The St. Matthew’s seventh-grade girls volleyball team beat Campbell Hall Blue, 25-9, 25-15, in its Junior Delphic League opener last week. Down by 4-0 and 9-7 scores in the first game, the Falcons roared back when Meg Norton served 18 straight service points, including 10 aces, to close out the game. Setter Bonnie Wirth began Game 2 by serving 12 straight points, including eight aces. Cami Winding’s passing, Nicola Kronstadt’s accurate serving along with the consistency of starters Kate Morrissey and Caity Croft kept St. Matthew’s ahead throughout. Solid contributions from Carlye Gordon, Katrina Rochlin and Kyra Richardson further stymied the Vikings. St Matthew’s, coached by Andy Bernstein and Howard Feldberg, hosts Campbell Hall’s gold team next Wednesday. 8th-Grade Volleyball Under first-year coach John Caravella the Falcon girls defeated Windward in their Junior Delphic League opener, 25-16, 25-22. Katie McNutt served nine straight points to give St. Matthew’s a 9-1 lead in the first game and had three key kills late in the second game. Setters Lizzy Porter and Claire Soley ran the offense expertly while Anne Turner, Emily Slemaker and Emily Spradling set up many plays with her accurate passes. The Falcons’ roster includes Eleanor Combs, Codie Dicus, Rylee Ebsen, Taylor Frey, Sheridan Hathaway, Diana Irvine, Claire McCracken, and Audrey Turner. next Monday. The squad hosts St. Paul on October 4. 8th Grade Football Defeated St. Mel’s 14-8 in its Junior High Delphic League opener. Matt Bagnard threw touchdown passes to Bobby Kazimiroff and Logan Shoop and a two-point conversion pass to Shoop. Rory Behr rushed for 35 yards in five carries, Evan Palmer had three receptions and Kenny Fowlkes, Chet Hanks and Nick Barnes all contributed on offense. Hanks had five sacks on defense while Bagnard added two sacks and an interception. Linebackers and defensive backs (Palmer, Behr and Bagnard Dylan Bostick, Ryan Ashley, Conor Knowles and Fowlkes) played extremely well. St. Matthew’s is coached by Gary Bradison and John Norwood. The Falcons’ next game is next Friday, Oct. 8, when they host Harvard-Westlake Red.
Finished Before She Starts
Palisades’ Top Tennis Player Quits One Night Before Season Opener
If the Palisades High girls tennis team is to become No. 1 in the City this season, it will have to do so without its No. 1 player. On the eve of the Dolphins’ first match sophomore Olivia Colman informed Coach Bud Kling that she had dropped out of school to enroll in an independent study program. “I made the decision [to leave Palisades] because I have a spinal condition that causes my hamstrings to tighten up and going to school all day was too hard on my back,” said Colman, who compiled a 23-3 singles record as a freshman last fall. “I loved being on the team last year. Everyone was really nice, Coach Kling was very helpful and I’m glad I did it. My goal right now is to play national tournaments and be ranked in the top 10 in the 18s.” Kling said he was never made aware of Colman’s spinal condition nor did she tell any of her teammates about it. “I think it’s just another excuse she’s using for simply not wanting to play for us,” said Kling, who has coached the Pali girls to 12 City titles. “She could’ve done everything she’s doing now–the yoga, the massage therapy, the physical fitness, the private lessons, even the independent study curriculum–and still been part of our program. Her mom also claimed none of the classes Olivia took last year will count towards college but I confirmed through our counseling office that every class was NCAA certified except for science. “High school tennis provides a unique environment that you don’t get to experience anywhere else,” Kling continued. “It’s unfortunate that after all the concessions we made Olivia doesn’t feel any accountability or obligation to the team.” Kling had beefed up Pali’s nonleague schedule in an effort to provide more challenging competition for his top player, but without her the Dolphins were routed by Mira Costa 17-1, then defeated soundly by Malibu, 12-6, three days later. With Coleman, a 15-year-old currently ranked 38th in Southern California in the 16s and 70th in the 18s, the Dolphins were the clear-cut favorite to win their first City title in six years. Without her, the rest of the players know they must pick up the slack in order to achieve their goal. “We’re quite disappointed because we are really determined to win City this year and now all of a sudden we don’t have our best player,” Pali co-captain Brittany O’Neil said. “Olivia was given a lot of freedom to do her own thing. Coach Kling didn’t make her come to practice and we were all fine with that. Not a single player was resentful. We were happy to have her for the matches. We’d love for her to come back but she’s gone so we just have to make the best of it.” Palisades opens defense of its Western League championship at Westchester today.
