MARY LOUISE HANSON MOORE

b. April 3, 1933

by Richard Moore, St. Anne’s Episcopal Church, Winston-Salem, NC, 2016

Mary Louise Hanson Moore

Mary Louise spent her early Episcopal life in the Diocese of Washington, first at St John’s, Mt. Ranier, from age nine to thirteen, and then at Grace Church, Silver Spring, through high school and college.

At St. John’s she set up the altar in the parish hall for the children’s service on Sundays, ran the mimeograph machine by turning a crank, sang in the church choir, and was a Junior Daughter of the King. The Junior Daughters had blue and white checked bows for their hair and white aprons trimmed with the same blue and white fabric. Their principal duty was to serve at church suppers. At Grace Church during her high school years she taught Sunday School and also sang in the choir. Neither church had a youth choir so she sang with the adults.

After college and marriage to Richard Moore at St. Luke’s, Richmond, Virginia, Mary Louise accompanied Dick for army service and graduate school. They then landed in Winston-Salem in 1957, and began a lifelong relationship with both St. Anne’s and St. Paul’s, which included teaching both adults and children, circle membership and all the activities that go with that. Mary Louise served on the St. Anne’s vestry and was Senior Warden for two years.

As she has become less mobile in recent years, Mary Louise has particularly enjoyed working in the St. Paul’s Bookshop and being a member of the Order of St. Luke, offering healing prayers at both the church and the jail. She has always loved seeing her children, and now grandchildren, singing in the choir and serving as acolytes, ushers and lectors.

ANNIE SUTTON CAMERON

September 30, 1896 – April 24, 1978

by Ellen C. Weig, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Wilmington, NC

Photo of St. Matthew’s churchyard courtesy of Ellen Weig.

Miss Annie, as she was fondly known, was a beloved member of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church and the Hillsborough community. In 1977, a “News of Orange Sketch” highlighted her life. She graduated in 1916 from St. Mary’s School in Raleigh, an Episcopal preparatory and junior college for young ladies, where she was described as involved “in everything” by her cousin, Rebecca Wall. She returned home to Hillsborough and spent her life teaching first grade. Miss Annie was described by a friend as “all sweetness, but she didn’t waste time in idle chatter. She knew rich and poor and looked after the lot of the underprivileged.” Miss Wall also said of her, “She was particularly bright, and she was very religious and a good poet, but I think she always wanted to teach.”

Highly significant to St. Matthew’s were Miss Annie’s efforts to insure the religious education of children. She not only taught Sunday School, but also made sure children and adults were able to get to church. For many years she drove to St. Mary’s Chapel in Orange County and taught there on Sunday afternoons. When services at St. Mary’s were discontinued, she drove out into the county and brought “the car-less” to church. Eventually, St. Matthew’s vestry authorized the spending of money for a new station wagon dubbed the “Gospel Car”. With it Miss Annie was able to continue bringing children to church.

Parish stories recall her sharing Sunday dinners with friends. Miss Sue Hayes, the organist at St. Matthew’s, would issue an invitation, “I’m having leftovers for lunch”, meaning people, not food. Miss Annie was often a participant at the meals. She was also known to place markers on unmarked family gravesites.

Miss Annie never married. Her mother had died at the time of her birth, and she was raised by her father and her three aunts. One of her aunts was Miss Rebecca Cameron, who most likely had great influence on her early religious upbringing. Miss Rebecca often commented in her column in Messengers of Hope and The Carolina Churchman about the “little maid” attending St. Mary’s school. Like her Aunt, Miss Annie was deeply interested in Hillsborough history. She wrote “Hillsborough and the Regulators” (1864) and “A Record of the War Activities in Orange County, North Carolina, 1917-1919”, a manuscript which describes local efforts during World War I, and the “Blue Death” influenza epidemic of 1918. Miss Annie was Miss Rebecca’s caretaker in her later years. One story has it that when Miss Annie attended a summer program for teachers at the University of North Carolina, Miss Rebecca would travel to Chapel Hill with her and remain in the car until classes were over. Those who knew Miss Annie always spoke of her fondly and with a reverence for her gifts to their lives. She is buried in the St. Matthew’s Churchyard amid her family and in sight of Cameron Park Elementary School where she taught for so many years.

Sources:

Stagg, Elisabeth. “A News of Orange Sketch: Annie Sutton Cameron”. The News of Orange County, Hillsborough, NC. Thursday, April 28, 1977.

The News of Orange County. Annie Sutton Cameron, obituary. Page 1.

Dula, Lucile Noell. Annie Sutton Cameron, written for the St. Matthew’s Cookbook, 1982.

Anne Sutton Rowe. http://www.sallysfamilyplace.com/Rayner/ARMISTEAD.htm genealogy for William Thomas Sutton and Annie Payton Outlaw.

Webb, Isabelle. Oral history and Hillsborough stories collected by Ellen Weig.

NANCY SALISBURY NEILL SPENCER

b. May 9, 1934

by Archives Committee, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Winston-Salem, NC, 2016

Nancy Salisbury Neill Spencer

A cradle Episcopalian hailing from St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Jackson, Mississippi, Nancy has been a member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church since she and her first husband Robert L. Neill moved to Winston-Salem. Through the years her activities at St. Paul’s have included: teaching Sunday School; Co-chairing the Bazaar; serving as Chairman of the Altar Flower Committee and serving on it for almost fifty years; member of Building and Grounds; and the Ecclesiastical Arts Committee.

