DEAN & McPHERSON

                    
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DEAN & McPHERSON

Across the Fence 



By Arvord Abernethy 

Mary and I dropped by Morris and Cleone Dean’s the other day to see how she was feeling after her ten day stay in the hospital. While there she told us about her recent trip to Switzerland. We thought it was a very interesting trip, so want to share some of it with you. 

Cleone and Lora McPherson along with some 250 others attended the Baptist Senior Adult Conference in Grindelwald, Switzerland. The Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston, where Cleone’s daughter, Ginger, attends had a lot to do with working up the tour, so through Ginger’s persuasion, Cleone and Lora attended. 

The tour included a two day stay in London where they got to see many of the sights, including the changing of the guard at the palace. From there they flew to Paris for another two day stay which was very interesting. Then they went on to Grindelwald. 

One might wonder why a place like Grindelwald with just three or four thousand people would be chosen. For one thing it has all the charm of the true Swiss villages with the hand hewn chalets with flowers on every window sill. Cleone showed a picture of the main street and it looked nothing like our main streets. Nearly all the businesses are in those typical Swiss houses with the owners living above their businesses. 

Another reason for choosing such a place is for the scenery. It lies in a valley that is overshadowed by snow-capped mountains that tower from 13,000 to 14,000 feet high. The place has been called “The Valley of the Glaciers”. Grindelwald itself is 3,450 feet above sea level, so has a very delightful climate. 

Cleone and Lora took three trips up the mountains. One trip they rode a cable car part way up and then transferred to a cog train for most of the other way, and then a long flight of stairs to the peak. This proved to be a very cold spot. She said that she had always thought that she would like to sing and yodel from the top of a Swiss mountain, so she just cut loose and did that. The services on the last day of the conference were held on the top of another mountain. 

One of the thrills of taking those mountain trips was getting to see the whole countryside. At places there would be several homes close together in a community, and then maybe one neat chalet with its flowers perched on the side of a steep hill. Everywhere the grass was a lush green dotted by cows wearing their tinkling bells. Cheese-making is still a big industry in Switzerland. Another beautiful sight they saw as they went up the mountain was the waterfalls that were cascading from the melting snow above. 

The main part of the conference centered on preaching by Rev. Bill Hendricks. Unfortunately, Cleone was away when Bro. Hendricks served two or three times as interim pastor of the First Baptist Church here, so did not know him as such. The conference hall looked out at the mountain scenery around, so Bro. Hendricks would often take a beautiful sight as a starting point for his message. 

One day the group took a tour up into Germany along the Rhine River where they ate at the Marksburg Castle, a 12th Century castle that has been made into a tourist attraction. On this trip Cleone got too hot and she feels sure that is what led to the pneumonia that put her in the hospital. 

As I told the Deans, these black and white words cannot begin to describe the colorful scenery they saw in Switzerland.

Shared by Roy Ables

ACROSS THE FENCE 


 
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People and Places: Gazetteer of Hamilton County, TX
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Copyright © March, 1998
by Elreeta Crain Weathers, B.A., M.Ed.,  
(also Mrs.,  Mom, and Ph. T.)

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