Dealing with Depression
Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer
By BRENDA HIMELFARB Palisadian-Post Contributor It had been a hectic Saturday for Josh Mills, a Palisades High School junior. As a talented drama student, he had directed four shows for a regional high school drama festival, had gotten very little sleep and was totally exhausted. ”So, Sunday morning, when his mother, Ruth, insisted that he study for his Spanish test, Josh could hardly move. Having to do anything, particularly study for a test, was the last thing he wanted to do. He was simply wiped! Josh finally dragged himself out of bed and over to the dining room table where Ruth, a teacher at Palisades High, had placed all the books together to begin their work. He sat there, half asleep, at times laying his head down on the table, eyes closed. He just didn’t have any energy. In fact, it got to the point where Ruth had to constantly awaken him to answer questions. This went on for a time, and then Josh ‘lost it.’ He absolutely had had enough. In a rage, Josh jumped up from the table, threw a chair cushion and began screaming at his mother, then his father, who rushed into the room to see what was going on. Ruth recalls that her husband later said that the eyes of the boy he saw were like those of a wild man. The ranting, screaming person Ruth and her husband were watching was not the gentle Josh they knew. That Sunday’November 8, 1998’is a date that Ruth and Josh will never, ever forget. They know exactly where they were, what they were doing and how unreal it all seemed. Their lives were forever changed. ‘I had gotten mad and had yelled at my mom before’all teenagers do’but this was different,’ recalls Josh. ‘Afterwards, instead of getting over it, I kind of shut down. I don’t remember what my mood was or whether I talked the rest of the day, but I do remember thinking, the next day, that I wanted space from mom, my whole family. It wasn’t so much that I was mad. I just needed space and I wasn’t getting it. ‘I went to school for a few days and then I stopped going to school. I really couldn’t go and I really didn’t want to go. And it wasn’t the ‘don’t want to go to school’ like every kid says every so often. It was that I really didn’t care. I had no interest in a future or anything.’ ”Ruth called the school psychologist, Bella McGowan, but this made Josh furious and, once again, he got very angry. Finally, he agreed to see her with his parents. ‘Josh told Bella that he didn’t feel like doing anything,’ Ruth remembers. ‘He didn’t feel like getting up or going to school any more. He was having trouble sleeping at night, and then sleeping too much during the day. He had always been thin, but suddenly he began losing weight.’ What Josh was going through are just some of the signs of teenage depression. And the statistics are staggering. Among adolescents, one in eight suffers from depression. Only about 30 percent receive any sort of intervention or treatment. The other 70 percent simply struggle through much pain and turmoil, doing their best to make it to adulthood. Josh was fortunate to have such love and support from his sister, Jeanette, and his parents, who insisted that he needed help and were committed to finding the right treatment for their son. ‘It’s not Bella’s place to make a diagnosis, but she said that it sounded like it could be depression and she suggested that we take him to a clinic where Josh could see a psychologist, and if he needed medication, a psychiatrist,’ Ruth explained. ‘So we took him to the St. John’s Child and Family Development Center, where we met a psychiatrist who agreed that there was a moderate degree of depression and a medication was prescribed.’ Josh did well for awhile. But then his grades began to fall, and in less than six months he had a relapse. In March 1999, Josh entered UCLA’s NeuroPsychiatric Institute (NPI) in the Adolescent Partial Hospitalization Program, an outpatient program that offers three hours of school daily. ‘I really didn’t want to go there,’ admits Josh. ‘I thought it was a step backward. Part of me was hoping that eventually I would feel better and be able to go back to school, but that wasn’t going to happen. My parents and my psychologist and her supervisor, whom I had never even met, all talked to me. I was really mad. It was almost like an intervention. They told me that I had to do this, that I just couldn’t sit around the house every day. They told me I was ‘stuck’ and that I was going to be an in-patient if I didn’t go. So, very reluctantly, I joined the program.’ Most teens are admitted for two to four weeks. Josh spent time in the program from March until June, receiving several types of therapy: group, individual, recreational, occupational and educational. His depression manifested itself as a school-related anxiety. ‘This was a kid who had sailed through school,’ Ruth said. ‘But he was at a point where he literally couldn’t open a book, so the educational psychiatrist worked with him. ‘The first day they sat there and looked at the book. The second day, they would open the book. The third day, they would open the book to his assignment. And on the fourth day, they would have Josh answer one of the questions from the assignment. Josh gradually went from that helpless condition to being able to work with an outpatient educational therapist. Then he was able to do his work if one of us helped him. Then, if one of us just sat in his room. And this went on into the beginning of college. Finally he got to the point where, like any other student, he would come home and do his assignments on his own, which you expect from a high school kid.’ Josh graduated with his high-school class and recently completed Santa Monica College. He begins UCLA this month. ‘I took a lot of time getting through SMC. I took things slowly and never took a heavy load,’ says Josh. ‘I didn’t even take classes every semester. Attending UCLA has been a lifelong dream of mine. I’m nervous about going, but I know that’s a natural feeling for any new college student.’ These days Josh says he feels ‘really good.’ He’s on two medications: Effexor and Risperdal, an anti-anxiety drug that helps calm him down at the end of the day. ‘We’re at the point where I am able to lower my dose,’ says Josh, happily. ‘Depression is something that can be dealt with, ‘ he adds. ‘Even if it can’t be completely cured, you can have a normal life, a great life. And if you deal with it, you can move on and if you don’t get help, who knows what can happen to you? It’s one of those things that you have to acknowledge and say, ‘This is where we are. We need to deal with it. We can’t ignore it. We can’t hide it.’ ‘Depression affects the whole family, not just the patient,’ Ruth said. ‘For parents of teenagers, it’s very hard to tell how much is normal teenage rebellious behavior and how much is depression. If your child is suddenly confrontational, if his grades start to drop, if the things that have always given him pleasure stop giving him pleasure, it should be noted. So many parents don’t know what it is when it hits. We were lucky, because I worked at his school and I knew the school psychologist and we immediately had someone to go to. And we had what turned out to be a correct diagnosis within 48 hours. ‘When Josh first got depressed, I thought, What did we do? Should I not have helped him with Spanish that day? Is that what triggered it? That was a trigger that day. Another day it would have been something else. But I was assured that this was inevitable. This was going to happen.’ Dealing with depression is not always easy, something Josh readily acknowledges. ‘I think I’m certainly on the outside of it now,’ Josh says. ‘I don’t ever want to press my luck and say it’s all behind me. I know that there’s always the possibility that it will come back. I do worry about it coming back, but that is out of my control. And I know that if I keep doing the things that I need to do and lead the life that I know is good for me, the chances of depression coming back are probably pretty slim.’ (Editor’s Note: See related story about Bella McGowan, the Palisades High School psychologist, on page 15.)
