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Spring Fling and Oread Meeting Celebration
by Reva Griffith
Several Penn Valley Meeting Friends attended all or part of the Missouri Valley Conference Spring Fling held the weekend of
April 28-30 at Oread Meetinghouse in Lawrence, KS. lt was held in conjunction with a 50 year celebration of the founding of the
Oread Meeting. In addition to Friends from MVFC meetings—Penn Valley, Wichita, Topeka, Manhattan, Oread, Springfield—there
were former members and attenders from the Oread Meeting. Among them were Tom and Anne Moore, who were the parents of
Lydia Moore, much loved Penn Valley member who died in an auto accident six years ago.
A potluck was held Friday evening with a welcoming social time. On Saturday morning, meeting for worship began at 10:30 and
was followed by a talk by Mary Garman, Earlham College professor, who discussed her interest in the influence of friendship on
spirituality. She is currently doing research on this topic and presented the story of two English Quaker women who were traveling
ministers in this country for three years in the mid 1700's. She illustrated some of the ways their deep friendship affected the
development of their spiritual lives.
In the afternoon, a Peace Pole placed in the meetinghouse yard was dedicated. Several musicians performed including
Chloe who played one of her assortment of flutes. Then Jean Grant, an attender of Oread Meeting and awriter, spoke of the history
of the meeting which she had just finished putting in written form. A copy of this history is now in the Penn Valley Meeting library.
Lunch and dinner were catered. Both were delicious; the evening meal, held at the ecumenical center, was from a Salvadoran
restaurant and was served by the youth present. Probably 50-60 persons were present sometime during the weekend. It was a
gala and interesting event.
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