By Laura Harris Stanger

"Daddy" Fokes is what my daddy called him, and that is how we all thought of Rev. Fokes. You see, he was always there like a loving father. He shepherded us, his flock through the Great Depression and World War II. He guided and challenged my friends and me as we moved through childhood and adolescence.

The United Church is 80. I am 80, and my earliest memories center in and around a tiny country church sitting in the midst of Ottawa Valley farmland, Starks Corners United Church. There, to this day, regular services are conducted from the pulpit once occupied by Rev. Fokes. There his spirit and influence remain. For that, I am truly thankful and again and again I return to recapture the aura of yesteryear's nurturing by Rev. Fokes. Things haven't changed there. They have been lovingly enhanced and wonderfully maintained. It is, as it always has been for me, a welcome sanctuary.

Rev. Alexander Forth Fokes chose to work in rural areas and Starks Corners was certainly that. He and the rural mailman could be counted on. They delivered! They bumped along gravel roads full of ruts in summer and challenged winter's snowdrifts. With the advent of the snowplow, horse-and-rigs gave way to cars. However, for all of us who loved Rev. Fokes, we weren't too comfortable when he got behind the wheel. Being very near-sighted, he overdrove the distance he could see. He simply swerved around whatever popped up in front of him. We had to believe that God was with him every inch of the way. But on those days when he gave me a ride to my high school rooming-house in town, my fledging beliefs wavered.

In 1949, after 20 years in the Shawville-Bristol-Starks Corner charge, Rev. Fokes received a Doctor of Divinity (honoris causa) from Queen's University. His congregations were delighted. After all, he had interested many young men in the Christian ministry and guided them in their courses. He was in charge of men in various missions, led a young peoples' camp and founded a youth camp. Rev. Fokes was chairman of the Ottawa United Presbytery. Yet, Dr. Fokes will always be remembered as an unassuming and gentle shepherd who knew how to guide each of his sheep and each of his lambs. A profoundly simple illustration he used during children's story time, more than 70 years ago, has always stuck with me. On a piece of cardboard he printed three words he'd seen scribbled in a public place. "God is nowhere." Then, with a little message and some abracadabra, we saw the same letters proclaiming the truth, "God is now here."

Dr. Fokes spent his life bringing out the best in a community. His life on earth ended, during retirement, while conducting a worship service.

Thinking about how blessed I was that Rev. Fokes ministered at Starks Corners during my formative years, prompts me to give thanks for all such influential ministers. Most especially, I laud all men and women who dare to be country ministers as "Daddy" Fokes did. Ripples from the pebbles they toss into the murky waters of our lives go on and on and on.

(© The Shawville Equity, Sept. 21, 2005)

From Toronto With Love