ABC's of Sun Valley Days (by Karen (Aven) Gibson)

A
Art lessons
Senia Atkinson, one of our elders wives taught many people art in her home

B
Bus
Bus Barn

Remember the flowers that we had on the bus during the height of the “flower power” 60’s
Lots of work was done on the old buses as I am sure Jerrel Kirksey can testify

I also remember sorting clothes to give to the needy in the bus barn

C
Cradle Rolls Class
Teachers such as Ms. Roye, Jodeen (Sweetie) and Bonnie to name a few played a role in helping our babies grow up to be Christian young men and women

D
Ditch
Deacon’s Breakfasts

For some reason I remember a car that was stuck in the ditch in front of the church building and how David took that opportunity to teach our children the dangers of drunk driving

The elders cooked breakfast for the deacons and their wives

E
Eating
As in every church I have ever attended, one of the favorite pastimes at SV was eating together.

F
Fellowship hall
This was the location of many potlucks and of my wedding reception

G
Gym
It seemed like all of us who had children about the same age, had to make a pact that we would all leave church at the same time because if one of our families tried to leave early, the children were upset because they had to stop playing with their friends.

H
Halloween Parties
Decorating the gym and dressing up

I
Ice Cream Social
We looked for any opportunity to fellowship

J
Jeremy
Jack Arnold

David’s and my son who was born while we were members there.

Jack was a wonderful song leader who also impacted my life as a school band director.

K
Kelly
David’s and my first child born and grew up until elementary grades at SV.

L
Lawndale
Elders at Lawndale bought the land the SV was built on.

M
Mohawk (the best camp) or was that Columbus?
Mother’s Day Out
both hold fond memories of relaxed fun and great friendships

MDO led first by Dorothy Beene, then Carolyn Smith, then me

N
New Building
I’ll never forget how excited we all were when the new building was built and we had the wonderful classroom space as well as the great gymnasium.

O
Open Bible Study
Taught by Bob Grigg and taken and used by many

P
Pot Luck’s
There’s that food again

Q
Quit
Members of SV never Quit running into each other over the years.

R
Ron & Pat Hill
They were a huge part of my teenage years, I babysat their children, learned from them formally and informally and Ron married Dave and I

S
Singings
Sunday night at someone’s house
Area wide and 5th Sunday

You didn’t have to have anything fancy to eat, just someone to come home and visit after church

T
Tropical Storm Alicia
blew the church steeple off

U
Humberto Hernandez
I know this starts with an H, not a U, but in absence of a U I used a U sound. Humberto created in many a desire to help Christians in Mexico.

V
Vacation Bible Schools
Visitation
Dressing up like Bible Characters
Crazy singing in the auditorium

Who can forget Jack Baten’s visitation teams and visitation dinners

W
Workroom
The envy of every other congregation; manned by Lillie, Glenda, Elaine and others.

X
X-rays
What my dad had after he drove David’s motorcycle up the outside wall of the church fellowship hall.

Y
Youth Devos
I remember watching the Ed Sullivan Show with the Beetles at Jack and Mary Jones house after a devo

Z
ZZ’s
Hope I haven’t put you to sleep with my Alphabetic Walk down memory lane.
One day, we will all fall asleep in the Lord, and won’t it be wonderful to have a huge reunion with all our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Road Trip to the Races

Although I obviously wouldn't have been allowed on this road trip and Jack didn't go since we were living in Palestine, Texas, a group of the guys took at least one trip to the Indy Races (1985?). From the looks of the photos, a RV was rented and some of the guys were involved in a serious game of Trivial Pursuit while they left the driving up to someone else. Perhaps those of you who actually went to the races could identify yourself and share some memories from this trip or previous ones. These photos can be viewed larger on the Sun Valley Picture Spot, but I will have to upload them again from the original scan since the quality currently isn't very good.
Ken Berry and Lance White

(L-R) Jim Kimbrell, Lance White, Alan Elliott, and Kent Vinson is driving.

Others in the group: Jack Baten, Mike Cooper, Mike Kirksey, and Robert Illgen is on the far right closest to the RV.

