Covered Dish for January

Since the first Sunday of the month for January is on New Year's day, we're postponing the covered dish until Sunday, January 8.

Be sure to come hungry on the 8th!

Sunday school information for New Year's Day

Just a head's up for this coming Sunday: the children's Sunday school class will not meet this Sunday. We'll be back on track on Sunday, January 8. As far as I know, the adult class will meet New Year's day as normal. The service will be at the regular time. See you Sunday, and hope your Christmas was a good and blessed one!

From the Burlington Times-News on 12/13/05. Congratulations, Mary!

Writer sees life through father’s eyes

Mary Flower Carter moved to Burlington three years ago

By Jim Wicker Times-News

When Mary Flowers Carter was growing up in New Bern in the 1940s and ’50s, the most convenient way for her family to visit relatives in Vanceboro was to take the creaky, well-worn ferry across the big Neuse River.
The old ferry, which operated long before and after Carter made the crossings, has been gone for many years. But it, along with almost everything else in her formative years, planted the seed for "Lest We Forget," her recently published novel.
Carter, who moved to Burlington three years ago, said the 238-page work is "written through the eyes of my late father, George Henry Flowers." The author, 65, said most of the book is based on actual occurrences during her childhood and adolescence.
An educator for 38 years, her career included teaching writing at Indiana University and Gary (Ind.) Community College. She said she used vivid memories of her day-to-day life with her parents and five siblings, events and hometown fixtures to spin her story of people and their lives in coastal North Carolina.
"‘Lest We Forget’ intertwines history and accounts of everyday life," Carter said. She said the stories are told in the book by "Joey Bloomfield," the fictional name she uses for her father, an uneducated but deeply caring and hard-working construction worker.
"My father, although he couldn’t read and write, was determined that I would go to school and college and get an education," said Carter, who worked at Macy’s in New York after high school to earn money for college. It was a happy day when she returned home.
"Dad was so proud the day I left for Winston-Salem State University that he immediately started telling people I was a teacher," she said. "I wasn’t, but that caused me to work hard so I’d not let him and my mother down." Carter graduated in 1962 with a degree in education.
She was employed for 37 years by the Gary, Ind., school system. For 30 of those years, she was a classroom teacher. After retiring in 1998, she taught writing classes to college students in Indiana before returning to North Carolina with her husband, Charles Carter.
The novel is the second for Carter, who published "Sweet Peppers, Sour Grapes & Wild Flowers" in August 2002. She said it has been well received and has sold well. For details on where to buy "Lest We Forget," priced at $21.95, call Carter at 336-538-1850.
When she’s not writing, Carter said she and her husband are active in sports and church. Both are volunteers for local charities, including Hospice. They have two adult daughters and two grandchildren.
Jim Wicker can be reached at jim_wicker@link.freedom.com

"Lest We Forget" includes stories told by "Joey Bloomfield," a fictional name Mary Flowers Carter uses for her father.

From the Burlington Times-News on Saturday, 12/10/05

Church welcomes Lutheran pastor

Times-News

On Sunday, Dec. 4, Redeemer Lutheran Church had a welcome service for the Rev. David Tessmann to install him as the new pastor. Pastor Tessmann graduated from Concordia Theological Seminary in Springfield, Ill., and met his wife, Janet, while doing his Vicarage at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Fraser, Michigan (1967-68). He was ordained at Grace Lutheran Church in Clarksville, Tenn.
Their first son, Jonathan, was born in 1970 in Dothan, Ala. Their daughter, Kimberly, was born in Blytheville in 1973. In 1975, David was called by the Missouri Synod to represent them as a missionary to members of the armed forces as an Army chaplin. David was first commissioned in Blytheville in June 1975. His first assignment was at Ft. Bliss, Texas — while there he received his Master of Divinity from Concordia Theological Seminary. In June of 1978, he served as chaplin to the 8th Army Drug and Alcohol Rehab Clinic at Camp Case, Republic of Korea. Their second son, James, was born in Hawaii in 1978 while David was assistant division artillery chaplain at Schofield Barracks. Through theological training and chaplin service, he rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel and also became chief of the Administrative Division at USACHCS. In 1966, he retired from the Army and accepted a call to be pastor of Peace Lutheran Church, Texas City, Texas, where he served for nine years.
He retired from active ministry on Oct. 31, 2005. David and his wife, Janet, and daughter, Kim, moved to Burlington in November when he accepted the position at Redeemer Lutheran Church as emeritus pastor. David is also enrolled in the doctor of ministry program at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri.
Redeemer Lutheran Church is located at 2306 Lacy St., Burlington. Sunday Bible class is at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, 11 a.m. worship service and Wednesday 7:30 p.m., Advent service.