wfn.org | PCUSA - Notes about people Dec 5 2008

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

This story available online:

www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2008/08904<http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2008/08904

> Notes about people

> by Jerry L. Van Marter
> Presbyterian News Service

Renowned Presbyterian troubadour david m. bailey, who has
outlived a terminal brain cancer diagnosis for 12 years, is
being treated for a recurrence.

In an email to friends, bailey said he returned to Duke
University Hospital on Nov. 20 for surgery and follow-up
treatment.

In characteristically realistic but hopeful fashion, bailey
included a lyric with his news:

Just when I thought the storm was over Just when I thought
the skies were clear A Dark cloud showed up on the horizon
And the wind started stirring up the fear Part of me wants
to stand up to the tempest The other part just wants to run
and hide Make believe the winds ain't really blowing Make
believe I'm still safe inside But you know it rains on the
righteous and the wicked And it rains on all the others too
I'm not one to complain -- I don't mind a little rain I
just wish I knew exactly what to do I mean, I'm trying to
take it easy but it's hard Every second feels like I'm on
guard Too many kettles in the fire Too many balls up in the
air Meanwhile, the storm keeps getting closer No one ever
said this would be fair So this is it -- put some plywood
on the windows Stock up. Huddle down The hurricane don't
know this ain't my first rodeo We'll see who's standing at
the end of this round If I have any say in the matter --
and as far as I can tell, I do You'll find me chained down
to my cornerstone Watching the sunrise chase away the
morning dew.

> # # #

The Rev. George M. Docherty, the former pastor of the New
York Avenue Presbyterian Church who delivered an
influential sermon that led to the insertion of the phrase
"under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954, died Nov.
27 of a heart ailment at his home in Alexandria, PA. He was
97.

Born May 9. 1911, the Scotland native served pastorates in
Glasgow and Aberdeen before being called to New York
Avenue, which Abraham Lincoln attended when he was
president in the 1860s. Each year on the Sunday closest to
Lincoln's birthday, Feb. 12, the church had a special
service that was traditionally attended by the president.

On Feb. 7, 1954, with President Dwight D. Eisenhower
sitting in Lincoln's pew, Docherty urged that the pledge to
the flag be amended, saying, "To omit the words 'under God'
in the Pledge of Allegiance is to omit the definitive
factor in the American way of life." He borrowed the phrase
from the Gettysburg Address, in which Lincoln said, "this
Nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom."

"An atheistic American is a contradiction in terms," he
said in his sermon. "If you deny the Christian ethic, you
fall short of the American ideal of life."

During his 26 years as pastor, he became better known for
his liberal social activism than for his quest to alter the
Pledge of Allegiance. He promoted racial equality and led
outreach efforts to feed and educate the city's hungry and
poor. His church was often a staging point for civil rights
and antiwar demonstrations, and the Rev. Martin Luther King
Jr. preached from its pulpit.

Docherty retired in 1976, lived in Scotland for 13 years
and published his memoirs, "I've Seen the Day," in 1983. He
settled in Pennsylvania in 1989 and continued to work as a
guest pastor and teacher until three years ago.

His first wife, Mary Watson Docherty, died in 1970. Two
children from that marriage, Mairi Gate and David W.
Docherty, died in 1989 and 2006, respectively. Survivors
include his wife of 36 years, Sue M. Docherty of
Alexandria, PA; a son from his first marriage, Garth
Docherty of Alexandria, VA; two children from his second
marriage, Julie Jancosko of Pittsburgh and Bridget Fouse of
Alexandria, PA; and five grandchildren.

When the newly revised Pledge of Allegiance was being
celebrated in a Flag Day ceremony at the U.S. Capitol in
1954, "Everybody who was anybody was present except me,"
Docherty told The Washington Post in 2002. "They forgot to
invite me."

> # # #

Khurshid Alam Gill, associate professor of mass
communications at the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s
historic Forman Christian College in Pakistan, was murdered
in his home last week.

According to FCC President Peter Armacost, Gill had
purchased some property to which the title was in dispute,
and that "his killing was by persons known to him regarding
this matter. The police are conducting an investigation and
we trust that the guilty parties will soon be
jailed. Clearly, this tragic event has nothing to do with
terrorism."

Gill, a well-known educator and administrator in Pakistan,
gave up a position as principal of one of the Cathedral
Schools in Pakistan to join FCC at the time of
de-nationalization several years ago, and "was a tireless
worker in his efforts to serve his community, and the
greater cause of Forman Christian College," Armacost said.

More than 1,000 people attended a campus prayer service
after the murder, with both Muslim and Christian speakers
praising Gill's efforts to promote interfaith harmony.

> Gill is survived by a wife and son.

> # # #

Bryan Penn, 38-year-old son of Karone Penn a long time
leader in the PC(USA)'s Administrative Personnel
Association, died recently in a motorcycle accident.

He leaves behind his wife, Misti, and three teenaged
children.

Karone Penn is administrative assistant at Union
Presbyterian Church in Brownwood, TX.

> # # #

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) minister the Rev. Debbie
Husband has been elected secretary of the Association of
Professional Chaplains, a national organization of more
than 4,000 pastoral care providers. The APC is also the
chief interfaith certifying body for professional chaplains.

"I am a strong advocate for compliance to APC standards and
excellence for all chaplains," says Husband. "I believe in
the work of APC and in its depth. I choose to be a servant
to this ministry as well as that of my hospital ministry.
They are high callings which inform one another." Husband
is Clinical Specialist/Chaplain Supervisor at Orlando

Health, serving the Orlando Regional Medical Center and the
M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Orlando, in Orlando, FL. She
became APC board-certified in 2001 and is endorsed by the
PC(USA).

> # # #

Elizabeth S. Bottoms, a retired Atlanta school teacher and
the wife of the late Rev. Lawrence Bottoms, died Nov. 6.

Lawrence Bottoms was the first African-American General
Assembly moderator of the former Presbyterian Church in the
United States (PCUS) in 1974, and served as pastor of
Oakhurst Presbyterian Church in Decatur, GA.

A memorial service was held for Elizabeth Bottoms on Nov.
11 at Radcliff Presbyterian Church in Atlanta.

> =======================================