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11-Jan-96

96018                   Notes about People 
 
              by Alexa Smith and Jerry L. Van Marter 
 
     General Assembly Council member Fern Crane welcomed twin grandsons 
home just before Christmas.  Alexander Cuir Riak and Alden Cuir Riak were 
born on Dec. 6 -- and came home on Dec.  24 and Dec. 23, respectively. 
 
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     The Rev. Peg Beissert, former Lazarus Project director, and Adele 
Starr, founder and a continuing leader of Parents, Families and Friends of 
Lesbians and Gays (P-FLAG), will be honored at the annual Lazarus Awards 
Banquet Jan. 27 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. 
 
                              # # # 
 
     The Rev. Kenneth O. Jones, 77, associate pastor of The Fifth Avenue 
Presbyterian Church in New York City for 32 years, died in his office of a 
heart attack Jan. 7. 
     Jones, a renowned evangelist and liturgist, recently published a book 
of his pastoral prayers entitled "Lean Back on the Everlasting Arms."  He 
was also a distinguished leader in the Welsh-American community. 
     A descendant of a 19th-century Welsh clergyman who was one of the 
first to break with the Anglicans and be ordained in the new Welsh 
Calvinist Church, Jones was raised in a small Welsh community outside 
Madison, Wis.  He graduated from the University of Wisconsin and McCormick 
Theological Seminary.  He began his ministry at Fifth Avenue in 1963. 
     A memorial service for Kenneth O. Jones was scheduled for Jan. 17 at 
the church. 
 
                              # # # 
 
     The Rev. Robert Rolland "Army" Armstrong, who was instrumental in 
Alaska becoming a state while serving as pastor of First Presbyterian 
Church of Anchorage, died Dec. 16 in Roswell, N.M., at the age of 85. 
     A native of Grapeville, Pa., Armstrong graduated from Grove City 
College.  He attended Princeton and Louisville Presbyterian theological 
seminaries and was ordained in 1937 by Buckhorn Presbytery in Kentucky. 
     Armstrong ministered in Alaska from 1940 to 1966.  In 1955 he was 
elected to the Alaska Constitutional Convention, where he joined 54 other 
Alaskans in penning a constitution that was essential to the eventual 
granting of statehood to Alaska in 1959.  He continued to serve Native 
Americans after moving from Alaska to Arizona, acting as a presbytery and 
synod executive in what is now the Synod of the Southwest. 
     A memorial service was held Dec. 19 at First Presbyterian Church of 
Roswell, N.M. 
 
                              # # # 
 
     The Rev. James J. Beates, a member of Detroit Presbytery,  received 
the city of Detroit's highest award Dec. 8 at the 11th annual Christmas 
Service for People Who Care about People with AIDS.  The award, The Spirit 
of Detroit Award, was presented to Beates by City Council president 
Marianne Mahaffey. 
     The award is presented each year to persons who through their efforts 
make Detroit a better place in which to live.  Beates was honored for his 
ministry and community service  among people living with HIV\AIDS. For the 
first time in seven years, Beates was not well enough to participate in the 
leadership of the service at which he received the award.  He has lived 
with HIV/AIDS for nine years and was recovering from a severe bout of 
pneumonia. 
 
                              # # # 
 
     Feliciano Carino, general secretary of the National Council of 
Churches in the Philippines, has been elected general secretary of the 
Christian Conference of Asia (CCA), one of the world's leading regional 
ecumenical councils. 
     The CCA, based in Hong Kong, has as members more than 120 churches 
from Pakistan to New Zealand.  The membership of CCA is overwhelmingly 
Protestant but also includes several Orthodox churches.  Roman Catholic 
churches in Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand participate in national 
councils of churches that are CCA members. 

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