Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ

Bryon and Dorothy Peterson (October 2007)

Dorothy and Byron Peterson’s early years could be a profile of rural life in Wisconsin. Yet each of them has a distinctive life story which also includes ORUCC’s history as a congregation.

Dorothy Schiesser Peterson’s parents owned a dairy farm located between Belleville and new Glarus. She spoke Swiss at home until she went to the same one-room school her mother and grandmother had attended. Dorothy is a New Glarus H.S. graduate. Because she took high school typing and shorthand courses, Dorothy secured a job with the Sate Board of Health. She saved earnings and attended UW for a year, after which she returned to her career. She greatly enjoyed secretarial administration responsibilities and is especially proud of being responsible for the verbatim recordings of monthly board meetings for the State Department of Health officer.

Byron grew up on a dairy farm near Dodgeville. Unlike Dorothy, an “only child,” Byron was the youngest of eight, a “preemie” whose parents were instructed told to “take him home, because he won’t live.” Family lore asserts that Byron’s first bed was a shoebox on top of the kitchen’s wood stove warming oven! He rode a pony during good weather one way and uphill to the one-room school he attended. (Ask him what the one-way pony did after that.) After he graduated from Dodgeville H.S., college was out of the question due to the Depression. He got a job milking seven cows three times a day for a farmer near Watertown. He took UW short-course and landed a county job testing milk for butter fat in Racine and Kenosha Counties. Later he worked for neighbors of Dorothy’s parents. That’s when Byron and Dorothy met.

In 1951 Byron and Dorothy married and moved to Madison where they lived for six years in a Monroe Street two-story flat on property where the public library is now located. For the next 13 years Byron worked in sales for Armour Meat Packing, after which he worked between 1964 and 1989 for Hoffman Chemical, where he became manager. While living in Madison, Byron and Dorothy went to every UW home football game.

In 1958 the Petersons moved to a home they built on Tolman Terrace, and that’s where they lived for 45 years until they moved to their condo four years ago. They have two grown children, Michael and Kathie and two grandchildren who are Kathie’s daughters: Kari, a West H.S. freshman, and Amy a Hamilton sixth grader. While Michael and Kathie were young, the family traveled to every state in the nation, usually camping and visiting national parks. Dorothy and Byron continue to enjoy traveling, especially to Europe. They like to read and go to movies. They spent the last five years doing the demanding work of cleaning up and renovating the Peterson Family Farm.

Byron and Dorothy have strong personal ties to our denomination and congregation. His family belonged to the Congregational Church in Dodgeville. Her home church was the Belleville Evangelical and Reformed congregation where Ruth Ley’s husband once was pastor. They belonged to First Congregational Church while living in Madison. They have countless ties to ORUCC which they call “home.” Although Dorothy and Byron carefully point out that they are not charter members of this congregation, joining Orchard Ridge in October, 1958, after attending services in Gordon and Jeanne Garnett’s home. Dorothy taught Sunday School, and one of the classes used to meet in the basement of their home. They were among the pairs of couples who used to take turns cleaning the church building on Saturdays, and they were nearby neighbors of the clergy families who lived in the former church parsonage. Dorothy served as Church Secretary for two years beginning in September, 1969, working four-hour days on Monday through Friday and less during the summer. She named our newsletter “The Communion.” At home she also worked for neighbor UW Professor Jon Udell. At one time Dorothy served as Clerk for our congregation, and she was also a delegate to the Annual Meeting of the Wisconsin Conference. Byron served on the Board of Property Management for four years; he reports improvements to the building including air conditioning, remodeling the bathrooms and bringing them up to code, adding the island and installing a dishwasher in the kitchen, and extensive rewiring.
Byron and Dorothy value ORUCC’s “loving, warm congregation,” the “fantastic” music, and they claim that “Over-55 is just the greatest group of people.” Their sister-in-law Mary Lou Peterson is also an ORUCC member. Dorothy enjoys the Quilting Group and the Women’s Bible Study.

“The community of the church just feels right,” according to the Petersons. And they should know!

Jim and Pat Hale (November 2007)

I met the Hales on what will probably turn out to be one of the last days of our Indian summer. The sun was bright and the temperatures warm. Journalism is not my calling, so my nerves were a little shaky. Pat and Jim welcomed me as a friend and immediately made me feel comfortable.

