Category Archives: Ascension

Ascension Sacred Heart plans to open two community clinics on Wednesday in Escambia County and Santa Rosa County that will provide COVID-19 vaccinations to local residents who are age 65 and older.

All available appointments for the 1,000 vaccine shots at each clinic were filled Tuesday morning.

Ascension Sacred Heart plans to hold additional vaccination clinics for seniors as soon as more COVID-19 vaccine is available from the state. We anticipate that will happen next week, and we will announce plans on our website and on social media once plans are confirmed, the hospital said in a statement.

The clinics were organized in coordination with the Florida Department of Health and officials from each county.

In Escambia County, the first series of clinics in January will take place in the gym of Olive Baptist Church at 1836 East Olive Road from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. In Santa Rosa County, the vaccination clinic will be located in the basketball gym of Milton Community Center at 5329 Byrom Street in Milton. Appointments are required. Walk-ups will not receive a vaccine.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis recently announced a new executive order directing that the next priority group for vaccinations in Florida should be persons age 65 and older. The seniors group follows the first priority group, which is healthcare workers and long-term care facility residents and staff.

After receiving a supply of the Moderna vaccine, Ascension Sacred Heart recently began to vaccinate its hospital staff and healthcare personnel in the community. To support the Florida DOH as it develops a long-term, comprehensive approach to community vaccinations, Ascension Sacred Heart also will assist the state health department and collaborate with other community partners to deploy vaccines to other priority groups.

Because of the limited amount of vaccines available in the U.S., it will likely be months before the state is able to successfully vaccinate all the individuals in priority categories, according to Ascension Sacred Heart. There are almost five million people in Florida who are 65 and older.

Our hospitals are continuing to provide clinically excellent, safe, compassionate care for every patient and loved one whether for COVID-19 or for any other health condition and need, said Tom Van Osdol, president and CEO of Ascension Florida and Gulf Coast.

At the same time, we are working hard to vaccinate our own hospital employees, physicians, community health care workers and those aged 65 and older throughout our communities, in accordance with Governor DeSantis executive order. We are blessed that we have the resources of our Ascension Medical Group to assist the two local counties in vaccinating and helping to protect our senior citizens and those most potentially at-risk against COVID-19.

Written by William Reynolds Filed Under FRONT TOP

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COVID-19 Vaccination Clinics To Open Wednesday For Persons 65 And Older; All Appointments Filled - NorthEscambia.com

MILTON, Fla. (WKRG) The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine will be able this week for those 65 years and older in Santa Rosa County.

At a press conference Monday, health and emergency management officials announced the Santa Rosa County Health Department will start administering vaccines to those 65 and older starting Tuesday.

Appointments will take place from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday. The health department has an vaccine allotment able to vaccinate 2,800 residents.

You can call 850-983-4636 to schedule your appointment.

In addition, 1,000 vaccines will be able for those 65 and older at the Milton Community Center, 5629 Byrom St., on Wednesday. Another 1,000 vaccines will be available at Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola.

Officials described these events as mass vaccinations.

These vaccinations will be administered Wednesday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. by health officials with Ascension Sacred Heart Hospital.

Call 833-981-0712 to make an appointment.

Officials emphasized that residents must register for an appointment in all cases.

Those who receive the vaccine must receive the second COVID-19 vaccination 28 days after their appointment.

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Santa Rosa County, Ascension to administer thousands of COVID-19 vaccines this week - WKRG News 5

AUGUSTA Portraits of white men from Maines past stare out at all who pass through the halls of the State House. Not a single person of color or woman appears on any of the canvases that hang outside the House and Senate chambers.

The irony was not lost on Rep. Rachel Talbot Ross, as a newspaper photographer shot her portrait near the gilded-framed paintings during a recent interview at the Capitol building.

In every room, theres no place for me to see the contributions of my ancestors, of my people in this building, and yet Maine benefited from the global slave trade, Talbot Ross said. The profits from enslavement helped build this state and thereby this institution.

The Portland Democrat has secured her own place in Maines 200-year history by becoming the first Black person elected by her colleagues to a leadership post in the Legislature. In November, she was unanimously chosen by Democrats in the House to be their assistant majority leader.

The role, known as the whip, makes Talbot Ross the third-highest-ranking Democrat in the chamber, behind Speaker of the House Ryan Fecteau of Biddeford and Majority Leader Michelle Dunphy of Old Town.

Talbot Ross ascension to the post comes at what many hope will be a pivotal moment in U.S. history, as a rekindled movement for racial justice and equity takes root across the nation in the aftermath of protests over the unjustified police shootings of Black people.

For Talbot Ross, a ninth-generation Mainer, the moment is a personal milestone that brings mixed emotions.

While I am humbled and feel privileged every day every day, she said, Im also ashamed and angry and frustrated that we have not come any further in the 21st century. Its something I have to try hard every day to reconcile.

