To our Honorees:
It is with joy and grateful hearts that we recognize you today. As our Parish approaches its one hundredth anniversary in 2010, it is appropriate that we look back over the years to give thanks for those who have come before. Their tireless efforts, sacrificial giving and dedication to God’s mission through the work and ministry of this congregation have made Church of the Incarnation a witness to the power and presence of Jesus Christ in Jersey City. Many have stood where we now stand and certainly many others could share the honor bestowed upon you this day. It is, however, our joy and our desire to single you out for recognition and to celebrate the innumerable ways in which your devotion to God has sustained, strengthened and supported the life of this congregation. It is through the unwavering devotion and steadfast commitment of members such as you that this Parish church can celebrate its ninety-seventh anniversary. Yours is an example for all of us of how to be faithful stewards of what God has entrusted to us. May you continue to know God’s rich blessing in all that you do.
Faithfully yours,
The Rev’d Father Joseph A. Harmon
Pastor and Priest-in-Charge
Jesse Brown came to Church of the Incarnation after a career of over twenty years in the United States Army, where he was a Specialist 5th Class. He became involved with the Episcopal Church at Grace Church Van Vorst. While working as an X-ray technician at Jersey City’s St. Francis Hospital, Jesse let it be known that he was looking for a church home. Mrs. Carrie Oglesby, a fellow worker at the hospital, invited Jesse to come with her to her church, which at that time was Grace Church.
Jesse was confirmed at Grace Church in the 1970s. Later, Jesse transferred his membership to St. Matthew’s Church. When St. Matthew’s Church closed, Jesse joined others and came to Church of the Incarnation. Fr. Isaac Persaud was the Rector at that time and Jesse came to enjoy his new church home. With fond memories of St. Matthew’s Church, Jesse values his membership in the church and enjoys fellowship with the parishioners, where he feels like a member of a family.
In his younger years, Jesse was an active member of the Parish. At St. Matthew’s Church he was a member of the Vestry. At Incarnation he sang in the Men’s Chorus. For twenty-five years he worked as an X-ray technician at St. Francis Hospital in Jersey City.
Jesse hopes that we can get younger members who can continue the church’s growth and provide new leadership. TOP HOME
Lena Louisa Joseph was born on February 2, 1926, to Mr. Charles Joseph and Miss Octavia Williams in All Saints Village, Antigua. In 1978, she migrated to the United States, having received her permanent resident status. She located to the New York area, first with her eldest son and then with her other children when they migrated in 1980. Her daughter, Jascinta, got married in 1981 and Lena relocated with her to Jersey City. She was an ardent Anglican in her homeland and so she needed to find another church home.
She immediately joined the fellowship at Church of the Incarnation in 1981 when Fr. Keithly Warner was Rector. For the past twenty-six years, Lena cemented her membership in this church and has supported it through thick and thin, good times and bad times. Every rector received her fullest support. She is a committed and dedicated member who gives unwavering support to her church in every facet of its development. She is in church every Sunday except when she is out of the country. There were times when she felt unwell but she still made it to church with the full assurance that her very presence in God’s house will cause the greatest physician to embrace her and bring her healing.
One of Lena’s fondest memories is the trips she would take with the acolytes to the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. for the annual Acolyte Festival. Lena would ride on the bus with them and enjoy their good fun. She also fondly remembers many church picnics.
Lena was living by herself and being very independent just a few months ago. She used her shopping cart as her legs, as she would jokingly say, to make her errands and trips to the shopping center and to go to church. The arthritis and pain in her legs slowed her down a bit but that did not keep her back as she took her own sweet time to get around. Living alone at 81 years created many challenges in recent times and so a hard and painful decision had to be made about her future. She is now happily enjoying her new home as a resident of Liberty House Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center.
Lena is the mother of five surviving children, three daughters and two sons, having lost her second son a few years ago. She has 23 grandchildren, 16 great grandchildren and one great, great grandson.
Lena would like to see Incarnation grow and see its members turn out to support the church in the way she has, so it can be a vibrant congregation again. TOP HOME
Ursula Lofton lived in Brooklyn, New York where she graduated from Girls’ High School in 1944. She then attended Lincoln School of Nursing in the Bronx, graduating in 1948. She began working at Lincoln Hospital from 1948 to 1951. She then went to Cumberland Hospital in Brooklyn where she worked from 1951 to 1982. She stayed on when the Hospital became Woodland Hospital, working from 1982 until her retirement in 1986.
