Services celebrating the life of the Rt. Rev. Herbert Thompson Jr. (1933-2006) will be held this week at Christ Church Cathedral.

A visitation for the public will be held in the Cathedral’s Centennial Chapel on Friday, August 25, from noon to 5:00pm.

The funeral will be held at the Cathedral on Saturday, August 26, at 11:00am. Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold will celebrate, with Bishop Kenneth Price Jr. serving as con-celebrant. The Rev. Canon Jim Hanisian will preach.

Doors will open at 9:00am. Overflow seating will be available in the Cathedral undercroft with a live video feed.

A reception follows the service at the PNC Bank building at 5th & Main.

The PNC Bank parking garage is opening especially for the day and is offering a discounted $1 parking rate. The garage entrance is on Main Street between 4th and 5th streets.

In lieu of flowers, the family encourages contributions to the designated memorial funds:

• The Thompson Memorial Campership Fund, 412 Sycamore Street, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202
• The W.E.B. DuBois Academy, 1812 Central Parkway, Cincinnati, Ohio 45214, Attn: Diane Ebbs
• General Theological Seminary, 175 Ninth Ave., New York, New York 10011, Attn: Bruce Smith
• Camp DeWolfe, Diocese of Long Island, c/o Bishop's Office, 36 Cathedral Ave. P.O. Box 510, Garden City, NY 11530

The Diocese has established a website for you to share your memories of Bishop Thompson and to celebrate his life. Some of these may be used for a special tribute issue of Interchange that will be published later this month. Visit the site here.

Please keep Herb, Owen, Kyrie and Christian and all of Bishop Thompson's family in your prayers.

• ...the Altar Guild. The following note was received this week from Janet Henthorn. “Thanks to you special people for remembering me with a most beautiful bouquet of altar flowers. It was impressive and still looks good a week later. I’m ever grateful. P.S. I can’t ever remember receiving one before. What a treat!”
• ... every parishioner who has completed the Parishioners Information form We have received many from you and are appreciative for your help. If you haven't completed yours yet, please send it in. If you don't have a form, please call the office at 513- 541-2415 or print the form here.
• ... Greta Kappes for offering hostas from your garden for our landscaping project.

The following news is from Shirley Allen, a former parishioner now living in Las Vegas, New Mexico, who wrote to thank us for her subscription to eGraceNotes.

"I have become very active in the life of St. Paul's Peace, a combined Episcopal Lutheran congregation here in Las Vegas. I'm the secretary, on the vestry, in the choir and so on. I also serve on the Secretariat for the Diocese of the Rio Grande and we are working valiantly to get the Cursillo movement active again in New Mexico.

"Our congregation is very small, about half Lutheran and half Episcopalian. We alternate Sunday Services, which still annoys me, but mildly. The Lutherans have appropriated some of our hymns and messed them up. In my infancy, I was baptized--thanks to my Norwegian mother--in a Lutheran church, so I suppose I have come home again.

"The closest EfM is in Albuquerque, which is 2 hours away, not very logistically viable for an old lady.

"I suppose you could add that I work part time at New Mexico Highlands University as test administrator, supervising GED, ACT, LSAT and whatever else comes up. I love when my GED guys keep trying and finally pass.

"My perfect children continue to do amazing things. They visit me from time to time and I visit them when I can. Kevin, the oldest, who lives an hour away, has five children."

Shirley Lou