Priscilla

 

If you know me you also know that the Creation Music Festival in PA has played a large role in my life for many years. In fact my Creation experience began in 1980. I was 24 years old. I am now 59. When I went on volunteer staff in 1985 the story really began. That was when the 'family' started to evolve for us. Over the years staff members have come and gone but for most of those years we have had the same core group. Young men with braids down their back have turned into...not such young men with blue hair around the side and no hair on top. Children have grown from toddlers to teens to young married to parents. Many of us are grandparents now with our new generation of Creation family in tow. What keeps us coming back has never been the music, or the preaching. What brings us back is the family reunion.You pick up where you left off the previous year and you catch up, laugh, work and pray. Us old timers are pretty die hard and most have not missed a year in decades.

My job as the Ice-Pop lady is very visible and even if they don't know me personally most people know who I on around the farm. Others are more behind the scenes kind of people and perhaps are not as easily recognized.
I think it was in 1992 that Fred McNaughton asked me to serve as supervisor for the Individual Campsite Ushers. This might be thought of as a step up from being a supervisors with the 6 pack crew. The six packs were how we referred to the wooden outhouses that housed 6 toilets each. But honestly that job was great for the seven years I did it. Melody a toddler when we started grew up holding the doors open for us and handing us toilet paper. Individual Campsite Usher was not my gift. I found it VERY stressful especially when the weather got bad. Jackie and Cathy were the supervisors over me. They paired me with Priscilla.  A red haired quiet woman who was perhaps a little harder to get to know. As my partner we each had a radio. I don't think Priscilla liked the radio because she would never use it! If a call came from Jackie or Cathy I had to answer it. Only I really didn't know what I was doing.. I often could not find Priscilla because she, as I mentioned, did not like to talk on the radio!  Did I mention that that job was stressful? But my partner rolled with it. Along the way I learned that she never married, had a government job and came up to the farm weeks in advance every year  to help Ken Taylor flag the fields. During this era Creation did not close the gates overnight. Priscilla and I pulled a few overnight shifts. It was then that I got to know this quiet woman. As the stars cascaded across the black  backdrop we sat in our golf cart and watched the light show. The crickets chirped and the night sounds echoed around us. The air was crisp and clear.Sometimes cold. We didn't bother to look at each other as the night was too dark for that and in this beautiful overnight shift we shared our hearts. We connected on a level that would not have been possible on any other shift. I felt so honored to be invited into this quiet woman's world.As I mentioned that I found Individual Ushering very stressful. It was also hard to work the schedule out because Melody was still a young child and I did not like leaving her overnight with her sisters at the campsite.( Yes this was pre-cell phone era!)  When Fred offered me the Head Supervisor for the Deaf Ministry area I jumped on it!  I don't remember how many years I worked with Individual Ushers  but I 'think' it was seven years. (WOW is that even possible??) Priscilla was always my partner. And she never spoke on the radio!! When I moved into my new job Priscilla and I would only run into each other now and then at meals. It was always good to see her but without the shroud of the dark night we never had any more deep discussions. But still we were family. We were different parts of the same body. We were the Body of Christ. When I read on Face Book today that Priscilla has died my heart instantly rushed back to our overnight shifts in the middle of the H field. I am thankful to have shared that time with her.I am shocked and saddened. I am grateful and encouraged. We are family we will have a reunion once again. Good night Priscilla. This shift is over. Your years of dedication and service to your Creation family are remembered. My heart is with your family now and with Cathy and Jackie and all the people who worked so closely with you for so many years. I am blessed to have known you. Until we meet again.