Member Spotlight, Carolyn Gautier

Member Spotlight
Carolyn Gautier

January 29, 2017

Carolyn Gautier was born in Chicago. Her father was in law school at Loyola University, and met her mother at an anti-communist rally. She has two sisters in Texas, a brother and sister in Chicago, and a brother and sister in California. There were originally nine children, of whom seven are still with us today. Her family was raised Catholic and always tells the story of when her father was dying, and Carolyn hadn’t been to church in a while. She felt compelled to get a priest to administer last rites for her father. It was the middle of the night, but she went to the church, knocked on the door, and asked the man who answered, “Are you a priest?” He said yes, and she asked him to come say last rites for her father. He agreed, and only later they found out that he was the pope’s emissary, at the church for a temporary time. Carolyn had gotten the emissary of the pope out of bed for her father. It’s that kind of dedication and loyalty that makes Carolyn such a good friend.

Carolyn worked and retired from AT&T after 25 years. She then worked in Austin for 2.5 years as a medical claims analyst, doing Medicaid claims for 99 counties. She retired in November, but may continue to do work for them from home. She liked the way her job was a puzzle, and she had to find the anomaly to finish the claim. She enjoyed the people she worked with, she could wear jeans, and they had good coffee. What could be better?

Recently, Carolyn and her sister purchased a duplex together in Gauthier, Mississippi. The town was founded by her great-grandfather. Mississippi is kind to seniors and seems like a good place to retire, but Carolyn wasn’t really intending to buy property there. This duplex just popped up, and the price and layout was just too good to resist. She is in the process of moving there, but she promises to come visit often.

Carolyn has been a member of the church for six years. She started by going to the Sunday School class led by Mitch and Lisa Drummond. She was most impressed when Mitch and Glynn Tucker got into an argument, but later they remained friends. Glynn, in particular, loves to banter back and forth with Carolyn but when the chips are down, he is there for her. He once came over in the middle of the night to help her get her lights turned back on. And once when she totaled her car, Debi Tucker met her at the police station to take her home. She has many friends at the church and counts Shirley Ball and Linda Clevenger as very dear women friends.

Her favorite hymn is Amazing Grace. Just hearing the hymn makes her cry every time. She loves the story of how it’s written, and that the song talks about redemption and renewal.

Her friends would describe her as funny and telling lots of funny stories. Many have told her to write a book. She really likes children, and has lots of nieces and nephews she enjoys. She is very close to her family. She’s easy going and grateful, and she takes nothing for granted. “I don’t worry because God has control,” she says. As for flaws, she does admit she will procrastinate.

Long before Carolyn came to Taylor, she had always enjoyed doing an artistic signature that includes a duck. Quite the coincidence! She loves to play games and especially darts.

Carolyn has fun all the time, and especially had fun one time when she went to China with some friends. They were on a double decker bus and ended up in the bus garage! They all just started laughing. The bus driver didn’t understand why they were laughing and, not speaking English, didn’t know how to help. They ended up taking a bus to the airport, calling the hotel, and getting a shuttle from there. They were just in hysterics.

We’re going to miss having Carolyn on a full time basis, but let’s hold her to that promise to come visit often!
 
Written by Robin McKinley


Challenge: Connect With Someone Different From You

This past Sunday, as part of breaking down the wall of division that we construct around ourselves, we were challenged to take a step toward reconciliation and connect with someone different from ourselves, whether theologically, politically, socially, economically, and so on. Checking in, how’s it going? 



Shepherd’s Heart Food Pantry Work Day

Helping Hands
 
Shepherd’s Heart Food Pantry
This Saturday, tomorrow, December 31, 2016, is our work day at Shepherd’s Heart here in Taylor. If you are able to help out for an hour or two, we could use your helping hands. Call Debi Tucker for more information. Otherwise, hope to see your beautiful and smiley faces bright and early in the morning. 🙂
 


Christmas Eve Service

Come celebrate the birth of Christ with us!
 
