This coming Sunday, July 3, at 10:30 morning worship, Tyrone Presbyterians will commemorate the 229th birthday of America (1776-2005) as the pastoral message, congregational carols, vocal solo and organ selections center around patriotic themes.
Presbyterian Pastor Robert Dunkelberger will deliver a message based on Romans 13: 1-7. That scripture about government will serve as the Biblical text for the pastor’s Independence Day mediation reminding citizens that liberty demands vigilance and hard work.
After the pledge to the flag, song leader or cantor, Ms. Patricia Bujarski will encourage worshippers to participate in a festival of five patriotic carols, ranging from The Star Spangled Banner of 1812 to the ever popular, Let There Be Peace on Earth.
The eldest daughter of a coal miner and mother of six children, Ms. Bujarski lived in Pittsburgh for 30 years before moving to a cottage in Fowler Hollow near Port Matilda about 25 years ago. Across the years, Bujarski has sung at Tyrone’s Roman Catholic Church as well as conducted a Ministry of Music at nursing homes throughout Blair, Centre and Clearfield counties — sometimes with the aid of her long-time friend Robert Reinschmidt of Spruce Creek.
One of the highlights of this patriotic worship service celebrating America’s 229th birthday will include Lynn Feltenberger Dirkse’s vocal solo showcasing the beloved America travel ballad “Shenandoah.” The ballad takes its title from that well-known river which flows between the Allegheny and Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia. Enhanced by the professional voice of Lynn Feltenberger Dirkse, “Shenandoah” tells again the powerful story of American pioneers, and their love for the rivers, mountains and meadows of America as they journey westward.
The daughter of David and Carol (Speece) Feltenberger, Lynn and her engineer-husband Paul Dirkse reside at 708 West Fifteenth Street. A 1990 graduate of Tyrone High School and a 1996 graduate of Penn State University, with a major in liberal arts, Lynn relishes her role as a housewife and even enjoys entertaining her numerous pets with songs while working at home.
Through the years, Lynn has acted with the Tyrone Community Players and performed her own vocal variety shows. These days, she and her mother, Carol, especially appreciate participating in activities at their Mormon church, along Lower Brush Mountain Road in Hollidaysburg. For this Sunday’s performance, Lynn’s father, David, plans to be in the audience, while one a two-week leave from his duties as an American contractor in far-away Kuwait.
Presbyterian organist Richard Merryman will present a patriotic march composed a century ago by Tyrone composer Charles Zerbe, father of long-time Tyrone Presbyterian Burley Zerbe. For a number of years near the turn of the last century, Charles Zerbe owned a music store in Tyrone, worked as a traveling piano salesman and composed a series of memorable marches and waltzes. In fact, Historical Society President Nancy Smith believes the patriotic march Merryman will perform July 3 at Presbyterian worship first might have been used as a processional march to open a Tyrone benedict dance in about 1905.
Pastor Bob Dunkelberger urges faithful citizens of this community to celebrate America’s 229th birthday by joining Tyrone Presbyterians at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, July 3, as they give thanks for God’s blessings and recall again the truth of the words of the German poet Goethe — Of liberty and of life he is only deserving/Who every day must fight for them anew!