Elected in November to her third consecutive two-year term, Talbot Ross has served on the Legislatures Judiciary and Health and Human Services committees. Legislation she authored in 2019 led to the Permanent Commission on the Status of Racial, Indigenous and Maine Tribal Population. She now chairs that 15-member commission, which in July issued a list of recommendations and proposed legislation aimed at ending systemic racism in Maine.

Talbot Ross has also been involved in the work of the NAACP in Maine, including serving as president of the now disbanded Portland branch. She said she remains active with the two other Maine branches of the NAACP, at the Maine State Prison and in Bangor, and has sponsored bills in cooperation with members of those branches.

Talbot Ross declined to give her age or marital status. According to a brief member profile published on the House website, she is single and has one child.

In many ways Talbot Ross is following in the footsteps of her father, Gerald Talbot, who became the first Black person to be elected to the Maine Legislature in 1972. Unlike his daughter, he was not tapped for a leadership position in the 186-member Legislature, which has never seen more than two Black lawmakers serving at the same time.

Gerald Talbot, 89, said he is tremendously proud of his daughters accomplishment, and while she occasionally asks his advice, he encourages her to make her own decisions and use her own judgment.

I try not to get in where Im the boss, he said. Shes the boss and she knows what she is doing.

He described the movement for racial equity and justice as a slow but steady struggle in Maine, just like elsewhere in the U.S. But little by little it gets better and better, he said.

Former state Rep. Craig Hickman, a Democrat from Winthrop, was the only Black lawmaker when Talbot Ross was first elected to the House in 2016. Hickman said he took inspiration from Gerald Talbots service in the Legislature and encouraged Talbot Ross to join him when she expressed reluctance to run.

Her determination has been to make life better for all Maine people, but especially her people, our people, Hickman said. That hasnt been really appreciated until now, and she is absolutely the right person and the best person to be the first Black person to serve in this leadership role.

Talbot Ross election to leadership is especially meaningful because it occurred in the 200th year of Maines statehood, said Hickman, who recently became the Democratic nominee in a March special election for state Senate District 14.

In 1820 Maine joined the Union as part of the Missouri Compromise, well before the Civil War and the end to slavery in the U.S. In the compromise Maine was granted statehood as a free state and Missouri as a slave state.

During her time in the Legislature, Talbot Ross has been a champion for criminal justice and other reforms, including legislation that would restore sovereign rights to tribal populations.

As assistant majority leader, she may have to set aside her own agenda for the priorities of the Democratic caucus and the partys legislative leaders, or to support important bills that rise from rank-and-file members. Talbot Ross said her focus is on the immediate future and on building caucus cohesion among her Democratic peers.

I dont see it as separate, Talbot Ross said of her own legislative work. I see it as our work (that) needs to be done. I include the things that Im interested in moving forward in our work.

Her new position has also proven to be a springboard to higher office, at least for her immediate predecessors. Fecteau, the new speaker of the House, served in the role from 2018 to 2020. And 2nd District U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, a Lewiston Democrat, held the post before Fecteau.

The election of Kamala Harris as the first Black woman to serve as vice president is an important milestone in the struggle for racial equity, but that so many Americans didnt vote for Harris both in Maine and nationally is telling as well, Talbot Ross said.

These arent glass ceilings we are breaking through these are concrete walls and ceilings, she said. So if you understand that metaphor, then you can understand that while one has broken through that similar to finding me in leadership breaking through that has taken centuries. And while one person has cracked through, or broken through, that does not absolve all of the responsibility to widen that pathway to bring others with you and there is enormous responsibility in that.

Talbot Ross said the Black Lives Matter movement that swept the nation last spring and summer, inspiring protests and resistance in Portland and other Maine cities, was a time when many more white people were accepting the truth that we had lived with for generations.

I just remember that I was grieving, and Im still in a period of grief because this never stops, Talbot Ross said. We have got a whole group of people who are in a generation of transference of grief and trauma and I think that weve been patient for your awakening. But I also think that brings a sense of hope and certainly opportunity.

Its work thats far from finished, said state Rep. Jeffrey Evangelos, an independent from Friendship. Evangelos, who has served on the Judiciary Committee with Talbot Ross, calls her a key ally in a struggle against racism that gained vigor in the 1960s but was derailed by the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Kennedys younger brother Robert Kennedy.

We have regressed badly since 1968, Evangelos said. We have a lot of prejudice to overcome in Maine still.

He pointed to recent forms of racial disparity, that Blacks make up just 1.5 percent of the states population but account for 12 percent of those incarcerated in the Maine State Prison, and that the states Black communities experience COVID-19 infection at a rate 20 times higher than those of white residents.