Pulpit/Youth Ministers (Part 2) - Personal Favorites

To the best of our ability and recollection, we listed the former ministers in a previous post (June 17): Don Humphrey, Chester Grimes, Ron Hill, Don Dye, Sonny Todd, Bob Grigg, Gary Richards, Winston Atkinson, Leonard Driskell, Steve Shannon, and Coy Day.

Now although this post may cause some controversy, we would like to know which minister you considered as your personal favorite and why. I will start off by listing Brother Grimes and Ron Hill. Brother and Sister Grimes were such a sweet couple and so dear to my family. Although they were no longer working with Sun Valley at the time, Brother Grimes baptized me at the Heights Church of Christ when I was nine or ten years old.

Pat and Ron Hill and their "children" have been friends of our family since Sun Valley began. We have many great memories of times shared with them at summer camp as well as at the Monday night youth devotionals when Sun Valley had a friendly competition with Hidden Valley to have the largest group in attendance. My parents also drove me to Hidden Valley many times to see a particular young man who attended there. Last but certainly not least, my best memory is of May 12, 1978, when Ron married Jack and I, and Pat sang with a group at our wedding.

What favorite memories or stories do you have about any of these ministers? Who made the greatest impact on your life or was a part of your family in a special way?

Family Update from Greta

I, Greta (Justus) (Trumbo) Houseal started going to Sun Valley almost at the beginning while still in the schoolhouse. I was married to Oma Ray Justus (now deceased) and we had two children Patricia Jean (Jeanie) and Danny Ray Justus.

What an exciting time and hard work when we moved the barracks to start our building. Each thing accomplished was great, some great meals and fellowships were had in those barracks with services and classes. The auditorium was then built and the barracks was used for classrooms. The building was then built with classrooms, offices, meeting rooms, and a large space for dinners, teen worship, and games. When the barracks were torn down that was both a happy and a sad time; sad for all the memories, hard work, and bonding of the members; happy for the new building with so many classrooms and special things the building would hold dear to all of us.

My son Danny lives in Jacksonville, Florida and has two children. Jerob who is not married and Kelly Garza who lives in Houston and has given me three special great grand sons. Before my Mother passed away we were blessed to have a 5-generation picture.

Patricia Jean lives in Caldwell Texas and had given me 2 beautiful granddaughters, Tanya going to court reporting school and Diana going to college and upon graduation will be in the nursing field. Diana just returned from a 6-week mission trip to Bangkok and other point with the Aggie’s for Christ.

I divorced Oma Ray in 1979 and in 1980 married that special man Harry Trumbo and we had 8 beautiful years together with the last four in Jonestown next door to my parents. I retired from the airlines and worked with travel agents until 1994. In August 1988 my dad passed away and Sept. 1988 Harry passed away just six weeks after Dad. How sad and lonely Mom and I was.
In 1994 I met another special man William (Bill) Houseal and in March 1995 we married and had 13 wonderful years together. Dec 31, 2007 my Mom Estelle Jones passed away and March 9, 2008 Bill passed away. Now I am all alone but have a wonderful family and church family. Bill gave me a great extended family of 3 children, 8 grandchildren and one great grand daughter.

I am thankful for Debbie Blackburn for the hard work and also her co-workers for all their hard work for this reunion. Hope to see you there.

Love ya Greta

Camp Mohawk vs. Camp Columbus-May the best one be chosen!

I know our parents' generation isn't in to blogging all that much, but for their kids (us) and those of you even reading this, I'm curious as to which summer camp you had the best memories from? Was it Camp Mohawk with the real lake, swimming pool, chapel, crafts, etc. or was it the Gulf Coast Christian Youth Camp in Columbus with the more modern dorms, multi-purpose building on the hill, and "The Grove"? Did you have your heart broken by a summer camp romance or did you find your one and only true love and marry them!

