Introductions to People You will Meet in These Pages

Although I think I have more complete introductions of the staff in my diary entries, I haven't gotten to those yet, so for now this recollection from afar will have to suffice. You may want to come here to get a bearing after encountering them in the stories and diary entries. I'll start with some staff members.

Three charter members and early cornerstones of the Philadelphia ministry were Doug Rogers, Barb Staples, and Anne Deschler who joined Teen Haven soon after Bill Drury started the ministry in the sixties.Doug, a rather tall and hefty laid-back individual in jeans and a flannel shirt with medium length brown hair and blue-eyes was the field Director in Philadelphia and also in charge of the men's ministries.He was stationed at the Susquehanna Street Teen Haven. Barb, a former teacher, dressed a bit more formally in skirts and jackets and pant suits. She was a friendly and cheerful blue-eyed and blond-haired lady with a big voice and an infectious laugh. She was in charge of the city's women's ministries, and she oversaw the 20th Street Teen Haven. Anne, by way of contrast a petite brunette, was the Office Manager for the Philadelphia ministry and resided at the Mt. Vernon Street Teen Haven.. One of her duties was registering young people for the Teen Haven Camp, outside Brogue, Pennsylvania, which operated year round. Campers attended week-long sessions during the summer and weekends during the school year. The bus for Camp departed from the Mt. Vernon Street Teen Haven, so that's where everybody gathered on Friday nights..

These three people were in their early thirties when I came on board. Although staff had frequent contact and worked together often, I probably knew Barb the best, having lived and worked with her the most. She had grown up on a farm in very rural upper New York and she broke new ground in her family when she went to college eventually earning her masters, I believe. She taught elementary school in the public school system before coming on staff.When I reflect back I think of all the children she raised in the ministry. The first one she took on was a teenage girl who grew up, married, and had a child of her own by the time I joined the ministry. Then I think it was Teddy. And then Teddie's nephews Greg and Ronnie and James. Frosty was there when I came and then his brother Donald. Ronald St. Claire and Clarence joined us after I started. Barb could teach a room full of children, direct a camp full of kids, and take the heat like no one I ever knew. Some of my favorite memories are when the staff women gathered at 20th Street on Mondays after the staff’s weekly morning prayer meeting at Mt. Vernon to create lesson materials for Bible studies and Bible clubs for the week. Barb would design the lesson and teach it to us, and then we’d have magazines from which we’d cut out pictures to create our own visuals. It was hard back then to find lesson materials where the characters looked like the minority children we were teaching, so we created our own. I thought Barb’s lessons were good and that we did a pretty good job.

The Summer and Full Time Staff presented the ministry at various churches in Pennsylvania during the summer. Doug Rogers organized and lead these, planned the music and was our choir director. Doug’s talent was really fitting into the culture and being able to build relationships with and disciple the older teen guys. He did prison ministry and involved the teens in Christian music groups. Barb also had a talent and knack for dealing with older teens.

Anne was blessed with dedication and practical level-headed common-sense. I would see her every Monday when we met for our weekly staff prayer meeting at Mt. Vernon Street. I'd see her every Friday night when we left for camp and every Sunday after we returned. I'd see her once a month when we turned in our monthly prayer letters to go back home. And I'd see her during times of crisis and emergency of which there were more than a few.

There were other key and long-term staff members in the ministry who started around the same time that I did, or a year or so before. The strategy was to have a male and female staff member, if possible, at each of the Teen Haven Centers. When I first came, Delores Buckwalter and I believe Gomer staffed the Broad Street Teen Haven where many of the Summer Staff stayed as well. Doug Rogers and Pam staffed the Susquehanna Street Teen Haven. Annie Deschler and John Schleh staffed the Mt. Vernon Street Teen Haven. Barb Staples staffed the 20th Street Teen Haven, and Charlene Lurtzema and Edie staffed the Southwest Philly location.