Member Spotlight Archives - Page 4 of 5 - First United Methodist Church

Member Spotlight, Roy Rogers

Posted on Oct 28, 2016 in BLOG, Latest News, Member Spotlight |

Member Spotlight, Roy Rogers

Roy Rogers was born in Poteet, Texas, and grew up on a farm and ranch. His family raised cattle, hogs, and milk cows, goats and horses. His granddad gave him a horse when he was three years old and from that young beginning, he rode nearly every day until he was 40 years old, moved to town and didn’t have room for horses.

Roy was married to Pat for 54 years before her passing in 2013. He and Pat had 2 sons and 2 daughters, and 3 granddaughters and 3 grandsons. They lost one daughter in a car/train accident. “My family was my main objective,” he says.

His friends describe him as friendly, loving, quiet and faithful. “And I’m hard of hearing,” Roy adds with a grin. And he loves to play cards. He has the most fun with his friends and family playing games (42 was mentioned, but Pitch has become a new favorite.) “Doing family stuff is what I enjoy,” Roy declares.

After college, where he studied Ag Ed, Roy worked for the Soil Conservation Service, a part of the USDA. Later he bought out an Exxon agency in Taylor. He distributed gas, and ran 2 convenience stores and 2 service stations. He retired in 2000. He liked best working with the people. “You run into all types of people, and learn to deal with them,” Roy says. He feels his Exxon business was his second biggest success. His biggest was raising his beautiful family.

Roy and Pat joined the church in 1975. His mother-in-law and father-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. George Busby, were already members of the church. Roy appreciates the friendliness of Taylor FUMC. Roy adds, “I like the people. They make you feel welcome.” His two favorite hymns are “Amazing Grace”, and “In the Garden”. He was raised in a Baptist church, and these are hymns they sang.

Roy would like to travel to Wyoming and the western part of the United States, but he admits he is not much of a traveler. He likes New Mexico, and used to go to Ruidoso and listen to music. They had a festival there with old bands, and he and Pat would dance Western dance and the two-step. Together, they won many contests as best dancers.

In fact, dancing was a favorite past time for Pat and Roy. “We loved it,” Roy remembers. They started dancing the day they met at SW Texas. And they were selected by their class to be representatives for Frontier Days. They wore matching shirts and dresses at the special weekends, and rodeos.

Roy taught his kids to dance as well. His daughter, Trisha Copeland, fondly remembers learning to dance by standing on her daddy’s feet. She reports her mom and dad had been dancing as long as she could remember.

Another thing Roy loves is the outdoors. Roy was an avid gardener before his back started giving him trouble and he still loves it. He likes to grow flowers and vegetables: tomatoes, squash, and bougainvilleas. Also, he spent many a happy hour hunting with his sons and grandkids. They would take his hunting dog, a Brittainy Spaniel, out to hunt deer, dove, and quail.

And his hidden talent is that he can yodel – well at least, sing. He once sang “Lovesick Blues” for the 4H Club competition and won third place! He loves music and singing. Get Roy to demonstrate his yodeling, er, singing skills for you! Don’t let that quiet exterior fool you! He has friendship and many talents to share.

Written by Robin McKinley

Member Spotlight, Debby Vester

Posted on Oct 21, 2016 in BLOG, Latest News, Member Spotlight | Tags: debby vester

Member Spotlight, Debby Vester

Debby Vester was born in Lyons, Kansas and lived there until she was 5 years old. Her dad worked for an oil company, so they moved to Odessa, Texas, where she first took piano at age 7. Later, the family moved to Thousand Oaks, California and she graduated from high school there. She attended California State University in Northridge, studying music, and took one semester in organ. She majored in Home Economics and planned to teach.

She married her husband, Roger, who is a CPA, and they moved to Midland. By then, her family included her son, Mark. Mark is now in the army stationed at West Point, and flies helicopters. (Ask Debby to show you the pictures!) He is married and has 2 children, Isabella who is 9 and Jackson who is 6. Later, daughter Kelly came along. She is also married, lives in Georgetown, is an emergency room nurse, and is mother to Kaden, who is 9, and Kamryn who is 2 months old. You’ll never find a prouder grandma than Debby!

In Midland, at her church St. Luke’s UMC, Debby was asked to play piano by the choir director, and then he suggested she try out the organ in the church. One thing led to another, and soon she was playing the early service, and later, the other services, and also playing for the youth choir. She’s been playing organ ever since. She was a music assistant as well. She has been playing two services a Sunday for a little over 30 years. Today, of course, she is both director and organist – a fete she is accomplishing superbly.