Evangelos said Talbot Ross has a broad vision of justice and has been a leader in her work to bring greater equity to people of all races, including impoverished whites who struggle to gain a foothold and better themselves.

When Talbot Ross and her colleagues return for this years legislative session, the rows of white male portraits will still gaze down from the State House walls, even as incremental change happens in the battle for racial equity.

But theres also one area where a different Maine vision is on display. In the State House Welcome Center closed to the public because of COVID-19 restrictions but still open to legislators and staff the walls are hung with a series of paintings by Ashley Bryan.

Bryan, a World War II veteran who landed on Omaha Beach in Normandy on D-Day, is a celebrated Black writer and artist. He retired to Cranberry Island off Maines coast after a career as a professor of art at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.

Talbot Ross asked a newspaper photographer to take her picture near the exhibit, to allow more people to see his beautiful artistry and to include Bryan, now 97, in her story as she makes history in a space dominated by white men.

Because there is some affirmation for me in that work, she said of Bryans art. And having that in this building starts to interrupt that space.

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Ascension to legislative leadership is bittersweet for Talbot Ross - Press Herald

SAGINAW, MI - Ascension St. Marys Hospital of Saginaw announced that it is planning to open the doors to its brand new Emergency Care Center addition at its 800 S. Washington Ave. location in early January.

The new addition is a part of a six-phase $17.6 million expansion, which began after Ascension St. Marys broke ground on the project in fall 2019. The entire project is on track to be completed in fall of 2021.

MLive - The Saginaw News previously reported that the first phase of project required the relocation of St. Marys dialysis unit from the emergency department area. Those services are now provided in a dedicated dialysis area.

Phase two was recently completed, which included the the construction of a 12,600-square feet addition, renovating existing space, infrastructure improvements for electrical, heating, ventilation and information technology systems, and improving access for ambulances and the public. The newly constructed addition provides patients with an airport style drop-off/pick up and continuous drop-off canopy for inclement weather.

As part of the planning work, we identified that a new emergency entry for ambulances and the public was a top priority. Significant excavation and construction to reduce the gradient to the Emergency Department has taken place to create a safer entryway for ambulances and our community, said Stephanie Duggan, MD, Regional President, Ascension St. Marys.

The enhancements will transform the facility into a level II trauma care center with 24 exam/treatment rooms and two trauma rooms, according to Ascension, and boost the hospitals ability to provide stroke care as a Comprehensive Stroke Center.

Individuals coming to the new Emergency Care Center will also find a new registration and triage area which will improve patient flow and increase capacity and efficiency and a larger waiting area, according to Ascension. Ambulances will also have a new multiple parking bays to utilize.

We are very excited and looking forward to opening the new addition and ambulance bays, said Duggan.

The next phases of the project will involve renovating the existing emergency department space to create new, larger exam rooms and trauma suites. The work will continue to be staged so there is no disruption of services, according to Ascension. Emergency and trauma care will continue to be provided through the existing emergency care in downtown Saginaw and at Ascension St. Marys freestanding emergency care center located in Saginaw Township, at 4599 Towne Centre Blvd., at the corner of Towne Centre and Schust. Both locations are open 24/7.

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Ascension St. Marys preparing to open new Emergency Care Center to public - MLive.com

The East Ascension boys basketball team heads into 2021 with a team first mentality, no stars on the team and a work ethic that is contagious.

Our team plays together, said coach Tyler Turner."No one on this team cares who scores or gets the spotlight; they play as one."

The Spartans, 5-5 at press time, head into district 5-5A play this week. The Spartans finished last season with a 25-9 record and a playoff loss to eventual state runner-up Bonnabel. Gone from last year's team are Hobert Grayson IV (Northeast Mississippi Community College), Tre Joseph, Javon Carter, Cameron Dunbar, Nicholas Hills and Jarvon Anderson. Camryn Carter was expected to return for his senior year and would have been one of the top players in the state, but he transferred to the famed Oak Hill Academy in Virginia.

Despite losing their top eight players, the work ethic and attitude of this year's team is positive. The boys are working on cleaning up some small mistakes; that comes from being so young and inexperienced on the varsity level, Turner said.

With district play beginning this week, there will be no easy nights for this young squad. Our district is very competitive, Turner said."I believe the district is wide open; it will be a battle in each game."

The Spartans will battle McKinley, Catholic, Woodlawn and parish rivals St. Amant and Dutchtown. The Spartans are ranked 12th in the 5A power rankings. The top teams in 5A are Hahnville, West Monroe, Zachary, Natchitoches Central, Northshore and Bonnabel. Whomever wins 5A will have earned it, Turner said."This class is tough from top to bottom and all of the teams are well coached."

As the Spartans continue to gain experience, with most players playing varsity for the first time, the key will be to build confidence and play as a team. You have to bring your A game every time you step on the floor, practice or games; it is the only way we teach it, Turner said.