Although I had great memories at both camps, for me the best Camp was Mohawk hands down. I attended mostly as a camper with my mom being a counselor and my dad being the cook. I remember sneaking around the lake to raid the boys only to be surprised by them coming around from the other side to raid us. One night in particular, we surprised each other unfortunately in front of the caretakers house waking them up. They threatened to make us all leave in the morning, but thankfully they reconsidered and we went on to enjoy the rest of our week. On another night, our attack was executed perfectly, and we scared the boys half to death. They had been telling ghost stories late that night and when we screamed at the top of our lungs, dropped the window shutters, and used coke cans to bang on their corrugated tin dorm, they thought the Lord had come for sure!

Another favorite memory was going to chapel everyday and having skit night at the end of the week. It was a real treat back then because it was the only building that was air conditioned. This was also the time when the dorms were checked, and it was always interesting to see whose clothes, bathing suits, or undergarments had been hoisted up the flagpole after leaving chapel for other activities.

Not believing my story, I also got pushed in the deep end of the swimming pool despite my warnings that I didn't know how to swim. After I went under and came back up spitting and sputtering several times, the other girls realized I was telling the truth and pulled me out. I certainly don't recall who pushed me in or pulled me out, but whoever you are, YOU are forgiven. Believe it or not, I love to fish, but I still don't know how to swim today.

On the spiritual side, it was always a very emotional evening with lots of responses when we gathered down by the lake and heard the story of the crucifixion. The visual finale was when a cross was set on fire on part of a little island on the lake.

Those were such great times. Which camp was your favorite, and what memories do you have that still seem like it was yesterday?

Favorite Church Hymns

Church hymns have no doubt changed a lot since the 1960's when the Sun Valley congregation first began meeting. I was only a few years old so I don't remember what songs were traditionally sung, but I would imagine that when the invitation was extended "Just As I Am" was sung so often that you didn't require a song book. I also would imagine that some from that generation don't always enjoy singing the newer praise songs today, but would prefer singing the older, more traditional hymns from time to time. Songs such as "On Jordan's Stormy Banks," "Shall We Gather At the River?" and in preparation for communion, "Night With Ebon Pinion."

Some of this same generation has not gotten caught up with the age of the internet much less the idea of actually leaving comments on blog sites such as this one, but stay with me if you are reading this post. What songs do you remember singing that became either your favorite golden oldies or were the thorn in your side because you sang them so often? I actually remember a Vacation Bible School were our theme song for that year was "To God Be the Glory." Now I have no problem with the idea of that song, but we sang it in our opening and closing assembly for a week, and to this day I cringe when it is led. My mother in law, who will be 84 this year feels the same way about "I'll Fly Away" and pretty much slams her book closed because she dislikes singing the song.

In closing, I'll leave you with the words from the first verse and chorus of "A Beautiful Life" which I actually still like to sing from time to time because I like hearing the bass lead on the chorus.

Each day I'll do a golden deed, By helping those who are in need; My life on earth is but a span, And so I'll do the best I can, the best I can.

Chorus: Life's evening sun is sinking low, A few more days and I must go To meet the deeds that I have done, Where there will be no setting sun.

Did you say "I Do" at Sun Valley?

I wonder who the first couple was to marry at Sun Valley? Being born in December 1958, I was very young when the congregation began. Although I remember the first educational wing where some receptions were held before the 2-story educational building was constructed, I don't remember many weddings until I was much older. Can you help jog my memory? Did you marry at Sun Valley? Are you still married to that person today? We would like to include your wedding photo in our reunion slide show video! If you have the capability, photos may be uploaded to http://gallery.mac.com/klbrown16#100077 or you may send them to Debbie Blackburn at Clear Lake Church of Christ, 938 El Dorado Blvd., Houston, Texas, 77062.

If you would just like to comment about a particular wedding you remember, we would love for you to share those memories too.

I just have to share one photo now! Do you recognize this happy couple?

Favorite Memories

Most of us could go on and on talking about our favorite memories of Sun Valley days. Do you remember a beautiful wedding; the birth of a new baby being brought to the Cradle Roll class for the very first time; Vacation Bible School; riding in the “Old Yeller” bus with the Ahooga horn to the Monday night devotionals; Camp Mohawk; the Bus Ministry Program; Fun Time Skating Rink nights; Ice Cream Suppers, or wrapping houses? Whatever your favorite memory, we would love for you to share it with us.