Christmas Eve Service, Saturday, December 24, 2016, 6:00 p.m.
 
Christmas Day Service, Sunday, December 25, 2016, 10:30 a.m.
 
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FUMC Ringing the Bell for the Red Kettle, Salvation Army

salvationarmy-2First United Methodist Church will be ringing the bell for the Red Kettle on Saturday, December 10, 2016, from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Wal-Mart on Main Street here in Taylor, Texas. 
 
Stop by to help by either ringing the bell or dropping your donation into the red kettle. Together with the Salvation Army, we can make a difference. 


Member Spotlight, Charlene Olbrich

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Member Spotlight 

Charlene Olbrich 
 
Charlene Olbrich was born in Whitney, Texas (the nearest big town is Hillsboro.) She was named after her dad, Charlie, and that’s why you pronounce her name CHARlene, rather than SHARlene. Her dad was a band director and they moved to many different towns following his job. She lived in Italy, Falfurrias, Rosenberg, Dayton (TX), Deleon, and back to Whitney. Her father passed away and her mother remarried. Her mom had three children, Charlene and twin sisters, and her dad had two children, a boy and a girl. The blended family became very close-knit and Charlene adored her step-father. The family calls her the strong one of the family, partly because she cared for her mother and father who lived across the street.

One day, her new dad got a job building the Alcoa plant and the family moved to Thorndale. Charlene was a sophomore in high school, and she graduated a mere year later, after her junior year. Little did Charlene know at that time that being a Thorndale ex would turn into such a big part of her life later on. Today, Charlene spends a lot of her time working for the Thorndale exes association. Every week, Charlene writes an article, most of the time including photos, about the exes for the Thorndale paper. The column is titled “Keeping up with the Thorndale Exes.” Every year, Charlene organizes events for the exes during homecoming week. They send out 2500 invitations, and a couple of hundred exes come every year.

Leroy Olbrich had already graduated from high school before Charlene arrived in Thorndale, but Charlene would see him working at the gas station. Once when they passed by, her mama said about Leroy, “If I were younger, that’d be my boyfriend.” Later, she was invited on a blind date, and some friends upset her terribly by telling her that Leroy was wild. It was a case of mistaken identity, and the “wild” Leroy worked at the gas station too, but the date was with Leroy Olbrich. A few years after Charlene graduated from high school, they married. Charlene walked down the aisle carrying Leroy’s bible that they still read every day.

Charlene and Leroy have a son, Jeff, who lives in Pflugerville. He got his BA, MA, and PhD from the University of Texas. He teaches statistics at St. Edwards University.

Charlene and Leroy joined the church about 15 years ago when the Thorndale UMC closed down. She remembers SR and Carolyn Moss met them at the door, and claimed them as member immediately. They were even put in the church directory before they were members. They had visited several other churches but found Taylor FUMC to be the most welcoming to them. Both she and Leroy love going to church. She loves our preacher and also loves to sit when it’s quiet and enjoy the stained glass windows. Charlene has served for several years as chair of the Finance Committee. Among her many talents, she is an organist and pinch hit for 9 months when we were without an organist, and Ellen Hannington played the piano. She also filled in as secretary once when the church was looking for a secretary.

Her favorite hymns are “How Great Thou Art” and “In the Garden,” because her mama loved it so much.
Charlene worked in the secretarial/financial administration of numerous schools, including Taylor High School. She also worked for a landscape company that she really loved. That company went from 27 employees to 500 employees in 3 years’ time. “I enjoyed working,” says Charlene.

Her hidden talents include painting and she has won first place on two of her paintings. She has numerous of her paintings decorating her house, including one of Leroy’s mother with the turkeys she raised. Another of her paintings is framed with wood from Leroy’s mother’s old house and another with wood from the outhouse. Charlene also has a huge talent for genealogy, and has 75 binders of information on her and Leroy’s families going back 30 generations and including 50,000 people. She and Leroy walked numerous cemeteries scouring the tombstones for family connections. The most famous family she has found are some close relatives of presidents, although none are direct ancestors. She would love to travel to Ireland to see the homeland of her ancestors and to visit the cemeteries there.

