Declaring God's Faithfulness: My Story

I was born in Denver, CO, the oldest of five siblings, into a non-churched home. My mother knew it was important for her children to go to church.  She sent us to local churches and store-front church, but she did not take us to church. One more move placed our family across the street from the Denver Seventh Day Baptist Church and next door to the parsonage.  The pastor's wife gave me piano lessons in her home and allowed me to practice on her piano. I loved that church. I loved the church music. I loved Vacation Bible School, I loved going to church camp located in the mountains above Boulder. I became a member of the church after my baptism when I was twelve years old.

December 31, 1949: my family moved from plumbing to no plumbing, from a city yard to five acres of wonder in Littleton, Colorado. My brothers, sister and I commuted every Sabbath via public transportation to the church in Denver. I memorized lots of scripture through Sabbath school and Christian Endeavor.  I was named Christian Endeavorer of the year for Denver.

After high school graduation, I graduated from Milton College, Milton, WI. - a sister school to Alfred University. Both schools were established by Seventh Day Baptists. While there, I attended SDB churches in Milton and Milton Junction - singing in the church choirs. A social gospel was preached there. The summer after my graduation, the denomination named me SDB Youth Worker and I worked all church camps east of the Mississippi. At the end of summer the denomination sent me to conference in Geneva, WI for church youth workers and sponsored by the National Council of Churches.  I came away from that with a very negative opinion of the Council.

Sept. 1959 - I took a teaching position in Whitesville, NY.  I did not have a car or license to drive one; so I caught the bulk-tank milk truck in Whitesville for a ride to Independence, NY to the SDB church there. While working in Whitesville, I occasionally got to Alfred Station where I met Simon Aldrich who had just been discharged from the Army. He was a member of the Alfred Station SDB church.

July 1960 I married Simon in the Denver SDB church. God blessed us with three daughters. In 1963, Simon accepted a promotion with the NYSDOT and we moved to Avon. Every Sabbath for 5 years we drove to Alfred Station to worship. More social gospel. In 1968 we moved to Greenwood, NY while we built our home in Alfred Station.  Simon had accepted a transfer to the DOT office in Hornell.

Simon and I agreed that we were spiritually starving. We began to look for a church home and spiritual food. We spent about fourteen years worshipping with two different non-denominational churches. It was in one of these churches that we heard the Bible preached and explained. I taught a women's Sunday school class of about thirty women for 8-9 years in that church.

I taught one year at Alfred State College and taught a women's Bible Study group weekly on that campus. In 1977 I accepted a job in Herrick Library at Alfred University.  During those ten years I taught a women's Bible study in the President's conference room each week in addition to continuing the Bible study on Alfred States' campus.

In 1978 our oldest daughter began to look for a college to attend. Coming to the top of the pile - Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI. Although we had visited a number of campuses with her, we decided we must visit Calvin's campus. We learned this was a college of the Christian Reformed denomination. This was the first time we had heard "Reformed." Shelly chose Calvin College. We decided that with our daughter on this campus, we needed to learn about Reformed churches.

We knew Joyce and Vern Timmer had been a part of the CRC denomination in MI and that they attended a church in Wellsville. Our first Sunday in the Wellsville Presbyterian Church of America was the same day that Sam Georgian was born! The church was not a particular church yet. Rev. Jim Ransom was the pastor. It was here that we heard and understood the tenets of Reformed theology for the first time. Dr. John Scott (brother-in-law of Darlene Sherwood) was excited about the relatively new PCA denomination and was eager to share his enthusiasm with us.

Shelly met her husband at Calvin College. He is a minister of the gospel in the CRC church in Kennewick, WA. I thank God for the working of His Holy Spirit in leading us to abundant spiritual feeding on His Word.

Editor’s Note: Helena has served this congregation faithfully for many years, in many different capacities – in Music, Ministry, Missions Committees, cataloging, ordering for, and maintaining the library, initially producing the church Newsletter, etc. etc.…. It is unwise to try to list Helena’s involvement and commitment to service in this congregation, as any attempt to do so is sure to provide a very incomplete record!! Sufficient to say, in addition to the above, plants would die from lack of care, the Sunday morning Coffee Cart would not appear with such regularity and many of us would be the poorer if not the recipients of prayer support, encouragement, mentoring, and practical help from Helena. Thank you, Helena. (Proverbs 31). It should not go un-noted that Helena’s husband, Simon, a quiet Godly man, also contributed much to this congregation, including acting, for a time, as our church treasurer.