Her darling mother, whom Debby lost this year, laughed and laughed that Debby became a full time musician because of the fights they used to have when Debby was a child and didn’t want to practice. She used to say, “I can’t believe you ended up on an organ bench!” Of course, Debby thanks her now and her mom was so proud of her.

Debby has taught children and youth from 3- to 4-year-olds all the way up to high school. She loved the times that she would go with her Midland church’s youth choir on their annual summer trips. They travelled many places, including the US, England and New Zealand, playing concerts all the way.

One treasured memory of those trips was when she went with the choir when they did a Wesley tour of England. One concert was in the Wesley Museum in London. Debby got to play on John Wesley’s instrument, a manual organ enclosed in a cabinet with a very narrow keyboard. The thrill of playing the same keyboard that John Wesley played was a once in a lifetime event. The instrument is worth $800,000 today.

Debby likes music because it touches people. She says, “You never know who or why, but it will help somebody. You never know.” Debby says 90% of the hymns in the hymnbook are her favorites, but she particularly likes “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee” (just because) and “O, for a Thousand Tongues to Sing” because that’s the hymn she played on John Wesley’s instrument.

Remember to listen and appreciate the gift that Debby brings to us at Taylor FUMC. You can hear that all those years of practice paid off!

Written by Robin McKinley

Member Spotlight, Frieda Isbell

Posted on Oct 7, 2016 in BLOG, Latest News, Member Spotlight | Tags: Frieda Isbell

Member Spotlight, Frieda Isbell

October 7, 2016

Frieda Isbell was born and raised in Houston, Texas. She attended art school, married and began traveling to many different places. She lived in Guadalajara and Monterrey, Mexico, as well as Louisiana and many places in Texas, including San Antonio, Rosenberg, and Bryan/College Station. Her first husband attended medical school first in Mexico, then in Texas. They had two children.

In 1992, her husband died, and she was left to raise her young children and support her family. She went back to school and became an art teacher. She met and married Mike Isbell who she says is her best friend.

After receiving her teaching degree, Frieda taught for 11 years. Frieda loved teaching and really enjoyed the kids. She taught high school for six years, and then switched to elementary school for five years before she retired.

Don’t think for a minute that Frieda has been sitting at home twiddling her thumbs since retirement. No, she has been busier than ever. She creates gorgeous oil paintings. Some she has used as the subject of her earring line that she created by reducing the paintings to a small size. She is embarking on a new angel-themed portfolio.

And not only does Frieda draw, paint and create other works of art, she also writes! She is the author of a novel, titled Ice Angels. She is planning a sequel soon.

Frieda’s family likes to say she is crazy, of course in a fond way. She says she is the crazy artist aunt of her family. Her kids appreciate her cooking talents. She is an avid watcher of the TV show “Chopped,” and loves to throw unexpected ingredients together to create a new, delicious dish. She never cooks the same thing twice, loving the thrill of experimentation.

Frieda and Mike have been members of the church for four years. She remembers being most warmly welcomed by Vesta Ryan who brought cookies to her house when she first joined. Frieda likes best about Taylor FUMC, she replies emphatically, “The people.” She says that everyone has been really sweet to her and Mike.

Frieda wasn’t always Methodist. In fact, for many years, she was atheist. Her first mother-in-law, whom Frieda dearly loved, kept praying that Frieda would know God. One day, suddenly, Frieda had an experience she could only describe as an indwelling of the Holy Spirit. After that, she never doubted the presence of Jesus. She went to lots of churches, and looked for ones that matched Jesus’s teachings, one that was a refuge from the world, where everyone would accept each other as sisters and brothers. Her favorite hymn is “In the Garden” and she has a beautiful voice to match.

Despite the hard times in the past, Frieda has had a lot of fun in life. “Mike and I do a lot of laughing,” she says. They love to ride motorcycles, go with their family to Matagorda Bay, go snorkeling and horseback riding and have gone on several cruises to such places as Cancun, Cozumel and Hawaii. She still would like to go to Jamaica on a cruise, but on their Hawaii cruise, they got so sick that it is hard to get up the nerve to go on another cruise.

When you next see Frieda, be sure to ask her about her paintings and her book. There is sure to be a sequel coming out soon!

Written by Robin McKinley

Member Spotlight, Carmen Tucker

Posted on Sep 22, 2016 in BLOG, Latest News, Member Spotlight | Tags: carmen tucker

Member Spotlight, Carmen Tucker

September 25, 2016

Carmen Tucker was born in Waco, but moved to Austin and grew up there. Her mom is from New Jersey, is an attorney and a vice president at a college, as well as running a catering business. Her father is from California and is a head hunter for executives and is semi-retired now. Her mother and father divorced when Carmen was a girl, and her mother remarried. Her stepdad is a retired police officer.

