On Sunday, immediately after the Festival Eucharist and UTO Ingathering, which ran long because of the thousands of people present, I hightailed it from the convention center to the hotel where the Province IV ECW luncheon was being held. Stepping from the bright California sun into the hotel's lobby caused momentary blindness, so I didn't immediately see who was standing right before me.
Then I heard, "So I don't even get a hello? That's a fine howdy." Things came into focus and I saw who was talking, Lauren Stanley! Lauren is a missionary of the Episcopal Church whose work is supported by the church women of North Carolina -- specifically, the ECW of the Winston-Salem Convocation, and she's a frequent visitor to the diocese. In fact, she'll be preaching and teaching in Winston-Salem next month before heading off to her new assignment in Haiti.
Lauren was with her older brother and the Rt. Rev. Shannon Johnston, the Bishop Coadjutor of the Diocese of Virginia, her sponsoring diocese.
Seeing the name of my diocese on my name badge, the bishop asked in what part of North Carolina I live. I told him and it turns out he knows the area well. Though he's a native of Alabama, his family put the Johnston in Johnston County. They also owned big chunks of Raleigh and Wake County. Well, the story goes on and it's a juicy one, involving shady deals and nefarious characters, and fortunes lost and somewhat regained, and a kind of penance that resulted in the giveaway of land upon which now sits a part of North Carolina State University. Devereux Street in Raleigh and the prime real estate around it? That too was part of the Johnston's portfolio once upon a time; Devereux is a family name. Easy come, easy go, eh?
None of this, of course, has anything to do with setting the course for the Episcopal Church for the next three years, but it sure was a fun conversation with home folk and down home folk and good all around Episcopalians. Lauren, her brother and the bishop left for their lunch and I headed to one of the hotel's ballrooms for mine. It just goes to show you never know who you'll run into at General Convention.
L to R: Alice Freeman, Sharon Curry, Lisa Towle and Vivian Edwards