In another installment of this series of “Bulletins from Bethesda,” here is the First Sunday in Lent, 1967.

Bulletin for the First Sunday in Lent, 1967

There are quite a few interesting observations to be made about this bulletin:

  • As was the case at the time, the Holy Communion was celebrated consistently at 0800. This was the appointed (second) Sunday for the Holy Communion at 0930; Morning Prayer was celebrated at 1100.
  • Healy Willan’s well known Communion service was used; it was a favourite.
  • My brother was listed as an acolyte at 0800; I was still in the youth choir. The youth choir rehearsals are noted at 0830 Saturday (which I well remember) and 0825 Sunday (which kept me busy while my brother was an acolyte.)
  • The coffee hour–that time-honoured institution in the Anglican/Episcopal world–was held in the Cluett Memorial Garden, which is a very nice subtropical setting. The coffee hour was later to get me into trouble with Kendall Harmon’s elves. The Cluetts were the leading family in the church; their butting heads with St. Mary’s Guild led to the establishment of the Church Mouse resale shop.
  • The following Sunday would see a visit by the “Flying Scotsmen” of St. Andrew’s School, where two years later I would end up a boarding student.
  • The announcement was made for the design, construction and installation of a new organ for the church. It was an all-star committee: A. Atwater Kent Jr. was the son of the radio magnate, Jean Flagler Mathews was the granddaughter of Henry Morrison Flagler, the railroad tycoon who built the Florida East Coast Railroad and what is now the Flagler Museum; and Raymond J. Wean, Jr., the industrialist who was also a major figure at Palm Beach Day School (now Academy.)
  • The Vestry meeting was scheduled at 1000 Tuesday, which tells you the work schedule of the members of the Vestry.
  • The Bulletin duly notes that the Lay Readers are licensed by the parish.
  • A Lenten series is noted, but in Palm Beach Lent was a dreadful inconvenience because it took up a large part of the social season, which may explain why Lent was not observed at Bethesda with the affected solemnity we see in other liturgical churches.
  • The reason why this bulletin was saved was that it notes my Confirmation. In my class was Daniel Appleyard, the Rector’s son. A friend of my brother’s, one of his famous sayings was “My father’s a Canon, and I’m a son of a gun!” He was, went on to the Episcopal ministry and is retired in the Diocese of Missouri.