The All-District ranking are out, with Ascension Catholic well represented inDistrict 7-1A and Ascension Christian receiving recognition.

Take a look.

First team offense:

Quarterback, Bryce Leonard, Ascension Catholic

Running back, Khai Prean, Ascension Catholic

Running back, Barry Richards, White Castle

Running back, Skylar Jones, East Iberville

Wide receiver, Troy Cole, Ascension Catholic

Wide receiver, Brooks Leonard, Ascension Catholic

Wide receiver, Joseph Schlatre, St. John

Tight end, AZarion Ross, East Iberville

Offensive line, Fred Villavaso, White Castle

Offensive line, Owen Smith, Ascension Catholic

Offensive line, Devin Pedescleaux, Ascension Catholic

Offensive line, Lance Captain, East Iberville

Offensive line, JQuinn Williams, East Iberville

Athlete, Roderique Valentine, East Iberville

Kicker, Jacob Dunn, Ascension Catholic

Kicker, Casey Mays, Ascension Catholic

Co-MVPs: Khai Prean, Ascension Catholic, and Roderique Valentine, East Iberville

First team defense:

Defensive line, JMond Tapp, Ascension Catholic

Defensive line, Tre Williams, Ascension Catholic

Defensive line, Brandon Garner, East Iberville

Defensive line, Nick Davis, Ascension Christian

Linebacker, Brayden Duhon, Ascension Catholic

Linebacker, Jacob Dunn, Ascension Catholic

Linebacker, Deshawn Alexander, East Iberville

Linebacker, Josh Daigle, St. John

Defensive back, Trey Perkins, East Iberville

Defensive back, Lex Melancon, Ascension Catholic

Defensive back, Matthew Lafleur, Ascension Catholic

Defensive back, Joseph Schlatre, St. John

Flex, Skylar Jones, East Iberville

Punter, Matthew Lafleur, Ascension Catholic

Defensive MVP: JMond Tapp, Ascension Catholic

Coach of the Year: Ascension Catholic staff

Donaldsonville High School also was honored to have coach Brian Richardson named co-coach of the year and the following players named to their district's first team:

All purpose offense, Joshua Collier

All purpose offense, Raeland Johnson

Offensive line, Christian Howard

Defensive end, Randell Oatis

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Unselfish play and teamwork fuel East Ascension basketball - The Advocate

A two-story rectory on Main St. was built one year after the church, providing living space for Ascensions rector.

A $38,000 gift from an anonymous donor has paid for a new roof and professional painting inside and out, and ownership has been transferred to the Wellsville Historical Society,

Any visitor driving down Main Street will cast an admiring eye on this rare and charming expression of 19th century Carpenter Gothic architecture, never guessing how close it came to being lost.

The old church would have fallen in or been demolished years ago had it not been for the Friends of the Ascension Church, a nonprofit organization created in 1982 to undertake the major salvage and renovation necessary to save it, and which eventually assumed ownership from the Episcopal Diocese of Cleveland. The Friends group was founded and led by Wellsville native and former Columbiana County sheriff Robert Brass Beresford and his wife Bonny. Brassys mother, Anna Metsch Beresford, was a longtime member and he grew up in Ascension Church.

Jack Glover, Margaret Deeley and Betty Lowther Rager were among former parishioners and among last attendees who joined the Friends group. The community took the project to its heart.

Ascensions brick parish hall on 11thStreet was used as extra classroom space by the nearby Catholic school, and also was a meeting place for Boy Scouts. It and the rectory were demolished in November 2004.

It was in bad shape. The corner of the building on the right side (of the pulpit) was completely open, said Bonny. When I walked in there I said you guys are out of your minds. But she added, Every time we came to a stop, somebody always came along who knew what to do. We felt like we were being blessed.

THE BERESFORDS, with help from Jack Glover and others, remained caretakers over two decades after the 1980s renovation. The church was used on an occasional basis for meetings, weddings, community Christmas celebrations and Garfield school programs. Sharon and Bob French were married there on the hottest day of June 1994. Tiffanie Hartman, a granddaughter of the Beresfords, was married to Kevin Grimm there in 1998. Kevin was a U.S. Marine; he and an honor guard of comrades were in full dress uniform, Bonny recalls.

Friends group members have fallen away with age and the church has rarely been used in the past decade. Only three trustees remained Brass, Bonny and Ruth Weekley when ownership was transferred two years ago to the Wellsville Historical Society, an eventuality planned for by Brassy. Former Common Pleas Court Judge David Tobin provided the legal work at the request of Peter Russell, a former Wellsville banker. Brassy passed away in 2019 at age 93. Ruth Weekley died in June 2020; she was 94.

In 2017-18, the church was again in need of upkeep. An anonymous donor stepped forward, giving $38,000 to put on a new roof with historically correct shingles and to repaint the church interior and exterior.

