By Alan Sorensen
Congregants from five Havre churches are united in their efforts to raise funds for one of their church secretaries fight against cancer.
The Sharon Clawson Medical Fund will benefit from a Brown Bag No Such Thing as a Free Lunch and Pie and Goodie Auction at Van Orsdel United Methodist Church this Sunday. The fund-raiser will begin at 11 a.m. and conclude at 2 p.m., so people can attend a 2 p.m. benefit concert for Clawson at First Lutheran Church.
Clawson has been secretary at Van Orsdel United Methodist Church for 11 years and is a member of the church secretaries group that meets once a month.
The other churches involved in helping Clawson, who has no medical insurance, are St. Paul Lutheran Church, St. Marks Episcopal Church, and First Presbyterian Church.
Robbie Lucke, chairman of the fund-raising committee for Van Orsdel, said that Clawson has undergone cancer surgery and begins chemotherapy this weekend.
(The lunch and auction are) being held at the fellowship hall at Van Orsdel and the group is selling the bag lunches at $3 each or whatever you want to give, Lucke said. And well be selling the pies.
The best thing is that many people have brought pies, cookies, cakes, crafts, art works, you name it, and were going to auction that off.
Lucke said Albertsons donated all the food that is going into the bags and that Kim Hickman at The Kitchen donated the condiments.
Proceeds from the auction, with auctioneer Shane Ophus, will be matched with funds provided by Aid Association for Lutherans.
Well have everybody out of there by 2 oclock, so they can go to the pipe and piano concert that afternoon. What we need are lots of bodies.
Mary Stevens and Marge Holt will present the pipe and piano concert titled Piano and Pipes: Mary and Marge at 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 29, at First Lutheran Church in Havre.
The concert will feature Bachs Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, Schuberts Marche Militaire, Debussys Lisle Joyeuse, Gershwins Rhapsody in Blue, and Prokoffiefs Peter and the Wolf with Sam Stuart as narrator.
Donations will be accepted at the concert, with a portion of the proceeds going to a fund for Sharon Clawson of Havre to help pay medical bills for cancer treatment.
Stevens is a graduate of Chester High School. She took lessons throughout grade school and high school from Iris White of Inverness. She then progressed through the school of hard knocks and experience to attain her current level of proficiency.
Stevens is the organist and music coordinator for First Lutheran Church, teaches piano, and tunes and services pianos as a registered piano technician.
Holt grew up in England, where she attended the Royal College of Music. After marrying an American soldier, she came to the United States, eventually settling in Havre. She has performed in England, Germany, Los Angeles and throughout the Hi-Line area. She taught piano at Northern Montana College in Havre for several years.
Holt teaches private piano lessons in Havre and performs along the Hi-Line.
The Methodist Church is located at 410 Fifth Ave. and the Lutheran Church is located at 303 Sixth Ave.
Donations to the Sharon Clawson Medical Fund can be deposited at First Security Bank in Havre or mailed to Mildred Keene, 55 Saddle Butte Dr., Havre, MT 59501.
For more information, please call 265-4232.