Spikers Defuse Lighthouse
Not even a last-minute switch of opponents could deter Palisades High’s girls varsity volleyball team from posting its second victory Monday afternoon. The Dolphins were supposed to have hosted Malibu, but instead it was Lighthouse Christian Academy that showed up at the Pali gymnasium. No matter, Palisades got off to a fast start and held off a furious comeback attempt by the previously-undefeated Saints to post a 25-13, 25-23, 18-25, 25-16 intersectional victory. The win came two days after the Dolphins lost to San Pedro, 26-24, in the semifinals of the Chatsworth Tournament. ‘Because of the situation we didn’t have a great warm-up and we gave them so many points in the first two games even though we won,’ Palisades’ senior setter Diana Grubb said. ‘They were pretty determined and we had to step it up at the end.’ Palisades took a commanding Megan Chanin served four consecutive aces to give Pali a commanding 20-8 lead in the first game and Kaylie McCallister ended the match with a crosscourt kill. Coach Cheri Stuart chose to rest starting middle blocker Natasha Vokhshoori so that reserves Alina Kheyfets and Margarita Juarez could gain valuable match experience. ‘I switched our lineup to see how some of the younger players would respond,’ said Stuart, who learned a lot about how her team stacks up against the rest of the City from its performance in Chatsworth. ‘Skill-wise I think we’re better than most of the teams I saw. We’re still young and inexperienced but I’ve seen incredible improvement so far.’ After suffering a season-opening sweep at the hands of Santa Monica, the Dolphins beat Sylmar twice in three days’first in a nonleague match last Thursday, then again at the Chatsworth tournament. ‘We beat them easier the second time,’ Grubb said of Sylmar. Palisades lost its first pool play match to Chatsworth but rebounded to beat Marshall, Verdugo Hills and Canoga Park before dispatching Sylmar in the quarterfinals. One of the best players on the court Monday was Lighthouse’s 5-4 freshman fireplug Stephanie Sommer, who finished with 18 kills, four aces and 12 digs. Following in the footsteps of her older sisters, Lauren (one of the Saints’ assistant coaches) and Lindsey (an outside hitter at Concordia University), Sommer lives in the Alphabet Streets and also plays for the Sunshine Volleyball Club. ‘Our school is small, we only have about 60 students,’ Sommer said of CIF Division V-A Lighthouse, located in Santa Monica. ‘It’s not like Palisades where you have thousands of people to draw from. But I love my school and I wouldn’t want to play for anyone else. This was definitely a challenge’Pali is the best team we’ve faced’but it’s good for our confidence to know we can play with them.’ The Saints are coached by Palisadian Suzie Dimpfl, who grew up in Santa Monica and formerly played for Pepperdine and the United States national team. ‘Stephanie was about average today,’ Dimpfl said of her top player. ‘Believe it or not, she can play a lot better.’
Dolphins Feel Right at Home
Harris Rushes for Two Scores and Defense Comes Up Big in 14-12 Win
Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer
The scenario at halftime was all too familiar for the Palisades High varsity football team. For the third time in as many games this season, the Dolphins trailed going into the locker room last Friday night and once again the deficit was due to their own lack of execution. However, senior quarterback Dylan Cohen pointed out what he believed to be a weakness in the opponent’s defense and pointed it out during the chalk talk. To their credit, the coaches listened, and junior running back Andre Harris did the rest. ‘I let the coaches know that the two hole and four hole were open and we could run it right down their throats all night,’ Cohen said. ‘Before the first play [of the second half] I told Andre he was gonna’ get the ball and he did his thing from there.’ That ‘thing’ was a spectacular 72-yard touchdown run on the Dolphins’ first play from scrimmage which gave the Dolphins a lead they would never relinquish on their way to a 14-12 nonleague victory over Los Angeles at Stadium by the Sea. Harris ran roughshod through the Romans, gaining 210 yards in just 10 carries. He broke tackles repeatedly, frustrated would-be tacklers with stiff straight arms and dragged defenders with him for extra yardage. ‘Yeah, he was hard to tackle,’ Romans’ defensive back Patrick Morrison said of Harris. ‘Several times we thought we had him trapped and he escaped.’ Harris scored Pali’s first offensive touchdown in nearly 10 quarters on a 58-yard run up the middle that gave the Dolphins a short-lived 7-6 lead with 2:08 remaining in the first half. ‘We had to win this game and I felt I had to pick the team up,’ Harris said. ‘The turning point was that first possession of the third quarter. We may have been down, but we kept telling each other we were still in the game and we could still win.’ Marquise Coleman added 36 yards in seven carries for Palisades (1-2). When senior linebacker Dave Villalobos made a juggling interception, Pali appeared poised to take a one-point lead into halftime, but defensive end Maynard Walker intercepted a slant pass by Cohen at midfield and returned it to the Dolphins’ six-yard line. Morrison plowed off right tackle on the next play to give L.A. a 12-7 lead. ‘At that point, I kept thinking to myself ‘Here we go again,” said Leo Castro, who earned his first victory in three tries as the Dolphins’ head coach. ‘We were dropping passes, dropping easy interceptions, taking silly penalties. Nothing was going right. But the great thing about football is that each game presents you with many opportunities and in the second half we were able to capitalize on a few of them.’ A running into the kicker penalty gave Los Angeles an automatic first down to keep its opening drive alive, but the Romans’ eventually turned the ball over on downs. The ensuing drive ended when Pali wide receiver Anthony Anaebere dropped a sure touchdown pass after sneaking behind the L.A. secondary. Early in the second quarter, Brandon Bryant’s errant snap sailed five feet over Cohen’s head and, after retrieving the loose ball, the Pali punter was gang-tackled at the Dolphins’ 1-yard line. Raymond Mouton’s quarterback sneak gave Los Angeles a 6-0 lead on the next play. ‘That was all my fault,’said Bryant, who had predicted the Dolphins’ offense would bust loose in front of its home crowd. ‘I got a little too overanxious and just hiked it over Dylan’s head. We struggled, I struggled, but we battled back. No team can stop us, we can only stop ourselves.’ Los Angeles (1-2) advanced to the Dolphins’ 12-yard line with five minutes left but Bryant atoned for his earlier miscue with a leaping interception. On their last drive, the Romans marched to the Palisades 36 before Anaebere picked off a pass by Christian Martinez and returned it 40 yards with 43 seconds left. Cohen completed just one pass for six yards, threw two interceptions and missed a 28-yard field goal, but no one was happier when the game was over. ‘This was a huge win,’ Cohen said. ‘We had to have this game. It doesn’t matter to me how we do it, as long as we come out on top in the end.’ Pali players were inspired throughout the game by a trio of alumni looking on from the sideline: former quarterback and Palisadian-Post Cup Award-winner Carlos Flores (Class of ’99), former tight end/defensive back Stamen Borisov (Class of ’99) and former tight end/defensive end Melvin Hayes (Class of ’98). ‘I was pretty confident the whole time that we’d come back and win,’ said Flores, who played quarterback at Virginia Union, a Division II college, and now works as a bodyguard for a management company. ‘But towards the end it was a little shaky. But I’m proud of the guys for hanging in there and pulling it out.’ Frosh/Soph Sophomore receiver Javon Crowder caught touchdown passes of 40 and 45 yards from quarterback Michael Latt and also scored on a reverse’all in the first half’as the host Dolphins (1-1-1) posted a 21-6 victory.
Patrick Davis, 60; Former Resident, Portrait Artist
”Former Palisadian Patrick Davis died July 7 in Chicago. He was 60. Son of Jack and Dorothy Davis, Patrick was born on August 23, 1963. He grew up in the Palisades and attended public schools, graduating from University High School in 1962. He was an artist in the Indiana area specializing in portraits of children in all types of settings. He was a wonderful man with a very loving spirit. ”Davis is survived by his son, Tom Davis of Chicago, and sisters Mary Davis Stahl of New Mexico and Margie Davis of Rancho Cordova.
Fred Stahl; PaliHi Grad, Contractor
Former Pacific Palisades resident Fred Stahl died September 1 in Ruidoso, New Mexico. The son of the late Eric and Laverne Stahl, he was born in Los Angeles and raised in the Palisades. His father was the ranger in charge at Will Rogers State Historic Park for 10 years. Stahl was in the first class (1964) to go through three years at Palisades High School and was very involved in the community. He owned Stahl Construction, which began in Santa Monica and moved with him when he relocated his family to Ruidoso in 1990. He worked for the city and county of Ruidoso and up until the time of his death was doing construction there. He was a gifted and talented designer with great vision in his work. At the time of his death he was in the process of completing a beautiful home for his wife on a mountain top in Ruidoso. Stahl is survived by his wife of 29 years, Mary Davis; son Kenny; daughter Wendi Rushing (husband Grady); grandchildren Alexis and Kyle Rushing; brother Glen; and many family and friends living in Ruidoso and California. The family suggests donations be made to U-Turn for Christ, a California-based organization (803) 951-2197.
