Stewardship Profile:
Anne Quigley
See the picture of Anne Quigley on this page? Anne saw it five hundred twenty-five times this week. No, it’s not a severe case of narcissism. Every other Thursday afternoon Anne and her friend Chris Cotsoridis fold the bulletins produced earlier in the week by Flo Oliveira and Eleanor Calcagno.
Anne has lived on Aquidneck Island for forty-one years. That’s how long ago
she took a job as secretary to the president of Vernon Court Junior College in
Newport. Anne came to Newport with friends from her native Needham, Mass., to
see one of the America’s Cup races in the summer of 1964. They were having
dinner at a restaurant when the couple at the next table struck up a
conversation with them. "How would you like a job with the college?" the husband
asked her. Turns out he
was Dr.
Franklyn Ashley, president of Vernon Court. She jumped at the chance, and since
then Aquidneck Island has been her home.
She worked for Vernon Court from 1964 to 1972. In 1967 she married her husband Ed, who died in 2007. They have four children - Chip in Pennsylvania, Jeannie in the Cincinnati area, John in Pennsylvania, and Michael in California - and six grandchildren.
When Vernon Court closed in 1972 Anne worked for a short time at the Newport School for Girls. Unfortunately, it too was closing down, and Anne moved to the Newport Electric Company in 1973. At first she was secretary to the president, then became public information officer. In that position she had her work cut out for her when Hurricane Bob swept the area in 1991. "Trees were down; people didn’t have electricity; businesses didn’t have electricity." Anne was up early every day to deal with the media. How many trees were down? How many houses were without electricity? How many crews were working to restore it? How many houses had been brought back on line? At least Anne could sympathize with frantic callers who were still without electricity: "I didn’t have electricity either," she says. Anne retired in 1995 after 22 years with the company.
So how do you go from being a public information officer to the "folding bulletins ministry" at St. Lucy? Anne credits her friend Chris with suggesting it. "There was a note about it in the bulletin," Anne says, "and Chris brought it to me." Chris suggested they do the job together. And now, every other week, they do. Chris and Anne are members of a Small Christian Community - started by Anne Burns in 2000 - which meets every other Monday. Sometimes they read and discuss a book; sometimes they discuss the Sunday gospel; sometimes they discuss their own issues.
From Anne’s viewpoint, folding bulletins and participating in the Small Christian Community give her a sense of belonging. From the Small Christian Community she gets trust, she says, and from folding bulletins a sense of being part of a process that gets something done. "Even though you’re just a little part of it," Anne says, "it makes you feel like you’re involved, like you’re a member of the St. Lucy family."
Anyone who wishes to become involved can call the rectory, or click on the List of Ministries to find an opportunity that suits you. Hint: the job folding bulletins is still open for two people to handle the alternating weeks.
Story and Photo by Ed Weyhing