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Hillside Street, Bennington, Vermont (802) 442-2559
"resolutely inclusive, spiritually alive, and empowered for ministry in the world." |
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Profile - NancyJean Steffen Posted: February 1st, 2010 @ 10:50am
by Harriette Leidich
I feel privileged to offer this profile which is one of the most interesting I’ve submitted to the Open Door. I applaud and marvel at the busy life NancyJean Steffen has had as an individual and wife of our longest serving pastor.
NancyJean was born in Cleveland, Ohio and came here when her husband Tom was called as pastor in 1965. She graduated from Cleveland Heights H S and from Denison University in Granville, OH She met Tom during High School and they were married when she finished college. Additional education was in the Allied Stores Executive Training Program in 1959. In the retail world she worked at Jordan Marsh in Boston. She was a substitute teacher in Lancaster MA and in Bennington. She later owned the Up and Downhill bicycle and ski store for twenty years.
NancyJean found time for Women’s Fellowship, Church Women United, served on the Board of Christian Education, directed the handbell choir and helped wherever there was a need.
Raising their three sons, often with the help and watchful eyes of the congregation, has been an outstanding accomplishment. The boys were not yet in school when they moved to Bennington. The sons are Jamie, David and Jeff, now all married with two children each. Still she found time to be a camp counselor, taught children to cross-country ski, was a Girl Scout leader, day camp director, swim instructor and a bicycle safety instructor. She bicycled across the United States one summer (while Tom cared for the boys), took ten kids biking through Europe and took many youngsters cycling throughout the eastern US and Canada.
Her skiing expeditions have taken her north of the Arctic Circle, she has poked around Maya ruins in Mexico and kayaked in Belize , Greenland and Tonga. I would say she has almost done it all and has found good fun and a special time wherever she went.
In her travels NancyJean has been to European and South American sites. Some were with Elderhostel or other tour groups, some on bicycles and some in a kayak. Name it and she has been there! Nevertheless she still has a yen to visit other places still on her “bucket list”. Areas she would like to include are Vietnam, Iran, northern India, more of Central Europe and some of the new countries of the world. This fall she and Tom will go to Costa Rica.
This busy woman has chaired the Board of Trustees for several years while our congregation conducted a successful fund drive to redo the sanctuary, kitchen and other areas of our church. Great thanks and praise go to this energetic former pastor’s wife. She is a mover and shaker and we’re glad she has served our church so well and willingly.
When NancyJean came to the area it was with her husband Tom who accepted the call to Bennington after being pastor in Lancaster, MA. Their three sons all graduated from Mt. Anthony HS. They went on to graduate from UVM, Stanford, and U Maine Orono. Jamie is a city planner in Hampton NH, David does computer programming for Kaiser-Permanente in Denver, and Jeff is a Speech Pathologist in Denver. They regret that they do not get to visit their sons and families often enough.
What a busy life this energetic woman has had and she is still looking ahead to new endeavors. She deserves a special salute not just as a pastor’s wife, but also as one of our busiest parishioners. She has accomplished so much in her time here with us.
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