This morning John spoke with Rev. JoBeth McLeod of First Presbyterian Church in Alpine. Rev. McLeod was very gracious and knew Elizabeth well. Although an Episcopal for much of her life, Elizabeth had formally joined the First Presbyterian Church.
Rev. McLeod will be in Austin from June 1-12, so we may postpone the Alpine service until mid-June or so. John will be in touch with Rev. McLeod while she is away, so we should be able to finalize a date in a few days or so for a service in Alpine. Also, depending on how things turn out, it might not even be possible to hold a service the weekend of June 6-7. However, there is a possibility that we might do something that weekend in Alpine at the funeral home. Things are clearly in a state of flux and John hopes to know more by Tuesday afternoon. Unless the course of events causes us to change plans (again), John will arrive in El Paso late Monday evening and be in Alpine/Marfa on Tuesday.
In the meantime, John asked Rev. McLeod to convey three messages from our family to the community in both Alpine and Marfa: The first is that the entire family is extremely grateful from the bottom of our hearts to all of you in Alpine/Marfa/West Texas for helping Elizabeth during her time there, no matter how great or small your assistance or contribution. The second is that we ask that you please spread the word about this website to your friends so that they can keep informed with regard to memorial service plans for Elizabeth, and to check back frequently for updates. The third is that all of you are encouraged to post your thoughts, memories, condolonces, etc. on this site – sharing your stories is what makes this site come alive for both our family and for your friends and neighbors who stop by to take a look.
We are not making any changes to the plans for the service in Houston at this point, described in the previous post below.
– posted by John McBride at 3:30 pm on May 31, 2009