Welcome to another week!

Frances Sperry of Atlantic celebrated her 90th birthday on June 16, at Fallowfield United Methodist Church with her six children, Faith Ann Sperry Taylor, Rachel Sperry Langdon, John Sperry, Liz Sperry Brown, Keith Sperry, and Christine Sperry Tavarez. Several grand children and great-grandchildren and many friends from the Atlantic community gathered to honor Frances’ birthday. The church was packed with Frances’ long-time friends and family.

Frances, Faith Ann and Liz greeted guests at the entrance to the sanctuary.

Her youngest son, Keith, opened with prayer.

Liz led the music along with her sister, Christine.

The congregation sang “How Great Thou Art.” The building swelled with song and the presence of the Holy Spirit was tangible.

The Sperry family sang “Make Me a Blessing.” Liz, John, Keith, Christine, Rachel, and Faith Ann sang with their mother. Grandchildren Jason Sperry, Mike Sperry, Mary Sperry, and Lindsey Brown joined their parents and grandma in song.

Faith Ann’s husband, Edwin Taylor, played the piano. He is a world-class pianist.

Audience members called out hymn requests. The first hymn was “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.”

Faith, Edwin, Rachel, John, Keith, Joanne, Liz, and Christine sang “Be Thou My Vision.”

The audience then sang “Great is Thy Faithfulness,” “Because He Lives,” “Victory in Jesus,” and “Standing on the Promises.”

Rachel shared a memory about “Standing on the Promises.” She first sang the song 60 years ago. Her daddy, Raymond, sang bass and her mom, Frances, sang tenor, while she sang alto. The audience got a chuckle out of this reference to the Carl Perkins song, “Daddy Sang Bass.”

Frances beamed while Faith Ann and Christine sang “The Lord’s Prayer.” Both are professional singers with spine-tingling soprano voices. Their voices weave together like a tapestry stretching to heaven.

Liz, Rachel, and Faith Ann sang “Sweeter as the Years Go By.” Frances taught them this song when they were little. They joked that Christine wasn’t allowed to sing along. She was the youngest and couldn’t sing with the girls as a trio when Liz was in second grade, Rachel was in fourth grade, and Faith Ann was in eighth grade.

Then the audience sang “In the Garden.”

All then sang “Fill My Cup Lord,” “The Old Rugged Cross,” “He Touched Me,” My Hope Is Built,” and “Amazing Grace.”

Liz shared that the family sang this song as her daddy, Raymond, passed from this world to the next.

Christine said she was sure the end of the song sounded better than the beginning, as she imagined angels singing “Amazing Grace” to Raymond as he entered heaven.

Faith Ann and Christine sang “How Can I Keep from Singing” as a duet.

Then the audience sang “On Jordan’s Stormy Banks I Stand.”

Faith Ann, Liz, Chris, and Rachel sang “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” as a barbershop quartet. They shared that they first sang this song in 1976 in Syracuse, New York, at Raymond’s retirement dinner. He retired from Agway.

They dedicated the song to Frances and Raymond.

All then sang “Joy to the World,” which, as Frances has pointed out to her children, is not only a Christmas song. Verses two through four explain that the song is for all seasons.

The Sperry family’s last song was “God Be with You Till We Meet Again.”

The congregation’s final song was “To God Be the Glory.”

Liz thanked her brothers and sisters-in-law John and Jody, and Keith and Joanne for doing all of the planning for the birthday party.

John closed in prayer.

John invited everyone to the church’s fellowship hall for cake and ice cream. All watched as her six children lit 90 candles for Frances to blow out. She snuffed out every one.

The family shared pictures of the family dating from Frances and Raymond as young adults through great-grandchildren. There was also a family tree listing all 60 living family members.

Children and grandchildren served a cake decorated with yellow and red roses. They also served vanilla fudge swirl ice cream along with beverages.

People lingered and shared memories with Frances and one another.

Joyce Moore shared her first memory of Frances. She was new to Fallowfield and had gone to a pie bake for the Crawford County Fair early one morning in 1979. Frances sent her home with a flat of eggs, a freshly baked pie crust, and the recipe to Fallowfield United Methodist’s coconut cream pie. Joyce never forgot her kindness and open welcome.

Tim and Kathy McKay also shared memories of Tim coaching John and Keith as wrestlers.

He also remembers Frances teaching how to flute pie crusts at a Crawford County Fair pie bake.

Kathy recalled her sons, Jeff and Jarrod, working at Sperry Farms. Jeff mowed Frances’ and Raymond’s lawn and once ran over her prize rose bush. Kathy called and offered to replace it. Frances told her not to worry about it.

Kathy brought the incident up again the next time she saw her and Frances told her that it was a blessing Jeff ran over the rose bush. She said it came up prettier than ever the next year.

I believe this is how Frances looks at life. There is beauty in the world and in all people. Even though our lives are punctuated with sadness and loss, God transforms ashes into something beautiful.

He gave the Atlantic a beautiful gift when he sent Frances Sperry into the world.