“I find it difficult to even begin my story, as I’ve been on this earth, I believe, longer than anyone else in my new church at Trinity.  So I will start with my previous marriage to John Hartford.  We were married for more than 30 years and he passed away in 1995.  In those years, two of his children came to Iive with us at the ages of 3 and 7. (They are now in their 60s). That was not the plan—their mother affirmed she could no longer care for them and I became an instant stepmother.  Since I have never had children of my own, this was quite an eye-opener.  I was raised as a Christian but now I was married to a non practicing catholic.  This was a very difficult marriage and I have many regrets that I stopped going to church after we married and did not introduce my new children, Tom and Bob, to any Christian ways.  Fast forward…

Three and one half years after John’s death, I met a wonderful man, Bill Schick, at a beer and sausage pot luck.  I hate beer and sausage and did not want to attend.  A friend of mine who had been on a group trip to Australia and Bill was part of that trip, persuaded me into attending the party.  She said there was a man on the trip that she thought I would like  and noted that he was a Christian and she wasn’t into religion.  Then I saw this man across the lawn with the the white curly hair, holding a glass of wine (not beer), smiling at me.  Well, my friend said, “He was the man I was going to introduce you to but you beat me to it.”  And that was the beginning of our friendship, which led into marriage 4-1/2 months later.  Bill always loved to tell the story of our meeting like the song “Some enchanted evening…”

Bill always believed that God brought us together. I told him my story of being raised as a Christian and had fallen away from the church, although I was searching for a church at the time I met him  He then asked me if I’d like to try his church, Union Presbyterian Church in Los Altos, CA, where we lived.  And yes I did.  I couldn’t have been happier with my new life with Bill and my new church.  Everyone was so friendly and brought me into the fold.  Then I thought, maybe they were being so friendly because they were checking me out to see if I was good enough for Bill.  Bill assured me that was not true.  I became very active in our church and I was ‘recruited' for many volunteer positions.  I ended up becoming a deacon while Bill became an elder, as the years went by.  And so my new journey began once again after moving to San Diego and joining the wonderful church at Trinity.  Sadly, Bill passed away in 2020 after almost 22 years of marriage.  And he loved his new church until he closed his eyes forever on this earth—and then to his heavenly paradise.  Yes, I believe God brought us together and I love this church and the many friends I’ve met and still meeting.”

-Vi Schick