Jan Rintoul Clapp has been a member of Winchester Presbyterian Church for a mere 41 years. That makes her, more or less, a new comer in Winchester, Ontario.
These 41 years, at Winchester, has its roots in Jan’s career choice. After high school, Jan, who was born in Smith Falls, went into “training” at Ottawa Civic Hospital and then went on to earn a Public Health Nursing diploma at Dalhousie University. Jan had no money so she took a VON (Victoria Order of Nurses). After graduation, the order sent her to Smith Falls. Fortuitously, there, in her home town, she met Tom Clapp, who was working for the Ministry of Agriculture. After marrying, the couple, eventually, settled in Winchester and went “into dairy farming”. They also joined the Presbyterian Church, where both are currently elders.
As a child, Jan’s family moved to Maitland (near Brockville), on the St. Lawrence River. The Maitland Presbyterian Church only held services in the summer. Jan has vivid memories of those summer services where a retired Scottish gentleman, a Rev. Merrilees, presided.
“My place was to sit beside his wife and before the message she would give me a peppermint. I don’t remember one word he ever said, but I never forgot the peppermints. To this day, I pass around peppermints, before I deliver a message, and I say, you may not remember one word, I say, but you’ll never forget the peppermints,” says Jan, who has taken on the role of “pulpit supply” in their small church in Winchester. Jan describes this duty as “God’s plan.”
She adds she has no clergical training. “God inspires me to talk. He always touches my heart and my goal is to touch one other heart.”
Jan has had the honour of serving six year on the Presbyterian Assembly Council and she is, currently, on the Theological Committee. This committee is busy looking at the status of the three Presbyterian theological colleges in Canada (Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver) in order to determine if the church still requires all three.
Meanwhile, in Winchester, the Ladies Aid is very active, according to Jan. Last winter she hosted a pyjama party in her home for the members. Most of gals were in their eighties and, like teenagers, they sat in their jammies in front of the fireplace and played games.”
Besides her church activities, Jan facilitates a 30-hour programme that prepares volunteers to help out in palliative care units. As a palliative care professional, Jan speaks to local groups, not only about medical matters but also about spirituality. And Tom, who is a prostate cancer survivor, is active in pushing the need for men to have PSA tests. After Tom’s prodding, three close friends, who finally went for testing, were all in the early stages of the cancer.
“Tom saved three lives right there,” Jan says. “He is also involved in fundraising, for prostate cancer awareness and education, and last November raised $66,000.”
Yeah Tom! The money went to the Ottawa Civic Hospital for prostate cancer services.
Over the years, Winchester’s membership has dwindled to ten, in the choir, and a dozen or so, in the pews. And Sunday school is no more. For the past ten years the church has been looked after by a minister with a three-point charge. A new minister, Rev. Bruce Kemp, has just been inducted and will take care of the three small congregations.
“This represents a fresh start for us. Although we are small, we all love our churches and do not want to amalgamate and give up the beautiful buildings,” Jan says.
The Clapps have three adult children. One son lives in Boston. He and his pregnant wife were at the finish line of the famous marathon. They left two minutes before the deadly explosion.
“I never understand why God blesses me so much. God never gives you more than you can handle,” declares Jan.
BILL RINTOUL’S (Dad’s) BAKED BEANS
(This is a favourite dish of Jan’s family and friends. Jan claims she never eats her father’s beans, but they are part of the family heritage and a great party dish.)
Two- 1 lb bags of navy beans
1 to 2 lbs bacon (or salt pork)
Scatterings of pepper, dry mustard, brown sugar, molasses
Half of a large can of pineapple juice
METHOD
Soak beans overnight.
In a soup pot, bring beans to a boil and cook until a bean just mushes between your thumb & forefinger. (Do not over-cook. You want your beans to look like beans – not mush.)
Put the beans, with the water they were cooked in, into a large roasting pan.
Sprinkle beans lightly with black pepper. Scatter generously with dry mustard and brown sugar.
Cut the bacon into small pieces and throw it in.
Pour in half (or more) a large can of pineapple juice, followed by a modest scattering of molasses.
Put in oven, at 350 degrees, for 30 minutes. Reduce temperature to 300 degrees and roast for 2 to 3 hours, stir, then turn off the heat and use up the oven heat. (The baked beans freeze well. Thaw before warming them, on a stove top, on low.)
