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9.02.2012The Call of the Ocean
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Somewhere between 1967 and 1968 Charlotte was recruited to be the director of Twin Rocks Friend camp at Rockaway Beach. She had given Silverton 10 years.The congregation of 23 women, men and children who built the building in the fall/winter of 57-58 had grown to 140. About the same size that the church is today. There is no evidence that there were any hard feelings except grief when she announced that She and Dorothy would be moving to the coast. She maintained close friendships with the people at Silverton until her death. I am fairly certain that she was not bored. In addition to sheep-dogging a growing church and being active in the local community, she was serving the Yearly Meeting as well. She was on the nascent board of Friendsview Manor. One of the members of that exploratory committee told me this: “Charlotte had this idea that a bunch of Quakers could build a building that cost a million dollars – I thought it was the dumbest idea I ever heard – good thing they didn’t listen to me." That million dollar building became a multi-million dollar campus that was Dot's final home. She served on the YM board of Evangelism. She was chairman of the Spiritual Life Board. She was a member of the George Fox College Board of Trustees. She drove to Newberg a lot. But she felt a strong call to the training of young people. She believed that camp experiences were an important part of that work. The Camp at Rockaway Beach was still pretty primitive. It wasn't a lot of use in the winter. Charlotte had this dream where it became a year round conference center that offered nurture, training and retreat to all ages and types of folks. Jesse Almquist thought that giving up regular Sunday preaching was a hard thing for Charlotte. But the Silverton folks recognized the signs of a true calling in her. After all, they had seen it before. . |
