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[PCUSANEWS] Faith amid the ashes


From PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>
Date Tue, 29 Jun 2004 18:59:56 -0500

Note #8346 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Faith amid the ashes
GA04054
June 29, 2004

Faith amid the ashes

SERRV worker stays on job even after her home burns down

by Nancy D. Borst

RICHMOND, June 29 - If you need a shot of optimism, go to the Assembly
exhibit hall and visit with Carolyn Newcomb. Although her St. Louis home
burned to the ground Saturday night, she is still on the job, working for
SERRV International, just as she promised.

No one was home at the time of the fire, which was caused by a faulty
connection on a propane barbecue grill in the garage.

Since then, Newcomb has been in frequent contact with her three grown
children, who are handling salvage, insurance and other such matters until
she returns to St. Louis on Thursday.

"I asked them if they wanted me to come, and they said, 'No, you've made this
commitment,'" said Newcomb, a commissioned lay pastor for congregational care
at St. Charles Presbyterian Church.

Among the things lost in the fire is an extensive Christmas-ornament
collection that she and her late husband, Dan, assembled in their travels
together. Newcomb also lost her computer and the pastoral library in her home
office. Her son, Keith, lost the 1975 Corvette he had spent two years
restoring. It was the only vehicle in the garage.

Asked why she decided to stay, Newcomb replied, "I can't be in a better
place."

"Someone from Giddings-Lovejoy (her presbytery) comes by every two hours or
so to see how I'm doing," she said, adding that many people are praying for
her and the presbytery is already lining up furniture and household goods for
her temporary use.

She hesitates to say she is an optimist, but admits to being "faith-filled."
She said she's had some trouble sleeping, but sings hymns to herself ("I
can't carry a tune in a bucket"), working her way through the alphabet, A to
Z. One night, she said, she also prayed her way through the alphabet before
dropping off to sleep.

"I've wished I could have my laundry room on the main floor," she quipped.
"Now I can do that. My daughter Kristi said, 'Gee, Mom, you can go on a
four-month shopping spree!'"

Newcomb says she'll live for a while in a hotel, then move to a short-term
rental home. She said she's going to forgo a planned trip to the Youth
Triennium, where she was going to work in a SERRV booth selling the
presbytery's Peruvian crafts, part of the PC(USA)'s "Joining Hands Against
Hunger" program. That is what she's doing here this week.

She still plans to go to a SERRV conference in Tacoma, WA, in three weeks.

She said she expects to shed tears when she sees what is left of her home,
but for now she has found reason to smile - and to carry on with the work
that is her passion.

This story and many others may have photos, media, video clips that can be
found at http://www.pcusa.org/ga216/.

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