"In 1978 my late husband and his parents bought Spooners Creek Yacht Harbor, and John's parents moved here from Illinois. It was a family dream to have a family business. My father-in-law Bruce moved another dream to the marina—a collection of organ pipes and keyboards from several theatre organs. The pipe organ was installed at the marina, and the boaters loved to hear Bruce play ragtime and show tunes. A few years later, the family bought the restaurant next door to the marina—the Galley Stack. My mother-in-law Renee was the new manager. Renee learns fast though and the Galley Stack soon became the place for dinner and banquets.

"It was hard to find a place to go for the fellowship's Sunday brunches that could accommodate our group at a reasonable price. So Renee agreed to have us at the Galley Stack; she really went all out serving her famous sticky buns and other goodies. then, later as we outgrew the Webb Library, we rented an apartment over the restaurant for a R E classroom and storage and used the dining room for services and coffee. Renee gave us a key to the restaurnt and showed us ow to use the coffee maker. For the four years from 1989 until February 1993, this fellowship met at the Galley Stack Restaurant. I remember that we had to go upstairs to get the microphone and chalice from the bathtub in the efficiency apartment. After the children's story, we had to lead the children upstairs to their churchschool—and hope we did not lose anyone on the way!

"The fellowship hired Reverend James Barr, a retired UU minister from Memphis, while we were at the Galley Stack. He was here until he left to get married.

"The move [to our present church at 13th and Evans] ended a search that was several years long for either propery or a building. We even went to the zoning board to ask to have some property at the corner of Hwy 24 and Harbor Drive in Spooners Creek rezoned. The zoning board denied the request. My parents-in-law were building a big new house in Newport at about that time. One day after the report of the zoning board was printed in the newspaper, a worried delegation of their new neighbors met them at the construction site to ask 'Is your house so big because your church is going to meet here instead of at the Galley Stack?' I wonder what they though when the organ pipes began to arrive!" [Susan Fetzer, October 15, 2000]

Karen Baggott, President 1989
Alice Anderson, President 1990
John Russell, President 1991
Bob Vakiener/John Russell, President 1992
Laurel McGuire, President 1993

 

 

 

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