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Andy Thornton
Mary Alice Edwards, right, was honored by 100 guests on Nov. 13.

Courtesy of Nancy Wallech
Paula Bailey, a candy cook from St. Andrews UMC in Hagerstown, prepares Christmas candies for the crew of the USS Theodore Roosevelt.

Ministry of Mary Alice Edwards celebrated

CHURCHTON It came as a complete surprise to Mary Alice Edwards when she found herself the guest of honor at a celebration at West River United Methodist Center on Nov. 13. 

The surprise party was planned by the Rev. Konni Brantner, who succeeded Edwards as chairwoman of the conference Council on Older Adult Ministries. Nearly 100 people from across the conference area attended the luncheon. Some of those attending had known Edwards for more than 70 years, since they were Girl Scouts together, Brantner said.

A Many Hats of Mary Alice show in which people wearing different hats, from a mortarboard to a hardhat, told the story of Edwards varied and long ministry. Her story was also recounted in a rhyming acrostic on her name, written and read by Agnes Miller, a member of the committee.

We were there to tell her how much she meant to us, Brantner said. 

Next spring a garden, between West Rivers retreat and nature centers, will be created in her honor. 

Symbol a reminder to drive like a Christian

FORESTVILLE Members at Forest Memorial UMC want to counteract a negative image about some drivers on area roads. They have started the Ichthus Project with a goal to make small ceramic fish more pervasive than the Ichthus symbols often seen on rear bumpers.

When a friend told Doug Carpenter, a part-time sculptor, that drivers of cars with fish symbols were some of the meanest people she knew, he responded. Maybe if the drivers could see the fish symbols on their dashboards they would be reminded to think, act and love like Christians, Carpenter said. He went to work and the Ichthus project was born.

The church will send a thank-you gift of 12 ceramic, ready-to-hang fish, to anyone who makes a $20 donation to Forest Memorial UMC. See www.forestmemorialumc.org  or contact Carpenter at

Church bakes 47,000 cookies

RANDALLSTOWN Donna Gill, a member of Ward's Chapel UMC, coordinates the church's cookie project on the two days after Thanksgiving each year. But before then, she had to buy 40 pounds of butter, 10 dozen eggs and 400 pounds of flour.

More than 50 members of all ages, working in assembly line fashion from sun up until after sundown, mixed, rolled, cut out Christmas shapes, sprinkled colored sugar, popped in the ovens, removed and packaged 485 pounds of cookies, said the Rev. Donald Burgard. With more than eight dozen of the thin crispy cookies to the pound, that's a lot of cookies.

From the profits of the cookie sale, $1,200 will go toward the church's new air conditioner and furnace fund. Proceeds are also used to send youth to Camp Hope.

Sharing Christmas with the USS Roosevelt

HAGERSTOWN When members of St. Andrews UMC discovered that their pastors son, Lt. j.g. Preston Dunlop, was an officer aboard the USS Enterprise, they suggested becoming pen pals with the sailors. However, the Enterprise had just finished its tour of duty and was heading back to Norfolk, Va.

The Rev. Betty Dunlop e-mailed her son who put her in touch with the public affairs officer on the USS Roosevelt on its way to the Arabian Sea.

The Roosevelts chief, a United Methodist working with the Protestant chaplains, soon identified a lonely 19-year-old female sailor away from home for the first time. Corresponding with her is Nancy Wallech who told her young correspondent, Just call me Grandma Nancy, Dunlop said.

Each Christmas, St. Andrews members make hard candies as a fundraiser for their missions. Many pounds of this candy were sent to the crew of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, Wallech said.