Ursula first came to Church of the Incarnation in 1954; Fr. Eugene Avery was the Rector at that time. Her journey to Incarnation began when she was in the hospital to give birth to her son, Kent. The hospital Chaplain asked if he could refer her to a church. She had been attending St. John’s, but didn’t know about Incarnation. The next day, Fr. Avery came to see her and the rest, as they say, is history!
Ursula is an active and supportive member of Church of the Incarnation since coming to the parish 53 years ago. She is an active member of the Episcopal Church Women (ECW), having served as its President at one time. Along with Mrs. Norma Ray, she was a member of the Nurses Unit. More recently she has been a part of the Summer Day Camp program where it has been her joy to prepare lunches for the boys and girls coming to the summer camp.
She fondly recalls the anniversary dances celebrating the anniversaries of the founding of the Parish. She hopes that Incarnation will see new parishioners coming to the church to revitalize the congregation and help it move on. There has been such a long history of religious service and she doesn’t want to see it end. TOP HOME
Antoinette Neals has been a life-long member of Church of the Incarnation, being baptized here as an infant in 1934. Father William N. Harper was the Rector at that time. She is the daughter of Vertrelle Ash Holloway and William Nathaniel Johnson, and the wife of the late Huerta Cortez Neals, M.D., F.A.C.P. Antoinette, a native of Jersey City, graduated from Lincoln High School and received her BA degree from Hunter College of the City University of New York. She received her MSW degree from the same college.
Her career has been in social work where she has been a caseworker for the Hudson Welfare Board in Jersey City and the Children’s Aid Society in New York City. She was a social worker for the Berkshire Farm for Boys in New York City and Barringer High School in Newark. She also worked as Dr. Neals’ Administrative Assistant.
Amongst her many accomplishments, in June, 1970, working with her husband, she inaugurated a pioneering motor medical outreach program to serve patients in the doctor’s practice who were too disabled, aged, or isolated to come to the doctor’s office. A nineteen-foot motor home was configured to resemble an examining room and was equipped with a scale, EKG machine, blood pressure equipment, medicines, and sterile syringes. They upgraded the medical unit in 1972 to a 25-foot unit enabling them to see two patients at a time. This exciting and innovative program ended in 1992 and the Motor Home was donated to the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark where it served as part of the school’s Emergency Medical Program.
An active member of the Parish, she has served on the Vestry, was the Parish Treasurer, was a member of the Finance Committee, taught Sunday School, and was Editor of the Parish newsletter, the Good News. She also was a member of the Altar Guild, the Episcopal Church Women (ECW), chaired the Parish By-Laws Committee, the Finance Committee and was a member of the Rector’s Search Committee and chaired the Installation Committee. She also compiled an updated Parish History as part of the Parish’s 80th Anniversary celebration.
In the Diocese and community she was a member of the Jersey City Strategy Committee, served on Diocesan Council, the Diocesan Budget Committee (and chaired it for three years), the Diocesan Outreach Committee, the Committee on Constitution and Canons, and the Diocesan Task Force. Most recently she was a member of the Diocesan Trustees until she moved to South Jersey.
Amongst her many community involvements she can list being a founding member and later President of the Board of the Jersey City Episcopal Community Development Corporation, member of the Board of Christ Hospital, founding board member of Bon Secours and Canterbury Partnership for Care, Inc., a member of the New Jersey Chapter of Girl Friends, a member of the Bergen School Parent’s Council, and a life member of the NAACP. She has received numerous civic and church awards, including recognition in 1985 as Incarnation’s “Woman of the Year”, the Parish’s 1989 “Outstanding Service Award” in recognition of her work as Parish Treasurer, and recognition by the Altar Guild in 1998 for the “Outstanding Stewardship award.” She received recognition by proclamation of the Hudson County Board of Chosen Freeholders in appreciation of her 15 years as a trustee to Jersey City’s Bergen School and a resolution from Bon Secours and Canterbury Partnership in recognition of her services to the community while working with her late husband in the Motor Medical unit, her service to the Jersey City Episcopal Community Development Corporation, and for her commitment to the Bon Secours and Canterbury Partnership and the Hudson County community.
Not surprisingly, this woman of so many talents received the “Bishop’s Outstanding Service Award” in 1993 and she is listed in the 1990 and 1992 national Episcopal Lay Leaders Directory.
