History of the Tea

The Glory Be Tea began 20 years ago with the inspiration planted by Fran Riley and a desire to
fulfill an evangelical calling by Linda Stramel and continues today as an an annual inspiration
to the women of St James.

In the fall of 2002, parishioner Fran Riley called a small group of women together to
brainstorm ideas for a Womens event in the parish that would add depth and meaning to the
Advent and Christmas season. Serendipitously over the Christmas season, Linda Stramel a
member of the group attended a “Glory Be Tea” event in an out-of-town church and thought it
was lovely and a good fit for St. James.

In the Spring of 2003 the group met again and Linda presented the Glory be Tea idea to the
group consisting of Meredith Klamm, Michelle McCloskey, Kathleen Quinn and Myra Meyers
along with Linda and Fran. She explained the details of the event she had attended which
included, refreshments of tea cakes, sandwiches and flavored teas, ladies wearing hats, the
pastor delivering an inspiring message and music to entertain the ladies. The overall idea of
the event was to give the women of the church a relaxing afternoon during the hustle-and-
bustle of the season and a chance to fully focus on the true meaning of Christmas. Linda
enthusiastically encouraged the group to take on this event and agreed to be the leader along
with Michelle McCloskey. A plan for the event was quickly put into action and other
parishioners were recruited for their expertise to assist in pulling the event together including
Don Ollier to lead the cooking, Ima Rahter heading up the Cookie Brigade; Sharon Benson,
seamstress; Melinda Dolphin, storyteller; Dee Ward, tablesetting, Mike Kieffer, Tea Brewer;
Clark Kelly, AV; The Knights and Confirmation Youth for serving and many more hands.
The first Teas seated 100-125 guests and over the years grew to around 200 women of the
parish and their friends gathering for an afternoon of fellowship and faith.

Over the next seven years the committee added talented and dedicated members Jo Micek,
Cathy Dodge, Joyce Muck, Nadine McCoy, Cecilia Richardson, Carla Travaglianti, Jean Kieffer
and Sandy Turner, who shared coordinating responsibilities with original members as the Tea
continued to evolve, always holding true to its original intent.

Hopefully the Tea will be around to serve the parish for another 20 years!