Chapter Ten

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            Holy Cross has been fortunate to have hundreds of supportive, faithful members during its history. Theirs are the true voices of the church’s history. More will be added, and future historians have a challenge in recording them.

            This history has selected one, for now, to stand for others. It is with Ed Helmey, who, with his wife Marilyn, was a member of the church for nearly a quarter of a century. Jim Hansen interviewed him. The church also has, on videotape, an interview with Berdia Brittain, but her interview answers are largely included in the earlier narrative here.

Interview with Ed Helmey

Conducted by Jim Hansen

Holy Cross: Ed, how long have you and Marilyn been here?

Helmey: We’ve been in Athens since July 1981. We’ve been members of Holy Cross since March of 1982, the Sunday before Pastor Hart became official pastor of the church. The interim pastor from Synod was the one who took us into the church. Pastor Hart, Paula, and Kathryn came in and sat right beside us that morning, and we didn’t know who they were, and they didn’t know who we were. And we went up and joined the church, and when we came back and sat down after church was over, Pastor Hart—he was just in a suit and we didn’t know who he was—and we introduced ourselves, and he introduced himself David Hart—who was going to be the pastor of this church starting next week! And he was just sitting in the audience. And that’s where we met Pastor Hart for the first time.

Holy Cross: Were you a Lutheran all your life?

Helmey: I have been a Lutheran all my life except for a period of 12 years in Gainesville, Ga. There was not a Lutheran church in Gainesville. There was a Missouri Lutheran church there, but the pastor came to visit us because at that time I was a Mason and Marilyn was an Eastern Star, and he told me I would have to give up my Masonic order and Marilyn would have to give up Eastern Star. And I said, “No, I don’t have to, because the pastor I had in Kansas was a Shriner himself.” And I said, “I don’t know of anything in the Lutheran church we belong to that says you can’t be a Mason or Eastern Star.” So with that, he left, and we never joined the Lutheran church. We joined the Presbyterian Church in Gainesville and were members there for 12 years until I was recalled in 1969. We moved to Atlanta and moved our membership from Gainesville to Redeemer in Atlanta, and that’s where we left it until I was moved to Pennsylvania.

Holy Cross: What about the Lutheran church appeals to you?

Helmey: There are several things. I guess one of the things is the liturgical part of worship. That’s the big thing. And of course I was brought up in it and I went to Catechism class. And I had to learn all about it, and not only did I get the operational end of it, I was living, born and raised outside of Savannah where the Salzburgers settled. I came from a Lutheran background on both side of my family. Many times I visited Baptists, Methodists, but I guess the liturgy and that sort of thing—I couldn’t get used to the loose form of worship in any other churches. I did, when I was a student here at the University of Georgia in Athens in 1946-1948, there was no Lutheran church here of any kind. I went to the Episcopal Church. I didn’t join it, but I attended services there until we acquired a Lutheran minister from Atlanta to come over and hold services for the students. And the Episcopal Church allowed us to hold services there. I did go to the First Methodist sometimes, but a Lutheran church was not established here in Athens at that time.

Holy Cross: You’ve been involved in a lot of things since you’ve been a member here. Which one did you like best or meant the most to you?

Helmey: I was a Councilman for nine years, three different terms. And the last time, I was president for two years. And I was on a number of committees when I wasn’t on the Council, most all the time on the Building Committee. I was on the Building Committee for the building of the educational extension. I guess that was the most challenging, because I took on the job of being the engineer for the architect and the engineer for the church. I represented both ends of that contract work out there. Having been a construction engineer for twenty-something years, it was a challenge to me to see that this was built properly, that the contract was executed properly. And I must say that I was greatly appreciated, because the building officer from the Synod, there are letters in there—he came over several times, and he told Pastor Hart that this was the best administered contract that he had ever seen in the Synod. And that meant a lot to me.

Holy Cross: How long did that construction take?

