move in on the demonstrators, the cop on the street famously yelled out, “I ain’t arrestin’ no crippled nun!” Esther went home unencumbered and Father Stines got all the press.

Quite aside from her preaching and her political activism, her love and care for the people at All Souls was very evident. The photo album lovingly created by her flock when she left in 1972 shows her devoted service to all kinds of people in the congregation. In one photo she is warmly shaking hands with 12-year-old Martha Crocker, the first girl ever to serve as an acolyte. In another she is intently listening as an elderly woman solemnly confides in her. In another she is sitting and chatting with the young and gorgeous Doree Laverty. And then there are the priceless photos of the “crippled nun” energetically marching along side Father Stines as the news cameras rolled. There is also a picture of the Eucharist Father Stines presided over on the street in front of the Oakland induction center just before the sit in. And then, as the photo album notes, “Esther sat.”

The front page of the photo album reads, “Dear Esther, during the four and a half years you were with us as associate to our rector (she served under four), you gave your love, your time and your energy to us. We will miss you more than we can say.” This seems ample proof that Esther, like so many other women, was the true vine that embraced the church, the vine that lifted the church up, the vine that held the church together.

After the act of civil disobedience by Father Stines, Esther and the others, there was considerable dissent in the Parish, particularly because Father Stines continued to preach against the war. But amid financial and political strife, an event occurred that reminded everyone what a church is all about. Emma Paxson, long-time beloved member of the church died after a particularly graceful and courageous battle with cancer. All differences were forgotten when everyone turned out for the funeral and remembered that they were all one body, since they all shared one bread and one cup. Even in death, Emma Paxson was the true vine who held the church together.

In the mid-seventies at the time of Father Bill Clancy there were again no female acolytes, and when he went to hand pick his seminarians, at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, he was only looking for men. But one female seminarian impressed him so much that he changed his mind. Her name was Sandra Bess and she was a brilliant student at CDSP who had come from New Mexico. After a year of field work at All Souls, Father Clancy felt he couldn’t do without her and asked her to stay for a second year. “I am not staying,” she told him, “until you integrate the acolytes.” According to Father Clancy, he swallowed his pride, bit the bullet and Laura Merchant, the daughter of a Berkeley dentist John Merchant, became the second All Souls girl to serve as acolyte.

By that time Sandra had broken the gender barrier, so the next time Father Clancy came to CDSP to pick out a seminarian, he again chose a woman; a feisty and beautiful Native American from Wyoming named Christopher Candace Steele. She was a wonderful youth leader and the young people loved her. After one Easter Vigil, she challenged Father Peter Haines, who was the chaplain at Canterbury house, to an Indian wrestling match. He accepted with confidence, but she won the match rather mercilessly. The youth group’s respect for her grew even greater and the young chaplain apparently realized then or soon after that he was in love. Women are apparently the true vine that challenges the church, that shakes the church up, that holds the church together.

Father Clancy’s dependence on the wise and apparently clairvoyant women of All Souls is exemplified by a call he made to long-time member Grace Walberg in the 1970s.

“Hello Grace” he said. “What am I calling you about?”

Kathryn Kahn Brownell was, according to Father Clancy, “Mrs. All Souls.” He had started the tradition of daily Eucharists soon after his arrival in 1973 and Kay Brownell was the first one to start coming every single day. She was the daughter of a doctor, and so her passion for social justice was colored by that history. She was a great supporter of the Coalition for Concerned Medical Professionals, a group that provided free medical and dental care through the work of volunteer doctors to poor woman and their children. The organization had a small store front office in a troubled neighborhood in Oakland, where Kay toiled tirelessly for the poor. She thought nothing of occasionally spending the night in the office if she worked too late. When she got too old to drive she gave her car to the organization and would be driven to the office and back by volunteers. She was generous to this church in every way a person can be generous and with typical political savvy, she lived until October of 2001, managing to span within her lifetime the San Francisco Earthquake and the tragedy of Sept 11, 1991. She was still a warm and smiling presence when I arrived in 1997 and she is greatly missed. Her great moral strength and loving labors made me realize how true it is that women have always been the true vine that keeps the church moral, the vine that lifts the church up, the vine that holds the church together.

