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Somehow, we seemed to have a common sense of where we were going and what we wanted to accomplish. This was the first assignment for the mission developer, Roy Miltner, who was as young as the rest of us. Roy and I used to play tennis from time to time, usually at the Pennington School or one of the high schools. You may wonder why we did not play at one of the local tennis clubs -- well there were none. They did not appear until a later time.
One Spring, the Fielder family in Hopewell, held a party, where we were introduced to the Marcos, a young couple who had recently moved here from Iowa. Later, we found out that Betty had met the Marcos in a local market, where they discovered a mutual interest in the Lutheran church. Rosemary and I used to wonder whether the party was planned before or after meeting the Marcos.
Anyway, they were a wonderful young couple, who quickly became active in the new mission church. Joan played the piano, and Roy and I added a new tennis partner. There must have been someone else involved, because I am sure we played some doubles.
The Jabs were active members of the new mission. One time, after they had visited New York to see the play, "Jesus Christ, Superstar," they came back and taught the congregation how to sing some of the songs, particularly, "Prepare Ye The Way." Since this was totally unexpected, and Barbara was so sincere, we had a lot of fun.
We were truly a extended family. Most of us had no relatives in the area, so we depended upon each other. We took care of each others' kids, celebrated most holidays together, helped each other with household tasks and construction that required extra hands. We handed clothing from one family to another. One item that was recycled for several years was a little girl's hat, coat and legging set. I think it was worn by almost a dozen little girls in the church, and it was always fun to see who would be dressed in it that winter. It disappeared with one family when they moved away.
  
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