Charlene is an amazing woman, and an incredibly hard worker. In fact, I am so worn out thinking about all she accomplishes, I think I need to lie down for a little bit. Give her your appreciation when you see her!
 
Written by Robin McKinley
 
 


Member Spotlight, Megan Moss

Megan Moss

Member Spotlight, Megan Moss
 
Megan Moss has lived all her life in Taylor, and as a member of First United Methodist Church of Taylor. Her immediate family includes her mom and dad, Brad and Belinda Moss, and her sister, Amanda, who is married and lives in New York. Her fondest memories of childhood are of visiting her papaw, SR Moss, and mamaw’s house, watching movies and doing art projects with them.

Her biggest influence in the church has been her papaw, SR Moss. He has inspired her with his faithful attendance and dedication. She loves the fact that everyone at church is friendly with each other, and knows each other. “There’s a Sweet, Sweet Spirit in this Place” is her favorite hymn because she likes the music behind it and it sticks with her. She wishes we would sing that hymn more often.

Megan is a senior at Taylor High School this year. Along with the usual high school subjects, she has studied art for years, and also took a course in graphic design, which sparked her interest in pursuing graphic design as her career. Her hidden talent is drawing, which she does with any spare moments she has. Her favorite type of art is black outline drawings with Sharpies which was the technique she used on her favorite project of a tree with a swing and a man sitting in the tree.

Next year, she will enter the University of North Texas in Denton, and plans to study communication, focusing on graphic design. Her dream job would be to become a graphic designer and design logos and advertising that people see everywhere. She would prefer to work for a graphic design company because she would enjoy the greater variety of projects she could accomplish.

While in high school, Megan has enjoyed spending time with her friends, and learning new things. Her friends say that Megan looks out for them, and is smart because she knows the answers to the questions her teachers ask. She is also funny and can tell a really good story. Her caring nature shows in many ways, but especially in her participation in many community service projects. She gives of her time most generously, working for three community service organizations. Those three are Interact, which is a Rotary Club for high school students, National Honor Society, and Silver Cords, which is THS’s community service group. In Silver Cords, you pledge to do 160 hours of community service during your high school years. Megan is the Creative Officer for Interact and is the historian for NHS. Her favorite service projects are those when you interact with people such as the Kiwanis Club Pancake Supper because it is more personal, and she has done many projects that involve cleaning up a street or park in Taylor.

She also has participated in the High Steppers, THS’s dance team, for all four years of high school. She began dancing when she was little, studying mainly jazz. Her favorite type of dance now is creepy dance which is dark and tells a story. The most fun she’s ever had was to attend High Stepper camp. She admits it was a very stressful experience especially because they rose at 6 a.m. and went to bed at 3 a.m. for three days straight, but was fulfilling and a lot of fun working with her team and getting to know their strengths.

High Steppers also gave Megan the opportunity to become a stronger person. Last year, the director of the High Steppers was very challenging for her to work with, and Megan learned to push through the hard times and not give up. She was able to ignore the bad things, and continue on to a better year this year.

And in the midst of all those volunteer activities, Megan also puts in time at the family store. Something everyone may not know is that Megan started working for her mom and dad when she was in the 5th grade. Work days at the store may include anything from taking cash to wrapping gifts to filing.

With all her varied activities and hard work, next year is sure to be a great success for Megan. We will be looking forward to visits back home so that we can hear of her adventures!

Written by Robin McKinley



Bazaar and Baked Goods

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Holiday Bazaar and Fancy Baked Goods
 
Saturday, November 12, from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. 


Charge Conference

 
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Charge Conference is tonight, November 7, 2016, at 7:00 p.m. Everyone is invited!