This past Christmas day, a devoted son made a gift to a mother he loved whose life he wanted to honor. In doing this, he both helped the Quaker Faith and also created a lasting tribute to the person who nurtured and raised him–Irene Ranck Christman.
The People we Love
We all have people we love – people whose lives have made a difference to us. I am thinking today of a Neurosurgeon in Ghana, Teddy Totimeh, who blogs about medicine there. I have never been to Ghana, but I love Teddy’s posts. I value his friendship and life choice to improve neurosurgery in Ghana. And, I am thinking about a Quaker I know at West Chester Meeting who cares about growing our Faith and said recently, “Quakerism offers so much in times like these…” Indeed it does. It’s a path to something authentic, vibrant, and loving. Something that transcends all dogma.
Then there are Friends, like Robin Post at Haverford meeting (see below), or Friends I never met, like Kirk Norris, of Solebury Meeting. Kirk worked tirelessly to improve schools in Trenton and helped build Mercer Street Friends. His friend, John Spears, started the Legacy Fund with a gift in Kirk’s name.
I am thankful for them all. They matter to me every day because they remind me of how lives lived well make a difference.
Other Friends have made similar recognition gifts, and I share snippets of their stories here, followed by one on Irene.
Linell McCurry made a gift in memory of her late husband, Steven F. Stalonas, remembered by many as a charismatic teacher of Quakerism and the bible. Steve brought to life the intimate faith experiences of early Friends and shared their power to help us recognize the divine presence in our own lives.
Mignon Adams made a September gift for David Geliebter, deputy director of the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights in the ’70s, later a civil rights activist, a volunteer for a women’s shelter, Assistant Director of Development at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, and Vice President for development for Valley Forge Educational Services (Vanguard School). Convinced to be a Friend as a young man, he was always an active Quaker, serving on many committees and on the boards of Friends General Conference and Pendle Hill.
Chuck Lockyer (Abington Meeting) met his wife Karen Lockyer in sixth grade and speaks of her as the great love of his life. They married and had three children. Karen went on to write two books and teach Medical Coding and Medical Terminology courses at Montgomery College. She co-authored two medical terminology textbooks published by McGraw Hill. Chuck still misses her every day and decided to make a Legacy gift in her honor in October 2020.
Elwood and Joy Cronk made provision for PYM in their will, and this gift was added to the Legacy Fund at the direction of their son Alan this November. For a decade in the ’50s and ’60s, Elwood worked at Yearly Meeting with High School youth programs, later he administered Bucks County’s Bail Bond program, and worked as a mediator in child custody cases. He was active in the Alternatives to Violence project at two prisons: Fort Dix Federal Corrections Prison as well as the New Jersey State Prison in Trenton. Joy was equally involved; she worked for American Friends Service Committee in Des Moines; and was registrar for Friends General Conference in Philadelphia, Pa. At Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, she clerked four committees.
John Child, clerk of Darby Meeting, made a legacy fund gift to honor his mother, Beatrice Landes Child, the prior clerk of Darby meeting. John still lives in his mother’s house in Chestnut Hill and centers his life in both his work as a lawyer and as clerk of Darby Meeting. Her legacy rests in the meeting community she cared for.
Robert L. Post (Robin) was honored with a birthday party last November by the members of Haverford Meeting when he turned 100. Feisty and brilliant, with a wicked Scottish accent when he feels like it, Robin is now retired but was a professor for Physiology/Molecular Physiology and Biophysics at Vanderbilt. Robin is famous for identifying the sodium and potassium ATPase active transporter of cell membranes and was honored with the 1983 Cole Award from the Biophysical Society. When asked what he wanted for his 100th birthday, he told Friends at the meeting to make a Legacy Fund gift to PYM. Many people did, and more than than $2,400 was raised for the fund. Robin is now a Legacy honoree. Way to go, Robin!
Irene’s Story
The Irene C. Ranck Christman Legacy Fund gift was established by her son John Christman, a member of Lancaster Monthly Meeting, in her memory and in gratitude for her extraordinary life, which was made possible by the generosity of so many known and unknown persons.
Irene was born in 1918 as Ida Irene Leister, the daughter of a young unmarried girl named Irene Leister from Bucks county. Her mother took her own life when Ida Irene was still an infant, and she was placed for adoption by the Children’s Aid Society of Philadelphia (Germantown). She was adopted by a childless couple, David G. and Kathryn E. Ranck, of the New Holland area of Lancaster County.
In an era when women were expected to become home-makers, her parents provided her with a college education, and Irene went on to have a 38-year career teaching music in the public schools of Pennsylvania. At the same time, she served as Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association and served other state and national music associations.
While raising two sons, Irene followed Friends’ advice to “let your life speak” by being an early advocate for women’s rights and equality both for her many students and peers. Although not a Friend herself, she lived and taught by example “that of God in every One,” by encouraging her disadvantaged students to achieve their best, despite gender, race, disability, or economic barriers to success.
Irene’s own drive and energy accounted for much of her success; none of it would have been possible without the early intervention and charitable assistance granted to a young child in desperate circumstances with few advantages.
Irene’s son John concludes,
This gift is also in honor of the extraordinary unknown volunteers and charitable work of the Philadelphia Children’s Aid Society, which helped thousands of Pennsylvania’s children like Irene achieve a better life. It is hoped that this legacy fund gift will encourage future Friends, in their own way, to make a difference in a child’s life.
I decided to do this on Christmas since my parents married on Christmas day 1949, so it had a little extra significance for me.
The Legacy Fund
Created in February 2019, the Legacy fund is several things in one. It is a way to honor people you love with a gift to a faith that shines its light in our world. It is also a way to tell stories of Quakers through the accomplishments of each honoree. For all of us who have spent time rolling rocks up a hill to build something better at the top…well, Friends, this Legacy Fund is for you.
A Legacy Fund contribution of $1250 or more initiates the fund in a person’s honor. Each year we highlight new Legacy Fund honorees in our annual report of gifts, next to a full list of all honorees. This means that from one year to the next, the list builds, and eventually, there will be many names of people who have contributed to our faith or our lives.
Groups of Friends (as at Haverford Meeting) can get together to make these gifts an intangible gift for someone special. A Legacy fund gift can be part of a bequest or a storytelling opportunity that identifies the gifts and skills of a particular Friend or loved one.
The Legacy Fund endowment is permanently restricted. Principal cannot be spent, but the annual income funds Quaker initiatives with annual income. It can be a way to endow your annual fund giving in perpetuity and a way to perpetuate the Faith you love and care for by bringing forward the name of someone you love to inspire others.
We are creating a web page with information about all honorees. The idea is that this page will keep Quaker stories alive, helping people see what it means to be a Friend and live with the wish to make the world a better place.
A Fund that Raises up Our Faith and Civically Minded People
There was a time when Friends had to hide and worship in secret. Their radical beliefs–that each person has a direct connection to God– were a threat to established churches and their clergy. We are past that point of our history and can open our doors to seekers everywhere.
These Friends, each in their own way, have carried Quaker principles into their lives and used their connection with Faith to feed their vocation to do good. We intend additional stories about Friends as we research them. May these stories above inspire!
Named gifts in the order, they were received:
Kirk Norris
Francis Nicholson
Charles W. Ufford Jr.
Anne H. T. Moore
Beatrice Lands Child
David C. Geliebter
Steven F. Stalonas
Robert L. Post (In honor of his 100th birthday)
Joy Newby Cronk & Elwood Francis Cronk
Karen D. Lockyer
Irene Ranck Christman
