John M. Wall
Ordained to Ministry at Orangewood Presbyterian Church June, 1972

 I became active in the Orangewood Youth Group; Sam Lindamood was the supervisor of that group until Duane Holloran came to Orangewood as an assistant minister whose duties included the Youth Group.  Not long thereafter Gene Lefebvre also received a call to Orangewood and became involved with the Youth Group.

 Because of Sam, Duane and Gene's positive influence upon me in terms of being role models, I finished up my degree at ASU and enrolled in 1968 at the San Francisco Theological Seminary.  My roommate that year was Curtis Page also from Orangewood.

 In 1969 I married Wanda; the wedding took place at Orangewood with Sam Lindamood presiding.  We went to live at the Seminary and the next year went to Oregon for a Seminary Internship.  I received my first call from the Brownsville Presbyterian Church in Brownsville, Oregon.

 Wanda and I stayed three years and then moved to Mt. Lebanon, Pa where I was youth minister for three years.  Our first child, Sarah, was born there in 1975.

 It was then back to Syracuse where I served for eight years as Senior Pastor of Pebble Hill Presbyterian Church in Dewitt, NY.  It was in Syracuse that our daughter, Marianne, was born in 1978.

 We then moved to New Hampshire where I became Organizing Pastor of the Kearsarge Presbyterian Church in New London, NH.  We stayed in New Hampshire for nearly 16 years.  The church had grown to a membership of 250 and I received a call to organize another New Church Development in Oro Valley, Arizona (suburb of Tucson).  At this juncture, we have 150 members and are about to move into our new church building.

 In my Seminary years I had great fun on breaks from school coming back to Orangewood and helping out with the Youth Group.  More than a few of that group ended up in ministry.  I also helped Gene Lefebvre and Chuck Bullard run backpack trips and hikes for church members.

Also, in those years the staff of Orangewood was particularly generous in helping we seminary students learn the professional ropes of pastoral ministry.  I am sure through the years we all have been well served professionally.

 What I recall fondly after all these years was Sam Lindamood inviting me to preach on Youth Sunday circa 1963.  He wrote me a letter afterward and wondered whether I had thought about a call to the ministry someday! Little did we both know how I would respond.

 To cap it all off I had the privilege on May 25, 2002 of presiding over the marriage of our daughter, Sarah, at Orangewood.  As I stood in front of my daughter and son-in-law, my mind flashed back 33 years earlier as a young seminarian stood with his intended in the same spot.  Orangewood was and still is apart of our lives.

 John M. Wall, Tucson, May, 2003