This Sunday marks more than just the end of the summer. It’s the end of an era at the Braeside Presbyterian Church as Reverend Connie Lee will be presiding over her last service.
After eight years, Rev. Connie Lee is moving on to an early retirement. She has been unwell, she remarked, and her departure is out of necessity.
“My family doctor has diagnosed me with an illness so I’m going on sick leave,” she confessed.
Well-known for her easygoing nature and pleasant demeanor, Lee prefers to focus on the positive. She took a moment to reflect on her time in this city and the wonderful people that she has come to know.
When asked about her favourite moments or greatest accomplishments, she immediately responded that developing interfaith relationships was one of her most important concerns.
She loved making friends with various people and the clergy of the different denominations here in St. Albert.
“One of my favourite events in St. Albert is the Arden Christmas Carol Sing when the different denominations get together and just celebrate Christmas together through music, dancing, acting … whatever. It’s one of my favourite times of the year. I worked together with a woman from the Christian Reformed Church and another woman from the Catholic Church and they’ve been working together for longer than I have! Even Mayor Nolan Crouse has been part of it the last few years. It really exemplifies what I have been trying to do.”
Born in Taiwan, the 55-year-old was still a child when she first moved with her family to Mississauga, Ont. She was ordained in 2001 and practiced her ministry at a prison and a hospital in Virginia. She then came to St. Albert, officiating over her first service on Palm Sunday in 2006. An avowed lover of the performing arts, she was also accepted into the i Coristi Chamber Choir two years ago.
She recently saw the church through a rebirth of sorts. An electrical fire in December 2012 caused $500,000 in damages, resulting in the sad destruction of some of the structure’s original stained glass windows. The Braeside Presbyterian was restored back to perfect shape well in advance of it celebrating its 50th anniversary earlier this summer.
While Lee will be living in Edmonton, she said that St. Albert is a part of her and she hopes and intends to return to this community and the people that she has gotten close with over these last years.
“Every chance I get I’ll be visiting the Braeside and other churches, too.”
A new minister for the church has yet to be designated although an interim moderator is in place. The church is located at 6 Bernard Drive.
