User:Lindsay G. King

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Lindsay George King was born January 14, 1930, Bell Island, Newfoundland. He was, for over forty years, a minister of the United Church of Canada. He is now living in Thornhill-Markham, Ontario. He retired, January 1, 1994.

After he completed his studies at Mount Allison University (Class of 1951), (Sackville NB) http://www.mta.ca and at Pine Hill Divinity Hall, Halifax, NS, he was ordained in 1953.

THE ASSIGNMENT The Rev. King met his wife, Jean Turner (teacher) of Hartland, NB, when they were both students at MTA. They married in 1952, at Bible Hill, NS, whene he was the student minister there. In June of 1953, they were assigned to Happy Valley--then a squatters' town near the Goose Bay air base in Labrador. Using Maritime Central Airways, Lindsay and Jean wife, and a kitten , Holy, took their first commercial flight in a DC 3 from Moncton, NB, July 18, 1953 and landed, around noon, at Goose Bay. There they were met by the Protestant Padre, Fl. Lt. the Rev. Phil Ross. Following lunch, the padre drove the Kings seven miles through the forest to Happy Valley, on the Hamilton River.

Happy Valley--the name was ironic--was not a happy site.

PUBLIC BUILDINGS There were only three public buildings in the place: There was the North Star United Church School, the Grenfell Mission Nursing Station, what had two nurses (Rhodes and Watson), and the shack of a building called the church. The minister's house, next to the "hospital" was also a shack. It was occupied by a Pentecostal Minister, the Rev. Paul McKinney. He and his family were from Chicago. Dr. Burry told the Kings an interesting story of how the Rev. McKinney became the minister of Happy Valley.

The Kings were obliged to find temporary lodgings with a Moravian Family, a Mr. and Mrs. Thorald Perrault. The Hudson Bay Company was putting the finishing touches on the first store in the town that same summer. The new Factor of the HBC, Jack Mosdell, and his wife, Betty (Decker)-- one of the teachers at the school--welcomed with Kings with open arms. So did his young assistant, Hugo Mueller. Both became supportive of the new church project. Interesting story.

THE REV. DR. LESTER BURRY The resident United Church missionary for Labrador, who lived at North West River and had been there for 20 years, was the Rev. Dr. Lester Burry. It was Dr. Burry who requested help from the Newfoundland Conference of the UC. In response to this request the Rev. Lindsay G. King became the first resident minister. It was soon discovered with the growing number of children in the area his wife's services were needed as a teacher.

EXCITEMENT AND CONTROVERSY Within three short weeks--an enciting and controversial period it was--the Rev. King organized a union church (Anglican, Moravian and United) and formed a union council of which he was chair. As an associate of Dr. Burry, he was also chair of the local School Board.

THE FIRST COUNCIL In the area, there were about 25 Anglican families, 25 Moravian families, 50 United Church families and 15 Pentecostal families. New families were moving in every week. The council quickly came to the conclusion, and a motion was passed, that the authorities --the Base and government authorities--be approached with a view to having the area become a municipality, in the near future. The rest is history. All his ministry he had been an advocate of the holistic approach to the human predicament. This includes his emphasis on complementary solutions, including the use of complementary medicine for health problems and complementary community currencies for dealing with the problem of poverty. And there is more.

I always agree to disagree, agreeably. 02:27, 6 January 2008 (UTC)