Mary Eleanor Kidder Wall

My parents, David and Edna Chase, were friends of Jim and Eleanor Wall at Elmhurst Methodist Church during the years when I was growing up. We moved to Flossmoor when I was fifteen, but I later returned to Elmhurst College for my freshman year. At the end of that year, I married John Gewin, whom I met at Elmhurst UMC. Eleanor played the organ for our wedding at Olympia Fields UMC (the second wedding held in that new church). Two days before the wedding, the area was hit with a huge tornado, and the evening wedding was left without electricity. The men hauled in a generator to run the organ, but it was woefully inadequate according to the organist. Twenty minutes before the wedding as I was dressing in a dark restroom, Jim stood with my dad, my groom, one of my brothers, and perhaps a few others in the parking lot. Jim raised his hands to the heavens and spoke. "Lord," he said in a matter-of-fact voice, "we need a little help here." To the surprise of at least a few of the crowd, suddenly there was electricity. The music was beautiful, and it was not until later that evening that I learned of the miracle of the parking lot. The camera was broken so we have almost no photos, but this is a picture of us with our parents (Sam and Marie Gewin, John and Jean Gewin, Edna and David Chase). Eleanor sat at the organ to the left of John's father. I've always felt blessed by the presence of both Eleanor and James Wall. May God bless you one and all and may He wrap her and your dad together in His loving arms.

Please accept my condolences on behalf of Senior Home Sharing. As we continue to move Mary Eleanor's mission forward we are grateful for her vision and leadership.