Steven Tator; 21 Years at Palisades Hair Salon
Longtime Palisades hairdresser Steven Byron Tator passed away on September 13 at the age of 51. ”Tator, ‘Tate,’ was born on January 17, 1953 in Winsted, Connecticut, to Harold Lee and Joan Tator-Sayler. He attended school in Simsbury Connecticut, and joined the Navy in 1969. ”On leaving the Navy, he decided to become a hair stylist. Tate attended hair dressing school in Maine, Rhode Island and classes in Montreal and worked in Avon, Connecticut, before moving to West Hollywood. ”He worked in Los Angeles for a short time and saw an ad in the newspaper for Sunset West Salon. He was so excited about the prospect of working on the ‘strip’ that he drove, and drove, and drove to meet with Stevie in his Pacific Palisades shop, where he remained as a stylist for 21 years. ”Tate was well-known for his and his life partner Al Brown’s holiday parties. Their Easter egg-coloring and pumpkin-carving for the children, Halloween, Fat Tuesday, and famous Christmas parties will always be remembered. No one was excluded’from young children to grandparents, to any chosen life style. The only thing Tate and Al asked was that guests leave their troubles at the door and enjoy themselves in their home. Tate was a giving person and enjoyed life to the fullest. He loved to travel, here and abroad. ‘As it should be.’ ”Tate is survived by his partner Al Brown of Santa Monica; his mother Joan of San Jacinto; sister Cheryl of Hemet; brother Dan of Cullman, Alabama; stepsister Barbara of Carlsbad; stepbrother Robert of Del Mar; Aunt Lynn and Uncle John of Lancaster; Aunt Muriel and Uncle Bill of Colebrook, Connecticut; Aunt Patricia and Uncle Spenser of Tuscon; three nephews and three nieces along with several cousins. ”” ”His brother, Lee, preceded him in death in 1986, his father in 1989 and his stepfather, Cdr. Richardson Sayler, in 2000. His final resting place will be in Genoa, Nevada, with his brother and father. ”Tate will be missed by so many for his thoughtfulness, stating his beliefs in no uncertain terms, joy of life, never complaining’even when he should have, his capabilities of listening (and keeping secrets), his flair for decorating (and rearranging), excellent taste in his home and friends. ”There will be a New Orleans-style celebration of life on October 10 at the Golden Bull restaurant, West Channel Road, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. There is limited parking, so park across PCH, or park across from the Kings Head Restaurant, 2nd and Santa Monica. There will be a double decker bus to take guests to the Bull. Please be at the pickup site by 10:45 a.m. There will be a parade and return shuttle service to the Britannia restaurant in Santa Monica to continue Tate’s celebration of life.
Ed Soltwedel, 86; Decorated War Veteran, Ham Radio Buff
Ed Soltwedel, 86, died on September 14 at his home on Chautauqua. The beloved husband, father and grandfather was an engineer, a decorated World War II veteran, an avid ham radio operator and a 47-year Palisades resident. While often content to spend time at home and with his family, Ed charmed people easily and attracted groups of buddies wherever he went’even at the local Starbucks and the rehab unit at St. John’s Hospital. In World War II, Ed flew from Britain to Germany in nine combat missions as a B-17 navigator. In his last mission, he parachuted out of a burning plane at 30,000 feet over Berlin, only to be captured and imprisoned in a POW camp for the last 14 months of the war. After his release, he studied at USC and graduated with an M.S. in electrical engineering. He held various management jobs at Rand and Aerospace. In 1980 he married Nancy Beamish, a Palisadian since 1952. They had known each other since 1962 through the friendship of their two daughters. Ed’s favorite hobby was talking to people all over the world as one of the country’s most experienced ham radio operators. After building his first two-way radio at age 13, he eventually traded up to a stand-alone ham shack and four supersized antennas in his back yard, including a 60-ft. steel tower entrenched in six feet of concrete. Thanks to his first-class equipment and his willingness to talk at all hours, he garnered the ultimate prize among ‘hams”a complete set of ‘QSL’ postcards, verifying that he contacted other operators in all 325 countries of the world. Ed had a boyish grin, an upbeat personality and a quick mind that more than kept up with the big issues of the day. He was a role model for strength and hard work, overpowering numerous obstacles to create a better life for himself and his family. At age 14, during the depth of the Depression, he worked 11-hour days doing heavy yard work for a daily wage of 29 cents. In his early 30s, while earning his master’s degree at USC, he held two jobs to support his wife and his first child. He lived the last 60 years of his life with shrapnel in his leg, shoulder and back from a war injury. In addition, since the 1980s, he battled heart problems and underwent quadruple bypass surgery in 1995. Despite these health issues, he outlived the vast majority of his friends. Ed is survived by his wife Nancy, his son Edward Jr., daughters Kathy Soltwedel and Julie Montalvo, and his three grandchildren’Alex, Marissa and George. Funeral services will be held at United Methodist Church, 801 Via de la Paz, on Saturday, September 25 at 2:30 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to two of his favorite charities, the City of Hope (Central Processing, 1500 E. Duarte Road, Duarte, CA 91010) and Heal the Bay (3220 Nebraska Ave., Santa Monica, CA 90404).
