A Tribute to a Faithful
Servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Henry R. Suderman
November 13, 1911 - October 17, 2007.
2 Timothy 4:7. “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have
kept the faith”
At age 16, Henry accepted the Lord as his personal Saviour, and faithfully
continued to follow the Lord’s leading through out his life.
He was an excellent example to his children and grandchildren and anyone who
ever met him.
Henry was born in Southern Russia in 1911 and immigrated with his family to
Canada in 1924, settling in Oakville, Manitoba, where he farmed with his family.
Henry and his sisters moved from Manitoba to British Columbia in 1936 settling
in the Sardis area of the Fraser Valley.
In 1941 Henry started in the logging industry, where he worked as a “grease
monkey” and was promoted to driving logging trucks a short time afterward. He
continued driving, either logging or freight trucks until 1954. From 1954 until
1970 Henry farmed in the Camp River and Rosedale areas. In 1970 the family sold
the farm and moved into Chilliwack where Henry drove school bus until he retired
in 1981.
The Suderman family have blessed us, and the Chilliwack Transport For Christ
Crossroads Chapel in so many different ways.
We are so thankful to Henry’s wife Margaret and her friend Tiena for their
faithfulness in making cookies for the chapel. Many truckers have often
expressed their appreciation for this act of kindness to them.
These dear ladies have found a unique way to minister the love of Christ to the
trucking industry.
Henry Senior’s son, Henry (Hank) Suderman has a wonderful web site of truck
pictures.
http://www.hankstruckpictures.com/
Also a sincere thank you to Hank Suderman for the many ways he contributes to
the ministry of Transport For Christ here in Chilliwack.
Submitted by:
Lead Chaplain Mike Foisy & Florence.
Chaplain Angus Meservia & Barb.
Transport for Christ, Crossroads Chapel
Chilliwack, B.C. V2P 4J1
Phone 1-604-792-2932.
http://www.transportforchristbc.org/
A Faithful Cowboy
Story of Carl Wilcox
By Chaplain Sam
McIntosh
I met Pastor Carl Wilcox in August 2006. Carl was the type of man
that looked you right in the eye; you knew immediately that he was a brother in
Christ, because the love of Christ radiated from his face. I met him when I went
to the Cowboy Church (www.cowboychurch.ca)
for the first time, and we were friends right from the start. He joined us in
our love of Transport For Christ and we joined him in his love of the Cowboy
Church.
I learned soon after
meeting Carl that he had just been diagnosed with cancer. He didn’t want any
kind of treatment that would cloud his mind and make him unable to preach. Carl
loved to preach and he did it very well. He was an evangelist through and
through. I could go on for a long time about Carl’s attributes but I’ll just say
Carl was a very faithful prayer partner for Transport For Christ.
I will miss Carl, until
that day when our Lord comes, or as Carl put it, until I get promoted. The
following is a part of Carl’s life story given to me by Sylvia, Carl’s lovely
wife, and with the exception of Carl being in the military and being a cowboy;
his story is a lot like my own. Carl took to being a cowboy and I took to
trucking.
Carl lived a very
interesting life and wore many hats on his journey. Carl was raised on a dairy
farm and enjoyed sports, playing baseball and football on his school teams. His
aunt from the city took him to the Smithsonian Institute and other places to try
to add a little culture to his life. However he preferred to go to the ballpark
to watch the Yankees, Dodgers, and Giants play.
Just before he turned
seventeen, he joined the Marines. Carl had been around the world by the time he
turned eighteen. He served in the communications field and did a lot of sea
duty. While stationed in San Diego, he moonlighted at a ranch as a cowpuncher
(cowboy). When he left the Marines he continued to work on a ranch: and in 1965,
he bought twenty-five acres at Barnhartvale, British Columbia, and called it the
“Big Horn Training Ranch.”
He met Sylvia that summer
and they were married in November of that year. He trained and rode cutting
horses and also rode bareback bronc's in rodeos. Along the way he became a
certified Ferrier (someone who makes and fits horseshoes). All of this left him
unfulfilled, and his growing attraction to alcohol grew. Because of his
affection for alcohol some problems arose in his marriage.
Carl could see that if he wanted to keep his family together he’d have to make
some changes. On September 29, 1968, Sylvia and Carl knelt at the couch of a
pastor and received Christ as their Savior.