Thus the physical existence of the Ascension Church is secure into the foreseeable future. The building has electrical service for lighting, but no heating or plumbing systems, limiting its use as a community meeting place. Those involved are open to suggestions and offers of help.

Noted local artist Hans Hacker was commissioned to paint this picture of Ascension Church, which hangs in the museum of the Wellsville Historical Society. The original steeple shown was later removed.

IT WAS IN 1870, a full century and a half ago, that Ascension Church was built, providing a parish home for a fledging Episcopalian congregation.

For some time prior to September 1863 a few church men and women had been meeting in a hall over Wm. C. Brights drug store on East Main Street . . . for an occasional service as they could secure the services of a clergyman. A Sunday school was formed and conducted by Mr. and Mrs. E.H. Ayer which was attended by a large number of children, according to a 1950 church history.

On Aug. 21, 1863, 28 adults signed their names to a draft resolution of formation, giving the name Parish of the Church of the Ascension, and adopting the constitution and canons of the Protestant Episcopal Church USA.

Following publication of their intentions in The Wellsville Union newspaper, members met on Sept. 6 and formally organized the parish. On Sept. 19 a Rev. Mr. Lee, who now and then had led services there, was called to be its first rector.

WELLSVILLE WAS A RAILROAD town then, site of the maintenance shops of the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad. Creation of Ascension Church was a direct consequence of railroad men of Episcopalian heritage locating with their families in Wellsville in the early 1860s.

This photo of an Ascension Church picnic from the 1940s includes members of the Glover, Hands, Kerr and Lowther families. Brass Beresfords mother, Anna Pearl Metsch Beresford, is second from the left in the back row, wearing a hat.

Mr. John Thomas, superintendent of the C&P Railroad, was senior warden of Ascension at the time the parish was legally incorporated at the county seat in Lisbon, April 1, 1870.

Of the total cost of $6,489.89 to build and furnish the church, $2,500 was raised through a grand excursion to Lake Erie including an outing on the steamer Northwest.

An entry in parish records dated Sept. 5, 1870, states: Wardens and Vestry sent thank you to manager of Cleveland & Pittsburgh RR for their generous action toward us in connection with the excursion train of June 23rd the profits of which have enabled us to complete our little church without the burden of debt. A thank-you was sent to Capt. J.E. Pierce and officers of the Northwest. A Pierce family shows up in parish records, perhaps a local connection to Capt. Pierce.

The second largest individual source of funding was $1,421 in subscriptions from church members.

Whomever did the accounting wanted to make sure that the contributions of railroad people were recognized, showing donations (separate from subscriptions) from citizens not connected to RR of $572, while donations connected with RR totaled $1,333.95.

This undated photo, dating from around the turn of the 19th century or before, shows Christmas decorations and a rector in his vestments standing at the pulpit. The pipe organ at left was donated by steel magnate Andrew Carnegie. The large stained glass window shown was the original, created by William Nelson Manufacturing of Pittsburgh. That large window was blown out some years ago and never replaced, but whether it was still the original or a 1925 replacement is not known at this writing.

A BREAKDOWN OF building expenses includes $1,100 to buy the lots, $4,060 for construction of the building (contractor William Wood of Cleveland), $281 for furniture, $175 for carpeting, $110 for a stove and heating pipes, $59 for (oil?) lamps and globes, $53 for three years of fire insurance and $310 paid for stained glass Wm. Nelson Mfg. Pgh.

That points up a small mystery. Church history says the present stained glass windows were installed in 1925, and dedication names on the windows support that date. What, then, happened to the windows originally installed by William Nelson, early (1852-1892) Pittsburgh stained glass maker?

The centuries-old practice of selling, and later, renting, pews was quite common in Protestant churches as a method of raising funds for construction. By the mid-19th century the practice was falling into disfavor, yet the Ascension Church Vestry felt a need to put upon record their wish and resolve (that) the seats of the church shall be entirely free so that no man however poor shall feel himself excluded from Gods House.

(The pews are very low to the floor. Bonny Beresford thinks thats because people were generally smaller 150 years ago. Or perhaps it was to facilitate kneeling during services.)

The cornerstone was laid July 16, 1869, with items placed inside including current newspapers, a Book of Common Prayer, and a Bible.

Ascensions handsome wooden pews, pressed metal ceiling and 1925 stained glass windows are visible in this present day view from the pulpit area. (Photo by Fred Miller)

On the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels, Sept. 29, 1870, the building was consecrated by the Rt. Rev. G.T. Bedell, Third Bishop of Ohio, the building being free from debt when completed. A two-story rectory was added on the adjacent lot a year later, making the parish more attractive to prospective rectors, and a brick parish house behind the church provided meeting space. Both were demolished in 2004.

