St. Peter’s Chapel and Daffodil Tea Blog

Day of longboarding

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 23:48:12 -0800

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Wedding day at St. Peter’s Chapel

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 23:48:03 -0800

When I built the St. Peter’s Chapel website in 2007, I thought it would be fun to provide a place for the virtual congregation I know exists out there, to meet together, once again. I know with all my heart that that is what St. Peter’s Chapel so desperately needs.

I also thought it would be wonderful to hear from brides and grooms who exchanged their vows in the Chapel and those who were christened in there. To my delight, we have received a number of notes and wedding photos. My apologies for not rebuilding the website yet after my computer with the original files was stolen last year, so I am using this blog for now to share these great stories.

Cheryl Wellner recently wrote,

“We were married in St. Peter's Chapel on July 21 1990. My Husband PFC John Wellner was stationed at the Security Forces School in the Marine Barracks at the time. Here are few photos. Please feel free to use any if you would like to.”

Cheryl L Jones weds PFC John M Wellner on July 21, 1990 at 12 noon

Their back again

Thu, 1 Jul 2010 12:58:25 -0700

Well, why not share another shot of the Porter family? They promise it is the last. However, I know there are many more photos lurking. Just the same, what’s evident from this photo too, is that they love Quarters C. You love Quarters C. What’s not to love about this gracious turn-of-the-20th- century home along Captain’s Row on the former Mare Island Naval Shipyard? What a great shot 50 years later of the Porter ‘kids’ who lived in the lovely quarters Lennar Mare Island shares with us for the Daffodil Tea each year. Thanks again for the memories all of you. And, thanks too, to Pat and Penny’s husbands for taking these fun photos for us all to enjoy. Till next year’s Daffodil Tea. . .oh, we do hope that you will join us for our next event at Quarters C. That event is scheduled Sunday, October 10th for the Lost Boats of Mare Island Memorial in which we honor the crew and boats of the 7 submarines built at Mare Island and lost at sea during WWII. I just heard from Chaplain John Berger and his wife, Ione that they plan to join us once again to officiate at the services that include raising the flag at Morton Field, named in honor of Dudley “Mush” Morton, the Commander of the USS Wahoo, lost at sea October 11, 1944, followed by a program of music and history at St. Peter’s Chapel, a reception at Quarters C and a wreath-laying service at Berth 6 the former WWII submarine repair and maintenance berth. Please plan to join us. Visit our page on the Mare Island Preserve website to listen to a Lost Boats podcast by Sue Wilson from our 2009 St. Peter’s Chapel Lost Boats of Mare Island Memorial service.

Porter Family Portrait

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 00:09:11 -0700

Just received this evening from the Captain Bill Porter Family who had a bit of a reunion with Quarters C last week. Penny, Pam, Pat and Bill are shown on the front steps to their home from 1959-1961 when their dad was the base supply commander. Yes, it has been 50 years. Every indication is that Mare Island has cast the same spell over the Porters as it does for most of us who have visited this unique and special place. Thanks for the memories and wishing you many more! Till we meet again...

A peek behind the mirror

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 20:25:26 -0700

Quarters C had special guests today. No, she wasn’t dressed up for a Daffodil Tea as usual, but if this old house could talk, she’d be in tears. Today, she welcomed some of her young charges home after 50 years. The children of Captain Bill Porter, the base supply officer from 1959-1961, snuck in through the kitchen door for a visit. The Daffodil Tea did bring them back, though. Stacey at our wonderful Vallejo Convention and Visitors Bureau contributed the Daffodil Tea to a national magazine inserted in the Sunday paper and received all over the state.

Pat, Captain Porter’s oldest, spotted the two or three line calendar listing and contacted her three siblings, hoping they could arrange to all meet for the Daffodil Tea at their old home. While they couldn’t make our Tea, they vowed to visit soon. Today they did. It had been fifty years since they’d opened the secret door behind the mirror at the bar in the dining room shown here decorated at this year’s Daffodil Tea. They couldn’t get over how small the younger kids’ bedrooms were, or how big the older two girls’ rooms were. The kitchen had been remodeled since their tour of duty–the pretty tile counters now covered with butcher block formica...ugh...and the plush velvet cushions in the built-ins at the fireplace and in the window seats and the lush matching blue carpeting on the staircase were gone, as was the rose garden, yet the old house welcomed them home with all she the charm she still has to offer. They were clearly as delighted to see her as you are to be seated each each year at the Daffodil Tea. Welcome home Pat, Penny, Bill and Pam and your families. Surely Mare Island has a place in your hearts, as it does ours.