Presbyterian Church Gains Interim Pastor
Living and working in 18 cities the past 28 years may sound a bit extreme, but for interim pastor Charles Svendsen, it’s the lifestyle he loves. Now serving as the interim pastor of Palisades Presbyterian Church’his 16th such posting’there’s no questioning the scope of his frequent preaching miles. On Sunday, September 5, Svendsen took over the pulpit of pastor John Todd (who had retired after 18 years of service to the church), and preached his first service. He will hold the interim position for one to two years until a permanent pastor is hired. Growing up in La Canada, Svendsen wanted to become a commercial artist, but at age 19, when he lost a college friend to a hitchiking accident, he envisioned becoming a pastor. His family was also instrumental in his call to ministry’both his father and brother are pastors. In 1984, after 10 years of settled ministry in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, Svendsen opted to make the transition to serving only as an interim pastor. ‘I like to problem-solve and I enjoy traveling,’ he says. ‘I also can get bored easily in one place, so I like change.’ Svendsen, whose congregation sizes have ranged from under 250 to more than 1,000, has served as an interim pastor in Connecticut, Maine, New York, Washington, Australia, New Zealand and Scotland. Since his first marriage four years ago to his wife, Catherine, his last four interim positions have been in California. He and Catherine, who has four children ages 16 to 26, have a home in Altadena and a newly rented guesthouse in the Palisades. After arriving at a new church, Svendsen goes through a process he calls ‘affirmative inquiry,’ where he visits with various groups and receives feedback about what they like or dislike about the church. In addition to performing duties that settled pastors perform (‘preaching, teaching, marrying and burying,’ as Svendsen puts it), interim pastors have specific tasks designed to ease and facilitate the congregation during the transitional period. Many jobs are perfomed during an interim period that aren’t performed during a settled ministry. These include taking inventories, researching demographics and setting new goals. ‘We build on the old goals and the old directions, because that’s who we are,’ Svendsen says. ‘But we look at where we are going and where we want to be in the next 10 to 20 years.’ Svendsen, who also assists in the training of interim pastors, says his ultimate objective is to prepare a church for the new pastor. He feels his success is directly tied to the success of the new pastor. ‘Proof of my work cannot be measured in real time. If we’ve completed all the necessary groundwork during my time and the pastor does well, then I’ve done a good job.’ Svendsen says a congregation losing their pastor is comparable to the Kubler-Ross stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance), which describes the varying emotions one likely feels following the death of a loved one. ‘[Losing a pastor] is just like losing a family member or a close friend,’ he says. He adds that it’s much easier to follow a beloved pastor than one who was disliked. ‘You would think it would be easier to follow a disaster because anything you did would be good. But there are so many systematic problems in a congregation when a pastor hasn’t functioned well.’ Pastor Todd, says Svendsen, was highly revered by the congregation. ‘This church reflects John’s wonderful personality and theology.’ Recently, during a staff retreat, many wondered how Svendsen’s arrival would affect their positions. He assured them the changes he makes, if any, are implemented ‘very slowly.’ The Palisades congregation will soon organize a pastor nominating committee (usually comprising nine people), and advertise the position. Committee members will then go out and listen to each candidate preach. Once the best candidate is selected, the committee will present him or her to the congregation, who will vote up or down after hearing the candidate preach. If they vote down (which Svendsen says is a rarity), then the committee will have to bring in a new candidate. If they vote up, the pastor is offered the position. Svendsen predicts the church will receive at least 100 applications. The only drawback to being an interim pastor, Svendsen says, is ‘losing so many friends every couple of years.’ Nevertheless, at age 53, Svendsen says he hopes to fulfill five or six more interim positions before he retires. ‘I love interim ministry.’