THE ARCHITECTURAL STYLE of the Church of the Ascension is a reminder that, like the Episcopal Church itself, its roots are English but its expression American.

After the Great London Fire of 1666, architect Christopher Wren turned to Italian and Greek styles for inspiration. He termed what had burned Gothic; a disparagement of the architectural style of cathedrals and other heavy stone buildings of the Middle Ages, equating them with the Germanic tribes (Goths, Visigoths, Vandals) that sacked Rome.

Architects in America followed the styles of Wren, including Greek Revival and what is now called Colonial or Georgian, but at length a reaction sent in and a Gothic revival ushered in new expressions. The abundance of timber in America, coupled with the introduction of steam-driven sawmills led to interpretations of Gothic style in wood instead of stone. Architects Alexander Jackson Davis and Andrew Jackson Downing published influential books of Gothic Revival building plans in the mid-1800s.

Ascension Church has the steep gabled roof, fancy scrollwork bargeboards (trim), pointed-arch windows and doors, and vertical board-and-batten wooden siding of classified as Vernacular Carpenter Gothic. Vernacular as opposed to high style is a reference to rural site and use of modest materials.

Preservation of its architectural significance gave Ascension Church status for placement on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986, the application prepared by Jack Lanam of East Liverpool, a local historian and member of the Friends group.

ASCENSION CHURCH was always small compared to other area churches, but families were close-knit and the parish enjoyed good years in the latter part of the 19th century and early 20th. Some 75 parishioners attended a celebration for their rector in 1915. A Womens Auxiliary, Daughters of the Auxiliary, Junior Auxiliary, and Little Helpers were popular steppingstone womens groups. A dozen men were guided to create a Mens Club.

Meticulous record books were kept in those years for memberships, baptisms, confirmations, marriages, and burials, often including personal data such as parentage, sponsors, date of birth, and cause of death. Family names included Keay, Kerr, Mills, Bowers, Haslet, Hand, Deeley, Lower, Jobling, Rushton, Bailey, Andrews, Allcock, Furniss, Gardner, Jones, Jenkins, McKinnis, Starrett, Robinson, Pritchard, Morris and others.

The name Elizabeth DeTemple is one of the first to appear in the record books, but the reason was not a happy one. The churchs first baptism was on Aug. 28, 1865, for infant son Jacob Emmanuel DeTemple, and was followed by his burial three days later. Elizabeth and her husband Matthew DeTemple went on to have at least eight more children, and lived to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in 1915. One of the 1925 stained glass windows in Ascension Church is dedicated to her.

(The second baptism listed was for George Edward DeTemple on Aug. 30, 1865, apparently a twin of Jacob. George survived infancy but died of typhoid fever at age 16, March 22, 1882.)

Other windows are dedicated to the memory of: Harry Jobling (there were two Harry Joblings, father and son); Grace and Charles Keay (Grace Keay, age 20, was buried Feb. 2, 1919, and a Charles Emerson Keay died Dec. 31, 1916, at age 16 months); and Levison Rushton, (died Nov. 5, 1920, age 15). Windows were dedicated to the Womens Auxiliary and the Sunday School. Church stalwart John Hands name was painted in after his death on a window. He died in 1947 at age 55.

The circular stained glass window high on the Main Street gable-end wall was dedicated to my beloved wife Elizabeth Thomas.

With the transfer of Ascension Church to the Wellsville Historical Society, its church record books and other documents will be preserved for genealogy and history researchers.

Entries in the record books became sparse beginning in the 1940s, with perhaps the last permanent rector a Rev. Gillette in 1946. Rectors from St. Stephens in East Liverpool kept an association with the Ascension congregation, including Rev. D.R. Salsberry Jr. in 1965 and Rev. Paul Heckters in 1976.

Notebooks of attendance records show 10 or 20 regularly came to church on Sundays in the 1960s. By 1974, that number had dwindled to five or six older members. Betty Rager and Jack Glover in a 1980s Review article stated there was no last Sunday. The church simply fizzled out.

THE WELLSVILLE HISTORICAL Society faces the same problem of an aging organization with fewer members and less money. President Bob Lloyd who with sardonic wit says, I woke up one morning and was told, You own a church' said Society trustees do not have the resources at present to do much with Ascension Church, but do accept responsibility for it, and will do the best they can.

There are developments, however, suggesting that help will be forthcoming from those who love Wellsville and its history, and that good news for the Church of the Ascension is in the offing.

Donations from families allowed them to memorialize loved ones in Ascensions 1925 stained glass side windows, including this one to Elizabeth DeTemple, who spent her adult life in the church and raised a large family. (Fred Miller photo)

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Wellsville's Church of the Ascension | News, Sports, Jobs - The Review - The Review

Tamiko Francis-Garrison, wearing a white suit, placed her hand on a family Bible as she was sworn in Dec. 31 by Judge Erin Wiley-Lanoux as the justice of the peace for the 1st Justice Court.

