This week, we commemorated 75 years of Pearl Harbor. Though many of us were not alive at the time, we certainly learned about it in school. We also learned about Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Growing up in Hawai’i, I remembered not only learning about Pearl Harbor, but also visiting the USS Arizona Memorial as part of a school field trip, and also other times when my family would take other relatives who were visiting us. I also remembered my teachers, who were of Japanese descent, sharing their experiences of what took place in the aftermath, from US citizen to internment camp to life after. Caught in the crossfire of war, between their motherland of Japan and their new country, life was not only complicated but horrific. Isn’t that usually the juxtaposition and stories of war, casualty and innocence, oppression and liberation, prisoner and freedom, friend and enemy, love and hate, just-war and pacifist, war and peace, death and life. No one really wins when lives are lost and sacrificed. May we as Christians and as a Church do all that we can to prevent war and promote peace. May we take time during this Advent season to reflect and share the hope, peace, joy, and love that our Savior brings.

This past Sunday we enjoyed the Christmas cantata conducted by our very own Debby Vester and performed by our chancel choir. They really blessed everyone who were present with their amazing gifts and talents. Many thanks to Debby and the choir for their hard work and dedication!

This coming Sunday, our Mother’s Day Out children will join us at the 10:30 service and they will bless us with a few songs. Hope you will join us to welcome these young families to our worship service. Our message will come from Matthew 11:2-11.

Stay bundled up and see you Sunday!
Sela

Charlene Olbrich was born in Whitney, Texas (the nearest big town is Hillsboro.)  She was named after her dad, Charlie, and that’s why you pronounce her name CHARlene, rather than SHARlene.  Her dad was a band director and they moved to many different towns following his job.  She lived in Italy, Falfurrias, Rosenberg, Dayton (TX), Deleon, and back to Whitney.  Her father passed away and her mother remarried.  Her mom had three children, Charlene and twin sisters, and her dad had two children, a boy and a girl.  The blended family became very close-knit and Charlene adored her step-father.  The family calls her the strong one of the family, partly because she cared for her mother and father who lived across the street.

One day, her new dad got a job building the Alcoa plant and the family moved to Thorndale.  Charlene was a sophomore in high school, and she graduated a mere year later, after her junior year.  Little did Charlene know at that time that being a Thorndale ex would turn into such a big part of her life later on.  Today, Charlene spends a lot of her time working for the Thorndale exes association.  Every week, Charlene writes an article, most of the time including photos, about the exes for the Thorndale paper.  The column is titled “Keeping up with the Thorndale Exes.”  Every year, Charlene organizes events for the exes during homecoming week.  They send out 2500 invitations, and a couple of hundred exes come every year.  

Leroy Olbrich had already graduated from high school before Charlene arrived in Thorndale, but Charlene would see him working at the gas station.  Once when they passed by, her mama said about Leroy, “If I were younger, that’d be my boyfriend.”  Later, she was invited on a blind date, and some friends upset her terribly by telling her that Leroy was wild.  It was a case of mistaken identity, and the “wild” Leroy worked at the gas station too, but the date was with Leroy Olbrich.  A few years after Charlene graduated from high school, they married.  Charlene walked down the aisle carrying Leroy’s bible that they still read every day.

Charlene and Leroy have a son, Jeff, who lives in Pflugerville.  He got his BA, MA, and PhD from the University of Texas.  He teaches statistics at St. Edwards University.

Charlene and Leroy joined the church about 15 years ago when the Thorndale UMC closed down.  She remembers SR and Carolyn Moss met them at the door, and claimed them as member immediately.  They were even put in the church directory before they were members.  They had visited several other churches but found Taylor FUMC to be the most welcoming to them.  Both she and Leroy love going to church.  She loves our preacher and also loves to sit when it’s quiet and enjoy the stained glass windows.  Charlene has served for several years as chair of the Finance Committee.  Among her many talents, she is an organist and pinch hit for 9 months when we were without an organist, and Ellen Hannington played the piano.  She also filled in as secretary once when the church was looking for a secretary. 

Her favorite hymns are “How Great Thou Art” and “In the Garden,” because her mama loved it so much.

Charlene worked in the secretarial/financial administration of numerous schools, including Taylor High School.  She also worked for a landscape company that she really loved.  That company went from 27 employees to 500 employees in 3 years’ time.  “I enjoyed working,” says Charlene.

Her hidden talents include painting and she has won first place on two of her paintings.  She has numerous of her paintings decorating her house, including one of Leroy’s mother with the turkeys she raised.  Another of her paintings is framed with wood from Leroy’s mother’s old house and another with wood from the outhouse.  Charlene also has a huge talent for genealogy, and has 75 binders of information on her and Leroy’s families going back 30 generations and including 50,000 people.  She and Leroy walked numerous cemeteries scouring the tombstones for family connections.  The most famous family she has found are some close relatives of presidents, although none are direct ancestors.  She would love to travel to Ireland to see the homeland of her ancestors and to visit the cemeteries there. 

Charlene is an amazing woman, and an incredibly hard worker.  In fact, I am so worn out thinking about all she accomplishes, I think I need to lie down for a little bit.  Give her your appreciation when you see her!