In 2000 Nancy joined Nancy Sherk, a friend and fellow gardener in maintaining the annual beds at the church entrance. In 2002 she became a member of the newly commissioned Landscape Committee. Its immediate task was to oversee the development of a long-range plan for the grounds of St. Paul’s. At that time it was written about her, “Nancy has been a member of the flower committee of the Altar Guild for many years. She herself has a beautiful garden which has been visited by garden clubs as far away as Charlotte and Atlanta.” She has served on the Board and Board of Visitors of Kanuga Conference Center. She endowed and landscaped the Neill Entrance Park at Kanuga in 1987 in memory of her first husband, Bob Neill.

Nancy worked with Janice Lewis, a member of St. Paul’s and a Landscape Architect, on the Garden Chapel. David Bare of the Winston-Salem Journal wrote an article on the Garden Chapel and quoted Nancy as saying, “We would like the gardens surrounding the church to be as beautiful as the inside. After 9/11 people flocked to the gardens at St. John the Devine in New York.” “These gardens are sources of refuge and contemplation: as they extend the sacred beyond the church walls into the world,” wrote David Bare.

In 2011 Nancy was awarded the St. Paul’s Silver Cross for Service.

In her community she served in many capacities as a member of the Junior League of Winston-Salem and the Flower Lore Garden Club. In 2014 Nancy was presented the Wava Howard Award for Lifetime Achievement by the Garden Club Council of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County.

Nancy was married to Bob Neill from 1957 until his death in 1986. They lived on Club Park Road and had two children: Betsy Neill Blue and Thomas David Neill. In 1992 Nancy married James Y. Spencer and has a stepdaughter Bartlett Spencer Bassett. Together they have twelve grandchildren. Nancy continues to call St. Paul’s “her second home.”

JANICE MIDDLETON LEWIS

b. 1959

by the Landscape Committee of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Winston-Salem, NC, 2016

Janice Middleton Lewis

Janice joined St. Paul’s with her husband, Charles, and her daughter, Mary. A licensed landscape architect, Janice was quickly recruited by the Landscape Committee, and, after three years, became Chair of the Committee.

Under her leadership, a number of projects were accomplished over the next several years. The most exciting of these was the development of the “Garden Chapel” in the cloister area of the church. Janice and fellow parishioner Nancy Spencer designed and oversaw the project from beginning to end. They donated their labor; Nancy also made a generous donation toward the costs and Janice donated her professional services, including the design of the altar.

Other projects Janice initiated were the addition of plantings to the old burial ground (the lowest level of the cloister) and Japanese maples in each of the other two levels. Additionally, the chain link fence alongside the Paradise Herb Garden (Pilot View Street) was replaced with wrought iron fencing, and the remaining chain link fence along Pilot View Street was removed to open up the back yard. Most other chain link fencing on the church campus was replaced by decorative black fencing.

The unsightly and eroding hillside on the church’s property across Pilot View Street was regraded into an area that could be easily mowed; the dirt that was removed was placed over the gravel path in the back yard of the church to form a uniform grassy area, and the children’s playground was enlarged. The hillside behind the church was mulched to make maintenance of the area easier, and numerous plants were added to the hillside and along Pilot View Street.

On the chapel side of the church, Janice designed a rock garden. Trees were added to the front yard, including two Japanese Bloodgood maples and two Princeton elms. In the Dalton Memorial Garden, the Committee oversaw the addition of many plants, as well as the removal of overgrown ivy and liriope in the shrubbery beds. Leyland Cypresses were replaced with magnolias. In 2013, Janice and Nancy created the Nancy Pixley Wilson garden near the Goodheart entrance.

In addition to her work on the landscape, Janice is an Augustine tutor and has been active in Kids Café and the Order of St. Luke.

ELIZABETH ANDERSON REESE WARD

b. August 2, 1935

by Charles K. (Ken) McCotter, Jr., Christ Episcopal Church, New Bern, NC, 2016

Elizabeth Anderson Reese Ward

Few women have had a more diverse and important leadership role in Christ Church, New Bern, than Elizabeth Ward.

Elizabeth was born in High Point, North Carolina, where she was brought up in the Methodist Church and attended and graduated from two Episcopal schools: Stuart Hall and St. Mary’s Junior College. Following her graduation from St. Mary’s, she attended UNC-Chapel Hill where she graduated in 1957, married David Livingstone Ward, Jr. in 1958, and moved to Durham where David attended Duke Law School. While living in Durham, Elizabeth was confirmed in the Episcopal Church. After David’s graduation from Duke Law School, they moved to his hometown of New Bern in 1962 and followed the family tradition of membership in Christ Church. David joined the family law firm which is now known as Ward and Smith. Elizabeth concentrated on raising a family of Marty, Leah, and Dave while participating in numerous community activities. She became a member of the Craven County Art Gallery where she worked diligently and effected a merger with the Craven County Arts Council to form the New Bern Craven County Arts Council and Gallery. She also served as a Gray Lady at the hospital, delivered Meals-on-Wheels and among other activities, served as chair of the New Bern-Craven County Public Library Board and was involved in leadership roles raising funds for the expansion and renovation of the library facility.

At Christ Church, she taught Sunday school and Vacation Bible School, served on the altar guild for 20 years and was a member of Episcopal Church Women, serving at one point as its chair. She was elected to the parish Vestry and was named Senior Warden during the critical transition between the long rectorate of the Rev. Ed Sharp and the selection of a new rector, the Rev. Bob Dannals.

Elizabeth Ward and Ken Chance led Christ Church through a major capital campaign, which raised $6,500,000.00, to support the first major renovation and construction project at Christ Church in over 50 years. Completed in 2009, this project, with its beautiful chapel, and a multipurpose Harrison Center greatly expanded parish outreach in downtown New Bern.

Elizabeth has also played an active role in the Diocese of East Carolina. She represented the parish in diocesan conventions, and was selected to represent the Diocese for two terms on the Board of St. Mary’s School, was on the diocesan Executive Committee, and became president of The Episcopal Foundation of the Diocese of East Carolina.