Francis-Garrison is the first Black woman to serve in the office, she said. But she's not the first in her family elected to an office or use that Bible to take the oath of office. Her father, the late Bernard BJ Francis Sr., used the same Bible in 1992 when he was sworn in as mayor of Donaldsonville and her uncle Reginald Francis Sr. used the family Bible when he took his oath as a Donaldsonville city councilman.

The swearing-in was a private ceremony due to COVID-19 restrictions held at City Hall in Donaldsonville. Francis-Garrison took office Jan. 1 and one of her first duties was swearing in her uncle to his seat on the City Council.

Francis-Garrison's attire was a nod to the suffragettes of the womens suffrage march held on March 3, 1913. As a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., she also honored the 22 founders of the sorority, who were among those at that march.

"I promise to work hard, to be fair, and to ensure the 1st Justice Court is fully accessible to the community that I love," said Francis-Garrison.

The Democrat was elected Dec. 5, winning a runoff against the 42-year incumbent, Andrew Falcon.

Francis-Garrison, 52, is not new to public service. In 2006, she served as the interim Ascension Parish councilwoman for District 1, making history as the first Black woman to serve in that role.

She is the daughter of the late Bernard BJ Francis Sr. and the late Janet Ganes Francis, who was affectionately known as the woman who brought Juneteenth to Donaldsonville.

Francis-Garrison found out a few weeks ago that she is not the first in her family to serve in the role as justice of the peace. Her maternal great-great-grandfather, Louis Butler Sr., was elected as justice of the peace for the First Ward in Ascension Parish on Nov. 7, 1876. Butler served in various roles over the years: distinguished of the Convention & Assembly of the Reconstruction of the State of Louisianain 1867and state representative in 1874.

She has been married to her husband, Ira, for over 13 years and they have one daughter, Tamiko.

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Ascension Parish westside elects first African-American woman to serve as Justice of the Peace - The Advocate

Ascension Parish Sheriff Bobby Webre allowed deputies to sport facial hair for the month of November for the American Cancer Society. Other agencies were asked to participate and together raised over $30,000.

In keeping with the holiday spirit, Webre decided to extend the no shave period for December, also reaching out to multiple agencies to donate the money to 32 Lake Charles deputies whose homes were destroyed by Hurricane Laura. The project raised $16,000, and each deputy received a check for $500 just in time for Christmas, according to a news release.

Hurricanes are nothing new to any of us in south Louisiana, and we know all so well that during the aftermath of these natural disasters, communities come together to help each other. This joint effort of individuals raising funds on their own to help our brothers and sisters in need is something I am so very proud of, said Ascension Parish Sheriff Bobby Webre.

APSO Public Information Officer Allison B. Hudson organized with St. John Parish Sheriffs Office, Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office, Thibodaux Police Department, Port Fourchon Harbor Police, and Gretna Police Department to help raise funds for these deputies.

Chief Bryan Zeringue, of Thibodaux Police Department, said, In August when Hurricane Laura made landfall in southwest Louisiana, the men and women protecting Calcasieu Parish selflessly continued to serve and protect their community even though their homes, property and families were affected as well. When approached and explained of the cause for extending 'No Shave November' into 'Do It Again December,' it instantly became a no-brainer for me. Anytime we are given an opportunity as law enforcement officers to assist our brothers and sisters during a time of need, we must act."

I am sincerely thankful for all the agencies that participated and raised money to donate to our Calcasieu Parish Sheriffs Office deputies. Fellow law enforcement officers in our state always take care of one another when someone is in need and I am so proud to be a Sheriff in Louisiana. Our department appreciates all the support we have received since Hurricane Laura hit our community, said Sheriff Tony Mancuso.

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Multiple agencies join forces to raise money for deputies following the aftermath of Hurricane Laura - The Advocate

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Ascension welcomes first babies of 2021 - WSMV Nashville

Some time early this year, contractors are expected to start a combined $3.7 million in road construction, building the first Ascension Parish-funded roundabout in the parish's history and widening a notoriously narrow outlet for congested La. 73 traffic near Prairieville.

Meanwhile, the entirely new St. Landry-Ashland road connector near Gonzales, which is expected to be the final link in a long-awaited alternative route to Mississippi River chemical plants, is largely finished. So are a series of turn lanes on La. 73 in the Oak Grove area of northern Ascension and a new bridge on Babin Road, parish officials said.

All of those projects are part of the more than $70 million Move Ascension program that has been slowly churning through a list of 34 road improvements and light synchronizations for the past several years, a parish listing shows.

The program has finished six projects in all through the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and, by the summer of 2021, parish officials said they expect to have seven to 10 projects under construction or headed to construction.