Amongst her fondest memories are her mother’s work as President of the Women’s Auxiliary, a precursor to the Episcopal Church Women. She also recalls singing in the Junior Choir as a youth and participating in the Little Theater, a project begun by her mother to provide promising young women an opportunity to gain self-confidence and experience as well as academic support and encouragement. To this day she counts among her friends some of the many women who were part of the Little Theater who went on to college and productive careers.
Antoinette Neals hopes that Church of the Incarnation will continue to do the work of Jesus Christ in this community in the best way it can. TOP HOME
Born in Jersey City on October 7, 1911, Norma Ray came to Incarnation as a child where she and her mother were introduced to the church by her mother’s sister, Mrs. Jane Anderson. Father William N. Harper was Rector. As one of the oldest long-time members of the Parish, she remembers all of the former Rectors and how she enjoys the various church services and programs.
Norma, affectionately known to her family as “Nana,” attended Lincoln High School in Jersey City and later went into a career in cosmetology. She received many certifications in Beauty Culture and Nursing. She is also a member of Beta Chapter Sorority. She owned her own beauty shop in Jersey City and conducted classes in charm and modeling. She also worked as a nurse’s aid at Seaview Hospital in Staten Island. In the community she enjoyed volunteering for many charities and hospitals over the years, up until her 87th birthday.
At Incarnation she has been a member of the Episcopal Church Women (ECW), the Senior Choir and she has served as a Lay Reader.
Norma’s great hope for Incarnation’s future is that the church family will grow. TOP HOME
One of the most tireless and energetic members of the Parish, Eugenia Suthern came to Incarnation in 1957 when Fr. Avery was the Rector. Like many others, she had come seeking a new church home and she, her mother and sister found just the right place at Church of the Incarnation. A close friend, Winifred Goodal, who knew she and her family were looking for a new church, referred her to Incarnation.
Eugenia graduated from West Philadelphia High School and received her undergraduate degree from St. Augustine’s College in North Carolina. She later became a certified teacher through studies at the then Jersey City State College (now the New Jersey City University).
She remembers all of the rectors who have served Incarnation, but especially Fr. Petero Sabune, who pushed her to get involved in many activities of the Diocese and larger community that she might otherwise not have engaged. And engage she did. Eugenia has served the Diocese in many ways, including her active involvement at the Diocesan level in the Episcopal Church Women (ECW). She has been a board member of the Jersey City Episcopal Community Development Corporation and she played a key role with that agency, the Parish and the City of Jersey City in rehabilitating the abandoned and dilapidated former P.S. 18, diagonally across the street from the church. Under her leadership the abandoned school became affordable low income housing known as Resurrection House. Additionally, a housing unit just up the street from the church is named after her, the Eugenia Suthern House.
At Incarnation, Eugenia has been the ECW Secretary, was a former Sunday School Superintendent, a former Senior Warden of the Vestry and she is currently a member of the Vestry. Additionally, for ten years she served as Parish Administrator, this while also working full time as a teacher in the Jersey City Public Schools where she focused her attention primarily on mentally retarded students.
Some of her fondest memories include her community work, especially her work with the Girl Scouts. She became active with the Scouts under the diligent prodding of Mrs. Muriel Roberts. Mrs. Robert’s daughter, Muriel (Dee Dee) continued to hold Eugenia’s feet to the fire and last year Eugenia received her 45-year pin!
Eugenia hopes that Incarnation will come together, that those who have left will come back and that the Parish will move forward. She really likes the new programs and activities, such as the October Blessing of the Animals and Safe Halloween Party for Kids. TOP HOME
A native of Jersey City, Anna Thompson graduated form Lincoln High School and began studies at Hudson County Community College. She came to Incarnation in 1982 from St. Matthew’s Church after being a member of Grace Church Van Vorst. Father Keithly Warner was then Rector.
Since 1974 Anna worked with the Jersey City Head Start program as a secretary. She later became the program’s Administrative Assistant. She also worked with Action For Sickle Cell, Inc. where she was a secretary. Anna retired in 2001.
Anna fondly recalls working with all the Rectors at Incarnation. As President of the Choir, she especially remembers working with Fr. Warner, Fr. Petero Sabune, and Fr. Isaac Persaud as his Stewardship Chair.
In addition to being the Stewardship Chair and President of the Choir, Anna was also a member of the Vestry and active in the Episcopal Church Women (ECW).
Anna hopes Church of the Incarnation will become a very active church again with a large, actively working membership and become an example of one of the best churches in Jersey City through its activities and engagement with the City. TOP HOME