Jim and Pat both grew up in Wisconsin. Pat lived in Madison until she was about 12 years old, then her family moved to Sturgeon Bay. Jim was born and raised in Stoughton. When I asked how they met, Jim replied, “over a pile of dirty dishes!” Students at UW – Madison, they were both working in Elizabeth Waters dorm; he as a bus boy and she as a waitress. They had their first date on New Year’s Eve, 1944. As Pat stated, “We started dating, and never stopped.” They married in July of 1945 in Sturgeon Bay. Pat had graduated from UW and was working as a Physical Education teacher. She taught at area schools until finding the slot that was a good fit at Crestwood. She stayed there for 16 years and retired in 1971. Although they never had children, they have many nieces and nephews scattered throughout the US. Pat enjoys quilting, bowling, bridge, and works out twice a week at UW Sports Medicine in the Senior Dance class.

When they got married, Jim was in his last year of graduate school. His graduate degree is in Wildlife Management. I asked him how he had arrived at that career choice and he said that as an undergraduate, he had struggled with his original major choice: Zoology. He sought guidance from a professor whom he admired greatly and was urged to switch to Botany instead. Jim followed his advice then and throughout graduate school. Turns out, his guiding professor was none other than Aldo Leopold!

Jim worked as a Wildlife Biologist for the Department of Natural Resource and retired in 1983. He has written several books, including Snow Fleas to Sunflowers and Going for the Mail: A History of Door County Post Offices. He always enjoyed the outdoors: hunting, fishing, and research work. He and Pat have traveled throughout the U.S. and enjoyed the accommodations of U.S. Elder Hostels on many occasions. Summers were spent at a family cabin north of Sturgeon Bay in what is primarily a wildlife sanctuary. They worked in Bailey’s Harbor with the Ridges organization, established in 1937 for the purpose of land preservation.

Through five regular and several interim pastors, Pat and Jim have been active members of Orchard Ridge UCC since 1960. Theirs was the first membership class in the new building. Jim sang in the choir for 20 years and served as moderator for three. Pat was the leader of the Women’s Bible Study for a few years and both acted as church historians for six years. They have worked as stewards and served on committees.

I am very thankful I had the opportunity and privilege to meet the Hales. As many of you know, Jim passed away on Sunday, November 4 after a battle with cancer. (Jeanne S. McLellan)

Sam Godfrey (December)

Church congregations have been very important in the life of Sam Godfrey. But Sam has never belonged to any congregation for very long, that is until he came to Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ 15 years ago. You’d have to know Sam’s history to understand why he bounced around to many congregations.

You see, for over 35 years Sam Godfrey was a pastor in the United Methodist Church, which moved him to many congregations over the years. Listing the communities of Sam’s pastoral assignments is like reading a Wisconsin atlas. Do you know where all these communities are? Palmyra, Oakfield, Milwaukee, East Troy, Marinette, Wild Rose, Beloit, Marshall, Mercer and Brooklyn.

After Sam retired, he moved to Madison where two of his three children lived (and still do) and soon became an ORUCC member. Sam was very active in both the Men’s and the Over 55 groups. Sam says that he really appreciated the warm and welcoming members over the years, and always had a lot of friends at ORUCC.

Sam has always been a very good conversationalist who was full of stories about his days as a pastor. And his conversation is rich with information about his interests, one of which is opera.

Sam has loved the opera for many years. He would make trips to New York City to go to as many opera performances as he could squeeze in. And every Saturday afternoon, Sam listens to the Metropolitan Opera on public radio.

He’s also been an avid reader. His daughter, Susan, remembers Sam reading a lot as she grew up, getting most of the books from the interlibrary loan program in the communities in which he resided. Liturgical music was another reading interest.

Sam jogged for many years to stay fit, and when he lived in the Madison area, he was a singer in the Madison Symphony Chorus.
The Appleton native enjoyed playing English handbells so much that he purchased his own set. Sam’s wife, Ruth, directed bell choirs in the churches where Sam was pastor. Sam and Ruth had three children, Tom and Alice, in addition to Susan. Ruth passed in 1981 due to cancer. Sam also has three grandchildren who live in Madison.

Sam retired from active ministry in the early 90s and moved to Madison. He became an active member of ORUCC and regularly participated in the men’s group. Sam said he really appreciated the welcome he received from all the members, and that he had a lot of friends in the congregation. Members who knew Sam well then talk about his great breadth of interests, his interest in discussing current issues and his sharing of tender and humorous stories from his various pastorships.

Sam also attended worship services at other churches in the area. But Sam was always a regular attendee at ORUCC — until last year when declining health prevented him from getting away from Oakwood Village, where he’s lived for many years.