Me, Her, the Boy and a Dog

This past weekend I had the unique opportunity to meet a lot of great people associated with Blacksburg United Methodist Church through its affiliation with the Wesley Foundation. My friend Ginger earned her master’s degree at Virginia Tech in 2007 and during her year at Tech she sang for the Wesley Foundation’s “Wesley Singers.”

The Wesley Foundation - and the Singers - have been led by Glenn and LaVina Tyndall for the last 35 years. Earlier this year, they announced that they would retire at the end of June, so the 35th Anniversary celebration scheduled this past weekend took on added significance… It would also serve as a farewell party of sorts.

Before this weekend, I had never met anyone from Wesley, other than Ginger. After the weekend, I wish I had been a part of such a close-knit family! Nearly 400 alumni, family and friends came from all over the country and even one very prominent alum flew in from Germany. Robert Chafin (‘83) is a professional opera singer in Germany and sang for two years with the Wesley Singers while at Virginia Tech before he was encouraged to transfer in order to achieve his dream of becoming a professional singer.

Ginger was a member of the planning committee that organized the entire event. One of her main responsibilities for the weekend was to arrange for the table decorations - no small task for 44 tables. Half of the tables were decorated with fresh flowers and the other half with heart-shaped dishes with decorative rocks surrounding a vanilla-scented candle. Every table came with three helium-filled balloons of alternating maroon and white.

Ginger and her sister, Sarah, went to the location of the event - the Christian Life Center (CLC) - on Friday evening to begin setting things up. Later that evening, Sarah, her boyfriend Josh, Ginger and I went to the War Memorial Gym on campus to watch some water polo between the “old people” and the “young people.” We were amazed by the turnout in the stands - it was packed! Naturally, I cheered for the “old people,” except for when Sarah played in the women’s game. As expected, the younger team won both games, but while the men’s game was a blowout, the women’s game was much more competitive. Regardless, everyone had a good time!

Early Saturday morning, we all went back to the CLC to continue setting up all the tables, chairs and decorations. I helped with the balloons by inflating them and attaching ribbons. Two other volunteers tied three balloons together, attached them to rocks with the words “Love Grows Here” (the theme of the event) painted on them, and set them on every table.

Ginger and Sarah arranged 22 vases of fresh flowers to put on half of the tables. Then, we put programs on every table - one for each seat. After about three hours, we were done for the most part. We packed up and headed home to shower and change clothes. Ginger and Sarah had choir rehearsal at 1:30 while I was off to the 2009 Virginia Tech Spring Game.

We met up around 3:30 to head home and get ready for the big evening. We arrived at the CLC (again) around 4:50 to make sure everything was ready. A few more balloons had deflated, but Ginger took care of them while I ran home to pick up a few things and make sure my place was ready for company - my friend Niemo and his girlfriend were crashing at my place since they were in town for the spring game.

I got back to the CLC right before it officially began. The caterers had arrived and I could smell the food. A ton of people were gathering - some of whom I had met the night before at the water polo games. I finally found Ginger, got my name tag and was ready to enjoy the evening with my lovely date.

All things considered the evening went off without a hitch! Everyone raved about the table decorations and rightly so - Ginger and Sarah did a great job! The food was average, but we weren’t there for fine cuisine, we were there to socialize and have a good time.

Glenn got up to speak toward the end of the meal and it was clear that he was overwhelmed by how many of his former students had returned to Blacksburg for the reunion. More importantly, I think they were there to honor Glenn and thank him for all that he and LaVina have done for so many people. I was amazed to learn that Glenn, an ordained minister, had officiated the weddings of more than 80 Wesley couples! And by couples I mean people who met while in Wesley. That’s more than 2 couples a year. To me, it illustrated what a close-knit group Wesley is.

After dinner, everyone pitched in to clear the tables, stow them away and set up the chairs for the night’s entertainment called “Coffee House.” It was a mixture of skits, music and comedy (or at least attempts at comedy). But one thing was evident throughout the entire evening … Glenn and LaVina made quite an impact on the lives of so many. Grown men were reduced to tears as memories were shared.

In the end, the emcee of the evening, an alum in his 40s, was wrapping up the event and was trying to convey to the Tyndalls just how much they have meant to so many. He said that “Thank You” just didn’t cut it. As he fought back the tears, he said that best way any of the alums could thank Glenn and LaVina, was to go out and give back the way that they did. Go out and make a difference, he said. I looked around the room and saw plenty of tears and even more smiles. When he finished, the crowd of 400+ stood in unison and applauded their minister and friend. It was a powerful scene - of which I was very honored to be a part.

Sunday at church, the Alumni Wesley Singers performed and Ginger was up there with them. They sounded great! My favorite song off their CD is Amazing Grace (<— click to listen). The entire service was mostly music and while it lasted nearly 90 minutes, you completely lost track of time. Rober Chafin, the tenor who sings professionally in Germany, sang “The Lord’s Prayer” in operatic fashion and it sent chills down my spine when he got to the end. I had never neard such a powerful voice in person and it was incredible.

Though it was an exhausting weekend, we had a lot of fun and made a lot of memories!

Ginger and I outside the CLC before the dinner.