The adventure continued but not without struggles, but this time Carl and Sylvia
had faith in God to help them. Over the next several years, Carl attended school
and seminary and began to pastor. With four children now, Sylvia and Carl needed
enough money to support themselves so Carl went to auctioneering school in
Billings, Montana.
He opened Wilcox Auctions in Lloydminster, Alberta, where he and Sylvia stayed
until 2000.
He pastured at different
churches in Alberta until early 2004, when he retired to Edmonton and took a non
- pastoring job. He longed to be preaching, however, and this is why I wanted to
put Carl’s story in Highway News and Good News. I see Carl as positive
proof that if, once you commit your life to the Lord, you stay true to that
commitment, God will bless you. Although they didn’t know each other before,
Kevin Corbin asked Carl to co-pastor The Cowboy Church in Sherwood Park,
Alberta, in November 2005. To end his days as a cowboy and pastor was God’s
special gift to Carl for his faithfulness to his commitment.
Sylvia and Carl
celebrated forty years of marriage last summer knowing full well what was coming
down the pike. The cancer diagnosis was confirmed and Carl fought the last
battle of his life. Carl died on December 16, 2006, at home with his beloved
family around him. Before he died, Carl had prayed and asked the Lord when he
would go home, and he said he thought the Lord said the seventeenth. So as he
got weaker, he would ask each day, “What day is it?” On the fifteenth, he just
rubbed his hands together and grinned.
Carl was a faithful
prayer partner. He only phoned me once and that was to apologize for not praying
for me and the Transport For Christ Chapel in Sherwood Park the day before. He
was an amazing man who loved the Lord with all his heart.
If you have made a commitment or are
considering a commitment to the Lord, or if you are thinking about working with
us in getting the good news of the gospel out there, I can only suggest to you
not to wait, as the blessings are wonderful. I am blessed almost every day that
I’m on duty at the chapel. And maybe just maybe God will have a special gift for
you as He did for Carl.
Sam McIntosh is lead chaplain at Northern Light Chapel in Sherwood Park,
Alberta.
Reprinted with
permission from “Highway
News and Good News” a monthly magazine published by Transport For Christ.
http://www.transportforchrist.org/
Tribute to Angus Donald Meservia
May 25, 1944 - Sept. 26, 2009
Volunteer Chaplain who faithfully served on the
Crossroads Transport For Christ Chapel,
Lickman Road, Chilliwack B.C.
Angus was born in Fort William, Ontario, to Ernest and
Margaret Meservia.
He was the 11th child of a family of 12.He grew up in a little village called Harstone, which was past Kakabecka Falls,
in Fort William.
The family was poor but there was a lot of love between them.
As a young man Angus never attended church, there was no
relationship with God, but he knew about God the Father, Jesus Christ who died
on the cross and the Holy Spirit, due to his sisters influence.
People liked Angus. He had a good sense of humor and loved to sing silly
songs. When there was a family get-together he was the life and soul of the
party.
When he graduated from High School there were no jobs to be found. Although
he worked on road construction at the age of sixteen he did not want to do that
for years to come. His oldest brother suggested that he apply to the Department
of Highways of Ontario. He did and was hired, at first as a gardener.
It was an OK job but his brother told him to look for openings and to re-apply.
He did and was finally taken on as a worker on the Bridge Crew. The Bridge Crew
built Bailey Bridges in the district of Thunder Bay, from Marathon Ontario to
Kenora Ontario and to Northern Airports around James Bay.
Angus worked out of town, leaving Mondays at 6:00 am to Fridays at 7:00 pm. He
liked the fellows he worked with and his job.
He met Barb in 1966 at a friends place and couldn’t take his
eyes off her. Angus thought that she was the prettiest girl that he had ever
seen. They married in May of 1967.
Angus married into an Italian family and enjoyed all the Italian dishes. He
loved his parent-in-laws.
Angus and Barb had three children but he missed out a lot on their growing up
because he was out of town so much of the time. The children loved their dad
because Barb taught them that he was special.
Barb also made sure that they went to church every Sunday and learned about God.
When the children asked Angus to come to church, most of the time the answer was
“No I’m to tired.”
One day Angus came home and told Barb he had been offered the
80 Factor. His age and years of employment qualified him for retirement.
“Retire!” It had come so quickly. The children had grown. The eldest was married
and had two children; the middle one worked in Southern Ontario and the youngest
was working and living at home with them.