Carmen’s mom loves to say that Carmen is creatively inclined, and that she thinks outside the box. (Thanks, Mom!) Carmen’s creativity led her to earn her bachelor’s degree in art, which she uses in her hobby of finding broken antiques and restoring them into something beautiful. She is particularly proud of fixing chairs that came from her grandma, screwing them by hand since she doesn’t have a drill. She also restored a table top into a piece of art that she has hung on the wall. But her best friend has put the brakes on Carmen adding more furniture to her house, threatening to put tags on any new items and having a sale!

All that creativity, and restoration, as well as Carmen’s keen ability to show compassion plays right into Carmen’s profession and passion: teaching kids. She says it isn’t always about fixing something, but about getting it where it needs to be. Before starting in the classroom, Carmen earned her master’s degree in Human Services.

Carmen now is a special education teacher as well as a resource and inclusion teacher. This is her first year in the classroom, but she previously was engaged in college and career counseling as well as after-school programming at LBJ High School. Carmen loves her job, and she likes best to watch students’ faces light up when they come in her room. Students know her room is a safe place, and Carmen feels like she is doing God’s work with her students. She says, “Pay scales fade into the background when the students come in and we begin to work together.”

Carmen’s hidden talents are cooking, a talent she got from her mother. She loves crock pot cooking, and baking. Her specialty is strawberry cake. I sure hope she brings that to a fellowship luncheon one day!

Carmen joined Taylor FUMC in July, and she was welcomed most warmly by Mitch and Lisa Drummond. She loves the size of the congregation, and the casual and friendly approach of the church. She always dreamed of living in a small town where she can slow down and recharge. She finds the church to be her refuge.

Carmen’s favorite scripture is from Deuteronomy 31:6: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” She says she hasn’t always been strong, and it reminds her to stay strong.

Be sure to give a hearty welcome to Carmen. What a blessing to have all that talent and dedication that Carmen brings!

Member Spotlight, Bob Keller

Posted on Sep 15, 2016 in BLOG, Latest News, Member Spotlight | Tags: bob keller

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Bob Keller Member Spotlight September 18, 2016

In central Kansas, about 50 miles west of Wichita, is a little town called Penalosa. That’s where Bob Keller grew up on a farm. In another little town close by, Donna Keller grew up, and Bob met her while they were still in high school, and they later married. They have four children, two boys and two girls. The youngest boy lives in Georgetown and they moved to Taylor to be close to him. The other three live in Florida, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. They have nine grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren, with two more arriving soon. Bob says the experience of having children made him a stronger person. All of us parents know what he means!

Bob was one of seven children himself, six boys and one girl. A favorite family story is about Bob and his brother climbing the outside of a 60-foot tall silo to install a blower pipe.

It’s that can-do attitude that held Bob in good stead in his years of working for Boeing and later as manager of computer programming for IBM. Going from a time when they used punch cards for programming up until the modern computer era, Bob saw a lot of change in his field. In the last 4 or 5 years of work, he worked on Data and Process Programming, and used a modeling tool which he got very good at, and enjoyed doing.

The Keller family moved every 7 years until Bob retired, living such places as New Orleans, Huntsville, Alabama, and Little Meadows, Pennsylvania. Everywhere they lived, they made life-long friends.

After retiring, Bob and Donna moved back to the Penalosa, Kansas farm where he was raised. They raised show llamas for 17 years, and Bob was treasurer and later president for the Golden Plains Llama Association. They entered their llamas into many shows and had three champion male llamas that were in the top ten in the nation.

Bob and Donna joined Taylor FUMC three years ago when they moved to Taylor. He was an enthusiastic member of the Grace Notes choir, playing guitar and even learning bass to add to the music. He says playing guitar is the most fun he has ever had, and Donna reports he has a very nice voice. Bob’s favorite hymns are “Here I Am, Lord” and “The Hymn of Promise”. The music to “Here I Am, Lord” is chiseled into his headstone.

Even his church friends may not know that he used to carry a 172 average in bowling, and that he has a garden railway layout that includes 4 complete trains, buildings, people, horses and wild animals and 600 ft. of track. Be on the lookout! He may set it up for Christmas this year. Bob collects many things including belt buckles (beginning with his dad’s collection), coins, butter churns, and depression glass. And if money were no object, Bob would set up a charity foundation that would provide babysitting services to allow women with small children to attend college.

What a blessing to us that Bob Keller is a member of our church!