These projects come in addition to the separate $29 million state construction project to widen more than three miles of La. 42 in Prairieville, which is rounding toward completion after more than seven years of sewer and road construction.

State highway contractors also are replacing bridges on Airline Highway at Bayou Manchac at the parish line and farther south near Gonzales.

The Move Ascension program is a first of its kind for parish government, which hadn't previously built new roads in decades but focused on road overlay programs that did little to address capacity problems in the fast-growing parish.

Coming off parish voters' resounding rejection of a half-cent sales tax for the "Lanes for Change" road program in 2012 and subsequent rejections of other tax measures, parish leaders then vowed to find ways to finance road construction without a new parishwide tax.

Under the administration of former Parish President Kenny Matassa and the Parish Council at the time, road impact fees on new homes and businesses, road maintenance property tax districts for new, individual subdivisions, and tighter traffic impact analyses were outgrowths of that vow. So was the Move Ascension program.

The road program has amassed more than $70 million by cobbling together funds from a $25 million bond issue in 2016, $10 million in sales tax surplus, impact fee revenues, federal and regional road matching dollars, state road swap money in Prairieville and other sources, parish officials have said.

Move Ascension has been focused on generating the kind of traffic-easing and safety improvements that parish officials had long sought through grants and the state highway department, officials said.

Mike Enlow, a parish engineer who led the early development of the Move Ascension program, and other parish officials have pointed out that the program has focused, in part, on corridors, such as the critical north-south route along Roddy Road and the east-west route on Germany and Duplessis roads north of Gonzales.

Both areslated for lane widenings of narrow roads to improve safety, though not add capacity, and a string of future roundabouts for traffic flow and safety.

The program, however, doesn't have the money for major capacity additions, like adding new lanes, in a parish that was estimated in 2019 to need $1.25 billion in road improvements over the next 20 years.

Enlow suggested that the parish must balance getting traffic moving more efficiently before creating costly capacity expansions that would simply dump traffic into other bottlenecks.

But creating the program from scratch required hiring engineering firm HNTB and a collection of subcontracted design firms, selecting projects and spending millions on designing them, buying land and moving utilities, which meant Move Ascension moved slowly through the Matassa years.

The program and its millions in engineering and other costs with little in the way of construction at that point were a campaign point in 2019 for a batch of new councilmen elected to office that year, along with the new administration of current Parish President Clint Cointment.

Beginning in second-quarter 2020 and now this year, those years of behind-the-scenes efforts have begun to bear fruit on the roads.

"So, we had to stand up a program from nothing and, you know, that takes time," said Jeff Burst, a senior project manager with HNTB and a lead consultant for the Move Ascension program.

Burst and several parish officials who have worked closely with the program since the Matassa administration have pointed out that the three years it has taken to see construction start on Move Ascension more than halves the time it takes the state to complete a project from start to finish.

The first two of the next 10 projects headed toward construction this year are the $2.4 million project to widen existing lanes on narrow C. Braud Road, an important link between La. 73 near Interstate 10 and Bluff Road, and a $1.34 million roundabout at Henry Road and La. 930 in Prairieville, parish officials said.

Though the state Department of Transportation and Development and developers have built roundabouts in Port Vincent, Sorrento and Burnside, the Henry/La. 930 roundabout would be parish government's first after more than a decade of discussions and design for various intersections.

Councilman Michael Mason, a first-term member who was critical of the parish's engineering spending on Move Ascension during the campaign, has taken an interest in oversight of the road program and said his view of the program has changed.

"When you get a little bit more information and you start to see how the big plan starts to unfold, you kind of see what the importance is. It's all about the flow of traffic," he said.

Mason explained that his constituents are tuned into Move Ascension projects for their area and so seem to be supportive of what is planned. He noted that some aired worries late last fall that a Move Ascension roundabout for Germany and Braud roads had been canceled when a temporary traffic light was put up by a developer.

Mason said the roundabout is still planned as one of nine proposed in Move Ascension. The state transportation department is planning others as well.

In years past, new parish administrations and Parish Councils have sometimes tabled the road and drainage priorities of the prior leadership, often leaving fallow taxpayer-funded engineering work with little to show for the expense.

With few exceptions, the Cointment administration has largely allowed Move Ascension and the several million dollars spent standing up the program to proceed.

One exception has been the costly and controversial safety widening proposed for Tiggy Duplessis Road in the Duplessis area, despite strong traffic data indications of safety concerns. The parish is taking other safety measures but won't widen the road, the primary point of contention.

Martin McConnell, an administration spokesman, said improving traffic was one pillar of Cointment's election campaign.

"Traffic, drainage and growth, that's what he ran on and, I think, he recognized that Move Ascension was already in place, already moving forward and is one of those things, if you have something in there that is working, you work with it," McConnell said.

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In the making for more than three years, Move Ascension program bears fruit for road work - The Advocate