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Minnesota Couple Recipients of T.W. Anderson Award
MINNEAPOLIS, MN (June 21, 2004) - Dean and Adele Nelson of First Covenant
Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, are the 2004 recipients of the T. W.
Anderson Award, which is named in honor of the only lay president of the
Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC).
Residents of White Bear Lake, Minnesota, the Nelsons grew up at First
Covenant Church and have found many ways to benefit their local
congregation and community in their longtime association with the
church. At the church level, Dean has been church chairman and also has
chaired the Gifts and Memorials Committee while serving as a deacon,
treasurer and trustee. He has been a faithful participant and leader for
the church's Monday Retired Men's group, has organized and maintained
historical data on the church, and schedules volunteers for the church's
Welcome Center, among other things.
Adele has been chair of the Deaconess Committee and has been the
Covenant Women Ministries president of her church while serving on the
Outreach Commission and with the church's preschool. She also has been a
parish nurse, using her talents in the church's music ministries, and
has made quilts to help in various fundraising efforts for First
Covenant. She and her husband taught Sunday school classes, served with
the Personnel Resources Commission at the church, worked regularly to
help coordinate Wednesday night suppers and provided regular lay
ministry through hospital visitation.
Outside of the church, Dean has been an accountant, office manager,
secretary and treasurer, working with Commonwealth Electric Company
before retiring. A World War II veteran, he attended Minnehaha Academy
in Minneapolis and serves on the Academy's Alumni Association and the
board for nearby Union Cemetery. He has also been a regular at the local
Salvation Army's monthly meal ministry.
A registered nurse, Adele served on a maternity ward at a local hospital
before staying home to care for two children. Before her retirement, she
served as a nurse at Harmony Nursing Home. She has volunteered for the
Bethesda Hospital School Alumni Association and has played piano for
many years on a weekly basis at a local nursing home.
The Nelsons were nominated for the T.W. Anderson Award by First Covenant
pastor Anne Vining Peterson, who said in her introductory paragraph,
"...It was clear from my first days at First Covenant Church that Dean and
Adele were a team that means business - Kingdom business." Said former
pastor Norbert Johnson in his tribute to the couple, "Dean and Adele are
a true team, both as marriage partners (well over 50 years) and in how
they have given their lives to serve the God they love and their church,
which they also deeply love. Their focus has always been on meeting
others' needs . . . they have been servants of God in many, many ways,
always thinking about how they could be doing more, always with joyful
hearts."
Presented at each ECC Annual Meeting, the T.W. Anderson Award honors
laypersons who have evidenced lives of commitment and dedication to
Christ and the Church; who have been members of the Evangelical Covenant
Church for at least 25 years; have not served on a conference or
national board, and have provided outstanding service to the local
church and community and have been recognized vocationally.
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
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