Remembering Our Past Videos

Elder John Thorpe was baptized at Westminster on the day the sanctuary opened in 1939. In this video, he shares his memories of the church in the past, present and hopes for the future.

Becky Wright has been a member since 1944. She became a member of Westminster Presbyterian Church as a result of the gas shortage during the war.

Martha Bess DeWitt, who served as Westminster’s director of Christian Education for nearly 25 years, shares her remembrances of our church during her tenure. In her retirement, Martha Bess divides her time between Virginia and New Hampshire. She provided her comments via Zoom. 

Rev. Dr. Trace Haythorn, former Associate Pastor of Adult Education at Westminster, provides his remembrances of being on staff from 1998 – 2003.

Elder Terry Rappuhn remembers the Great Flood of 2010, and the genesis of Westminster Home Connection.

Elders Jennie Renwick and Hartley Hall on their experiences at Westminster.

Donna Corbett has been a member of Westminster Choir for almost 50 years (since 1974). She shares the history of the choir, tells interesting stories and explains why the choir is an essential part of our worship experience.

Since 1997, Westminster has been building Habitat for Humanity homes to provide safe housing for Nashville families. In this video, Carson Salyer and John Bailey talk about how our church started working with Habitat and the impact our work and prayers and dollars have had – on the families, the community — and our own lives. 

Frank Wade and Beth O’Shea have been lifelong members of Westminster, growing up in the church, raising their children here and providing leadership to the congregation. In this video, Beth and Frank share their experiences at Westminster over the years. At the end of the video, they share a fun remembrance!

Westminster has always strived to meet the needs of its congregation and community. In this video, Tom and Jane McDow share the story of how the Westminster School (now Currey Ingram Academy) was started when parents of a child whose learning differences weren’t being met asked the Session to provide space for a school to help children like theirs be educated.

Father Charles Strobel, who founded Room in the Inn, passed away last week. Westminster was one of the four initial congregations that signed up to host homeless guests during the cold months, starting in 1987. Now there are nearly 200 congregations of all denominations who participate in Room in the Inn in Nashville. Below, Chad Folk talks about how Westminster got involved with Father Strobel at the beginning of Room in the Inn and our continuing support for this ministry…

Westminster member, Rudy Kalis, says that he spent 45 years in broadcasting to prepare him for his work in prison ministry, and in doing so, he has found his life’s purpose. Watch Rudy’s testimony about his experiences working with prisoners, some of them on death row.

Upon his return from sabbatical, Donovan shared the work of our Visioning Committee during last Sunday’s all church meeting.   In the video below, the committee’s co-chairs Howard Lamar and Terry Rappuhn talk about the visioning process and the “God-sized dreams” we have established to guide Westminster’s next ten years.

Carson Salyer served Westminster as Associate Pastor for Congregational Care for more than 20 years and he and Janet continue to be highly involved in the life of our church. In this video, Carson describes his call to Westminster, his work with Reverend K. C. Ptomey and other staff, and his involvement in community missions such as Habitat, Living Waters and Westminster Home Connection.  Finally, Rev. Janet Salyer ends the video with a thank you note to our congregation.

Ann Hartzog Hall was a former member and wife of Westminster former minister Reverend Dr. Hartley Hall.  Her son Hartley interviewed her about her years and memories while their family lived in Nashville.

For someone who says he didn’t want to get involved at Westminster, Elder Jim Hartman has played a significant role in the life of our church.

Elders Bill and Kelly Christie, whose families live in Canada, talk about finding a church family at Westminster in this video.

Living Waters for the World is a global mission of the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) who seeks to “provide clean, safe water to those in the world who desperately need it and to support the volunteers and communities with whom we have relationships.” Beth Felch, along with Doug Leins and Dennis Williams, describe in this video Westminster’s work with this organization to provide clean, safe water to communities in Peru as well as to individuals in need in Middle Tennessee.