They decided to move to Southern Ontario but God had other plans for them.
Angus’s brother who lived in B.C. phoned and asked them to come to B.C.
specifically to Vancouver Island to live for 2 months. If they didn’t like it
they could go along with their other plans.
Well, Angus and Barb loved the weather - no more 30C-40C below as in Thunder Bay
in January.
The rain and coolness in B.C. was much more appealing.
Angus, Barb, and daughter Jackie moved to Chilliwack B.C.
Barb felt that the Holy Spirit had led them to Chilliwack and to the home that
they bought.
Barb missed church and prayed for the Lord to find her a church that He wanted
her to attend.
One day Angus went out in the garden to dig while Barb was preparing lunch.
All of a sudden Angus rushed into the house and told Barb, “Something really
strange happened to me while I was digging, all of a sudden everything became
quiet, really quiet, and a male voice said, “You’re going to church tomorrow.”
Then everything was normal again: birds singing and dogs barking. We’re going to
church tomorrow but which one? Barb replied,“ lets go to the Alliance Church
where we went to the Easter Pageant.”
The next day they went to the Alliance church. They didn’t know anyone one in
the church or in Chilliwack except the Real Estate lady and a couple who had
lived in Thunder Bay. It was a big church and as they stood in the foyer, by the
window, a man in a suit came over and asked if they were new and where they had
come from. When Angus told him Ontario, he said “Well you have come a long way.
Please stay I’m the Senior Pastor and you will enjoy the message.” He also told
them of a 50+ Saturday coffee morning. They went to the coffee morning and met
many people who were to become their best friends and also taught them a lot
about God. They took them places that they never knew about, parks and tourist
attractions.
Angus and Barb joined a Care Group and the 50+ committee. They
helped in the kitchen at prayer time.
Angus had changed. He was enjoying learning about God.
One day at 55+ coffee time (as it had become), Angus was talking with Mike Foisy. They had became very good friends. Mike asked Angus if he would be
interested in working as a volunteer Chaplain at the Transport for Christ Chapel on Lickman Road. Angus
had drove trucks and worked out of town and he was a very likable guy.
Angus and Barb worked as a team and went to the Transport for
Christ Chapel every Monday. They became very popular with the truckers who
enjoyed their stories and their knowledge about God. Angus and Barb had a Bible
Study each Monday and would ask the truckers what they thought certain parts of
the Bible meant. It was a good opening for discussions and ministering to the
truckers individual needs.
Angus liked reading about the End Times, Revelation and Prophets. He was an avid
reader.
His special book though was the Bible.
The Holy Spirit talked to Angus and Barb about doing the
Funeral Ministry for the church. They both felt that they did not have the
ability to do it. But they decided that if it was meant by God it would work. If
not then it was not meant to be. As it turned out that it was meant to be
because it was a success. Angus and Barb led some of the families back to God,
and some whose parents had been believers soon came to be believers also.
But like all things it came to an end.
Angus had three heart attacks in two days. This caused a hole in his heart that
the doctors missed. He had three stents put in. He got better for a time and
then became ill again. The doctors were not getting to the problem and after two
years he was getting very ill. Barb could see his health failing, Finally he was
admitted to the hospital but it was too late. Angus told the doctors that he
wanted to go home with his wife and he was told if he did he would only have one
month to live. If he stayed they hoped that an operation would be successful and
he would be better.
It didn’t work out that way. He had three huge operations in three days and
Angus went into a coma. Barb was having a hard time seeing her husband in this
condition, and because he was so far away she had to rely on others from the
church to take her and her daughter to visit him. Angus came out of the coma but
his heart was so weak that he went back into a coma. The last time Barb saw
Angus he had to struggle for every breath. She told him, "Angus if you want to
go home (heavenly home) you can go, Jackie and I will be fine, but if you want
to stay you can.”
The next morning September 26th 2009, St Paul’s Hospital phoned to
say that Angus had suffered another heart attack at 7:30 am and had not
survived. He had lived one month since surgery.
Angus will be sadly missed by his family, friends, truckers, and especially his
wife of 42 years.
Barb Meservia would like to thank her friends for helping her
through the sadness and for all the prayers for strength and comfort, which the
Lord has given to her and her children.
Barb wants to give thanks also to Transport for
Christ for their prayers, cards, and flowers.
Tribute to Angus is printed with the permission of Barb Meservia.