Margaret Beede was almost like a daughter to Kay Brownell. Her father was also a doctor and she shared Kay’s passion for medical justice for the poor. During the days when women rarely held executive positions, she was assistant administrator at Herrick Hospital. In a tone reminiscent of the times, a newspaper article about her from 1971 reads, “Although she is a top notch executive in a field primarily occupied by men, Miss Beede has retained a gentle femininity pleasing to both her colleagues and the public.” Margaret was the first female Senior Warden of All Souls, and she donated the beautiful side windows in the downstairs chapel. Sadly, she died in her early 60s of cancer. A plaque in our downstairs chapel honors her: Margaret Lea Beede, 1923-1985.

Between 1988 when Father Clancy left, and 1997 when Father Andrew arrived there were many rectors and severe ups and down for the parish, financially emotionally and spiritually. During this tumultuous time as always, it seemed that women were the true vine that held the church together. In 1991 All Souls had its first female associate priest, the Reverend Anne Kelsey. I remember Anne Kelsey because she was the officiant at my wedding to Matt Cantor. Anne loved our idea of having her team up with a rabbi to marry us, and she gave a beautiful homily at our wedding. She quoted a couple who had just celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary. “What advise might you have for a newly married couple?” she asked them. “Bear and forbearance!” said the husband. “Light on the criticism,” said the wife.

All Souls also had a deacon at this time who was, I believe, the first woman to be raised up and ordained out of All Souls Parish. Her name was Eliza Linley. There is a wonderful photograph of Anne Kelsy baptizing a baby with Eliza in her deacon stole assisting. Eliza was ordained at Grace Cathedral on Dec 7, 1991. She was a devoted loving presence at All Souls who had found her calling after a successful career as an architect. So this particular woman had professional expertise in the engineering involved in being the true vine that holds a church together.

When I arrived at All Souls Parish in October of 1997, it was, as it still is, a highly woman-friendly place. One of the two interim rectors was a woman, the Reverend Pamela Cranston, former nun and now a published poet and Vicar at St. Cuthbert’s Church in Oakland. My first Sunday at All Souls I experienced a reversal of the story of Abraham welcoming the three angels unaware. On that day, three women welcomed me in with great hospitality, apparently unaware of their own angelic nature. They were Kay Dreher, just in the middle of her amazing marathon tenure as children’s minister, Mardie Becker, Spirit-filled giver of hospitality, and the incandescent Gloria Bayne. The first weekday chapel I ever attended at All Souls was led by a woman who was as great in spirit as she was small in stature. Ann Jordan made a terrific impression on me and was a deciding factor in my decision to join All Souls Church.

After I joined it seemed to me that the church was run by four women. They were, in alphabetical order: Julie Burcham, Jan Lothrop, Karen McGwinn, and Jan Speith. I later learned that their husbands were of considerable help as well. But these four women were very formational for me. It was Jan Lothrop, tireless worker in the sacred vocation of the Altar Guild and the essential realm of hospitality who took me aside after one of my children’s homilies, long before I had an aspiration to Holy Orders. She chuckled with delight, gave me a big hug and said, “Oh honey – you could teach something to the preachers!” Sometime later it was Karen McGuinn who told me she believed in my calling and that she would do anything she could to support me – and she did. It was Julie Burcham who with tremendous grace and patience taught and continues to teach me the mysteries the sacristy. And Jan Speith was a great model for me with her warmth, her efficiency, and her astonishing energy. These four women tend to make me aware of the fact that women have always been the true vine that lifts the church up, dusts the church off, and definitely holds the church together.

I soon realized that three more women were particularly essential to the life of the church; a fabulous trio of clergy spouses, Margie Fay, Joan Blair and (again) Gloria Bayne. I soon learned that their husbands helped a lot too. The first female clergy person at All Souls to arrive during my time was Mother Pat Walker-Sprague. She continues to be a mother to all us motherless children and everybody else too.

On April 20, 1999 the Columbine disaster occurred at a high school in Littleton Colorado. Mothers of the slain victims and mothers all over the country mourned the loss of these children. But one mother at All Souls Parish did something about it. In the Fall of 1999, the artist Susan Wight began the Youth Arts Studio solely for the purpose of giving something meaningful to middle school youth, a population so vulnerable to all the ills of this age. With the support of many other members of the parish she created a lasting thing of beauty and made a real difference in the lives of many grateful young people.

I can’t help but end this sketchy history by again invoking the name of Margie Fay. I won’t embarrass her by listing her countless contributions to the people of this church. But I will embarrass her by saying that we are all, women and men, working toward our Margie Fay nature, but most of us will never make it. And when I look at Margie and the holy work she has done I see that it has always been true that women are the true vine that embraces the church, that gives the church heart, that lifts the church up. Women are the true vine that holds the church together.

Amen.