Loading...For the Easter service at Trinity Episcopal Church in Renovo, the crucifer was James G. Hedgeland, Jr. This was not the first time that Jim has served in this role. In fact, Jim may be the longest-serving crucifer in our diocese.
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The world has changed greatly since 1939, the year when Jim came to Renovo. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was president of the United States, Arthur James was governor of Pennsylvania, and the bishop of the Diocese of Harrisburg was Hunter Wyatt-Brown. Jim’s family moved to Renovo from the community of Cross Fork (about twenty miles from Renovo) in 1939, and they were not Episcopalians. The priest at Trinity, Father Robert Orvis,had a great way of working with children in the neighborhood. “All of the kids liked him,” Jim told me. One day Father Orvis said to him, “If you are not going to church, Jim, why don’t you come to Trinity?”
Jim did so in 1939 and immediately was invited to serve as an altar boy. Jim liked the Episcopal service and the people so much that he invited his parents to join him – and they did. Except for four years in the Navy (1951-54), Jim has been active in parish life for more than seven decades. He is now a mentor for a fourteen-year-old acolyte, Abby Ransom, who serves with Jim at almost every service. Blessed is the parish that has so many generations involved in worship.
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Since his early years as an altar boy, Jim gone on to be a crucifer, lay reader, choir member, vestry member, warden and almost every possible role needed in a small parish. He was the sexton for twenty years while he and his wife raised their five children and he worked at Piper in Lock Haven and later for the Army Corps of Engineers. “I have done almost everything in the church except play the organ,” Jim told me.
Our parish rejoices for Jim’s service to our parish and the community for all of these years.
