Rockford UMC’s Betty Smith to retire again
The Rev. Betty Smith is about to retire again, but don’t count her out. After some time recharging with her family, the 65-year-old pastor is sure she’ll be back.
She retired in 2002, but for the last 17 months has been working as a part-time interim pastor at Rockford United Methodist Church. “I love the work,” she said. “I love the people. There’s always a need for someone to step in and do this type of emergency work.”
Smith had been working in Lewiston when she and her husband, Bert, retired. “We hooked our trailer on and toured the United States and nine provinces of Canada,” she said.
When they returned to Spokane, the Rockford church was in need of a short-term pastor and Smith went back to doing what she loves.
She first began thinking she wanted to be a pastor when she was in high school. Even then she was very active in her church. She directed the choir, served on the board and taught Sunday school. When the youth coordinated a service, she preached.
“I really felt close to God,” she said. “I’d had sort of a growing conversion experience. It seemed even then that my gifts and the work of the church were well suited to each other.”
But Smith set aside her dream. “Back then it was not a thing women did much.” Still, she attended Northwest Christian Bible College in Eugene, Ore., after high school, hoping to use her degree to do some sort of ministry work. But she only completed three years of school. “I dropped out to do the family thing,” she said.
When her three kids were older, Smith went back to school. This time it was for a teaching degree from Western Washington University. She earned her diploma in 1975 and soon got a call from the United Methodist Church’s district superintendent. He told her she should get licensed so she could help out a small church, the Nooksack Indian Church near Bellingham. She served there for a year.
For a few years Smith would waver between preaching and teaching. After the Nooksack church she taught junior high English in Odessa, Wash., for a year. Then she worked as an interim pastor in Davenport, Wash., for a year before heading back to the classroom for four years.
In 1982 she took the plunge and went into ministry full time. Smith calls her decision to be a pastor dramatic. She was going through a tough time and prayed to God for guidance. “I heard God say ‘What are you going to do about your call to preach?’ ” she said. “It (the voice) was very clear to me. It seemed perfectly natural.”
She served as the pastor at Moran Prairie UMC on the South Hill for 11 years, in Toppenish, Wash., for four years and in Lewiston for five years. During her career she never went far from her roots in Dayton, Wash., and loves working in small towns. “This is home,” she said. “I like having roots.”
When her time at Rockford UMC is up at the end of the month, Smith plans to spend time with her 98-year-old mother and her husband of 16 years, who is struggling with vision loss from macular degeneration. She’ll putter around in her yard. And in a little while, she’ll feel the pull of the pulpit again and go back to what she was meant to do.
Get a cheap car
One normally can’t buy a Mustang convertible for $20, but you can until Tuesday.
St. Paschal’s Catholic School is doing its second annual car raffle. Only 2,000 tickets at $20 each will be sold, with the winner’s name being drawn at 10 a.m. Tuesday. This year’s prize is a 2004 Mustang convertible.
“We’ve sold just over half of them,” said school principal Rick Pelkie of the tickets. “The car has only 13,000 miles on it; power everything. It’s a good car.”
Selling half the tickets has enabled the school to raise enough money to buy the car, which was sold to them at cost by Dollar Rent A Car. Now they have to sell more tickets to make money. Last year’s effort resulted in the sale of about 1,300 tickets with a profit of about $12,000, Pelkie said.
“That’s a big chunk for a small school like ours,” he said. St. Paschal’s has 89 students and five teachers in grades K-8. The money is put into the school’s general fund where it can help offset the rising costs of heating and health insurance. “Our expenses are rising at a much greater rate than our income is.”
Tickets can be purchased on the school’s Web site at www.stpaschal.net. People can also visit the school at 2521 N. Park Road on Monday or call the school at 924-5090.
Vacation Bible schools
St. Mary’s Catholic Church is hosting phase one of the tri-parish vacation Bible school June 20 through 24. St. Mary’s, 304 S. Adams St., often works with nearby Good Shepherd Lutheran Church and the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection to offer joint events.
The theme of the session is “Jerusalem Marketplace.” It’s open to children in grades 3-6 only. Another session for children in grades K-2 is scheduled for August. Classes will run from 9 a.m. to noon each day.
The cost of the weeklong session is $15 for the first child, $10 for the second and $5 for each additional child. Call St. Mary’s at 928-3210 for more information or to register.
“Ranch House Kids: Adventure of the Open Door” is the theme for this year’s vacation Bible school at Spokane Valley United Methodist Church, 115 N. Raymond Road. Classes will meet from 9 to 11:30 a.m. June 20 through 24. This session is for children age 3 though kindergarten only. Another session for older children will be held in August.
The cost is $20 per child. Call the church at 924-7262 to register or for more information.
Breakfast fund-raiser
Zion Lutheran Church will host a pancake breakfast Sunday to raise money for a family who recently had a fire in their home. The meal will be served between services from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. The meal is by donation and proceeds will be matched by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.
The church is at 8304 E. Buckeye Ave.
Worship concert
A spring worship concert is set for 6 p.m. Sunday at Valley Assembly of God Church, 15618 E. Broadway Ave. The concert will include performances by the worship choir, orchestra and drama team. All are welcome to attend.
Garage sale
Peace Lutheran Church, 4124 N. Harvard Road, will put on a garage sale Friday and next Saturday. The sale will run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. Proceeds will be used to build a playground at the church.
Schedule change
Christ Lutheran Church, 13009 E. Broadway Ave., has switched over to its summer worship schedule. There will now be one service at 9:30 a.m. each Sunday.