Stories from the First Cathedral 51

One of my best friends when I served the Cathedral from 2001-2013 was the former bishop of Vermont and former Dean of the Cathedral in the 1970s, Dan Swenson. Dan and I shared the hobby of model railroading. He would call me and tell me I needed a break. We would take a trip to the Twin Cities and travel to his favorite model railroad shop to view the latest innovations of the hobby. We then shared lunch and debated the deep theology of HO gauge trains versus O gauge trains.

When Dan was Dean of the First Cathedral, he excelled at visiting parishioners, especially women who were special at promoting the success of the First Cathedral mission of servanthood. Here is an example: "Shortly after I had arrived in Faribault in the spring of 1975, I set out to call upon the eldest member of the parish, Miss Bess Lindberg, who was then living in the Masonic Home in Bloomington, MN. I had heard many "Bess Lindberg stories" from the Cathedral parishioners, about her driving to Minnesota Twins baseball games until she was in her early 90s, about her work developing Occupational Therapy, about her devotion to the Cathedral and the Episcopal church, and I was eager to meet this distinguished lady at 98 years old. [. . .] That was the first of many wonderful visits I had with Bess. She was one of three persons I've met who knew and remembered Bishop Whipple, and she told me of her confirmation day, when that very tall bishop laid his hands upon her and prayed for the gifts of the Holy Spirit." ("The First Cathedral by the Venerable Ben Scott and Mr. Robert Neslund, 1987, p146).