More COR memories

I have been thinking of many treasured memories of COR and how much COR meant to our family…husband Ron and daughters Rhonda and Rosemary. …Our girls were baptized and confirmed at COR. Growing up they were always involved with COR activities…Church school as students and teachers, junior choir members, youth groups, Server/Crucifer guild. Our two grandsons were baptized at COR. 

I sang in the choir for many years, an alto-bird with Julia Cockshutt. After Julie retired from the choir, Catherine Smith and I were the altos until I had to ease off due to health issues. After Julie, and before Catherine, Nancy Craven, usually a soprano, sang with me for anthems when more volume was needed! Julie and I were also Altar Guild members, she taught me everything. I appreciated the lovely serenity of preparing the vessels and altar on Saturday afternoons. When Mom (Muriel) was living with us after Dad died she always looked forward to my Altar duty. We spent many special moments together, quietly getting things ready for next day’s services.

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I miss so much of COR life…worship and socializing with long-time dear friends every week, our shared events with Riverside United folks, special services at Easter and Christmas when the choirs joined as one, the FROGS coffee house evenings, all the parish activities, the wonderful feeling of belonging. 

— Rhoda Burton-Levert

My husband Ron and I and at that time one daughter Amanda joined the church in 1981….We found that COR was very friendly, very inviting. We felt at home almost right away. I was there when my second daughter was born, Sarah. She was baptized…

We both took part in all of the activities that are involved in running a good church—the parish councils, altar guilds, ladies’ guilds, finances, youth, it just became part of our lives….The church was very supportive. I could see that for everyone who had joyful marriages or sorrowful deaths….And when my husband died the church became much more of a home to me because by then my daughters were ready to leave the nest….I went on to become the secretary or administrative assistant, and I really enjoyed that position because you got to know many more people and got involved with the Diocese. I can’t remember how many ministers I saw come and go…

I had a very intense role at COR because I administered at the 8 o’clock and the 9:15 services. I did a lot of things. I felt very useful, and then when it all fell apart, I said “Where will I go and what will I do?” I have all these talents from administration to treasurer, to lay leader to altar guild, all those things that I could do and there was no place for me. That’s very hard. I think a lot of the people at COR felt that….Saint Thomas is a very different atmosphere, and that still is taking getting used to.

— Louise Shinga

Before our work with Lutherans in Barrhaven, and with the United Church in Westboro, Riverside Churches of Ottawa was a largely unheralded example of successful ecumenical sharing! I have many happy memories of life and ministry with the people of the Anglican Church of the Resurrection, and of partnership with the Reverend Paul Dillman and the people of Riverside United Church. While there were cost savings and efficiencies in sharing one building, the greatest benefit was energy that flowed through our partnership in the Gospel. The congregations genuinely cared about each other; ecumenical friendships and collegiality were real, as were the exchange of blessings. Of course, there were challenges, but such is the nature of community, whether within or between Churches. With challenges come opportunities to lean on God, and depend on the Spirit. But to everything there is a season, so too with churches. My lasting memories aren’t so much about the building, but of wonderful people and a close and caring congregation, full of unique and special characters! The legacy of the Church of the Resurrection continues within the Church of St. Thomas the Apostle, which has embraced Riverside Park and Mooney’s Bay in their mission field. 

— Archdeacon Peter Crosby