Helmey: It went all year, just about. I think we started in the spring and ended in the latter part of the summer and fall. I went right through the mid-summer. I think we started in March, and it went all the way through summer. It was a full-year’s work, and I was still working at the time, so I would come by at lunch time and I would come back when I got off from work. So I was here most of the time, three times a day. And of course I had a very good working relationship with the contractor. He was just a fine man. At that time he was the supervisor and the contractor. The architect we had was the most cooperative architect I’ve ever worked with. He would come over on his assigned trips, but he would come over any time that I called him.

Holy Cross: What people at Holy Cross have been most influential in your life?

Helmey: First of all, Pastor Hart. Second, I’d have to say Dick Gnann. And then, of course, you, yourself, Jim Hansen, have been quite influential. Those are three most influential. I’ve had associations with others very close, but to say influence, Hart and Gnann are the most influential.

Holy Cross: Interesting, because I think June [Gnann] has been one for me.

Helmey: Well, I should have said Dick and June. I’ll tell you a little incident that happened.  The first covered-dish supper we had here at Holy Cross after I joined, Marilyn and I were here, and Dick, June and Kathryn were here. Marilyn and I were sitting down at the other end. We didn’t have tables then or at least we weren’t sitting at tables, and I had my drink on the floor and Dick and June were sitting next to us and Kathryn (Gnann) was sitting on the other side and she went up to get something to drink and she came back and she saw my glass was about half full, and she said, “Mr. Helmey, could I fill your glass?” At that time she was probably 18 or 19, and the daughter of these two people who had been so nice to us and I was impressed with that—I guess I will never forget that moment. Because that young lady had care and concern enough that she was looking after Marilyn and me, and that can’t help but be influenced by their parents. 

            There were numbers of times when Dick and June and I talked about things. And Dick was on the building committee with me when we added that extension. And many times when we were doing things, even when Dick was not on the Council, I used him for consulting many times when I was on Council. I just was amazed at that man. Some people didn’t necessarily think that Dick was the most jovial or friendly person, but he was one of the most true persons that I ever met.

Holy Cross: He was somewhat reserved, but he had a good sense of humor.

Helmey: Oh, yes, he had a good sense of humor. Sometimes it was a little dry, but he did have a good sense of humor and a personality you just couldn’t ever forget. Even today June is an impressive person.

Holy Cross: Is there anything else you’d like to tell us about?

Helmey: The church has had such turnover since I’ve been here. When I came here, most of the members were of my age or older—very few young people. And of course we didn’t have any facilities for them, for Sunday school or anything like that. And it’s just amazing to me to see the turnover that has been in the 23 years I’ve been here. Right now there is only probably less than five people older than I am in this church, certainly that attend church regularly. There may not even be five—I don’t know.

Holy Cross: Miriam Huebner?

Helmey: I’m glad you mentioned her. I guess I should have included her as one of those influential people to me, and I just didn’t think about it. She hasn’t been around for a little while. But Miriam Huebner is a most unusual person. She did things and nobody ever knew about it, unless you happened to be involved with the way that she did things. I’ll give you an example. My wife Marilyn became head of the Altar Guild some number of years ago. When she took over, nobody knew where the wine was coming from, but it was just always there. But who got it? Miriam Huebner. She always kept the wine. When she stopped, I took over, and we are the only ones who have done it since we’ve been here. I guess I’ve been doing it now 12 or 14 years. And if the church ever got into a financial bind, the next thing you knew, there would suddenly appear a sizable check. She never said anything about it. She just did it. Never expected anything. Miriam was a very influential person in different ways than Dick and June were, but she had her influence on me.

            There were other people—three or four ladies who sat on the back seat—Berdia [Brittain], Marie Hagaman, Miriam, and Berdia’s sister-in-law. They were always there, and they would help with the altar. And it was just a small group of ladies who all did the altar work. Berdia wrote the first handbook that the Altar Guild had. When Marilyn became director of the Altar Guild, she revised the handbook.

            It’s just been a lot of real nice people. We’ve had our problems, our up and down.

Holy Cross: That’s family, though, isn’t it?

Helmey: That’s family. We’re sorry to have to leave. I told pastor just last week, I came here just before you did and thought maybe I could see you through. But I’m going to have to leave before you.

Chapter 11