Clarence and Lois Rahmann

By DAN SPEIRS
Assistant Managing Editor

KEARNEY - Faith grows in the First United Methodist Church Chapel Garden, thanks to Clarence and Lois Rahmann of Kearney.

"Clarence and I both thought it would be one way we could bring our friends and acquaintances closer to God. It really grew on us, and it grew on the people of the church, and we really felt good about doing it," Lois Rahmann said.

The Rahmanns' years of effort in starting and maintaining the garden - a green oasis with prayer stations linked by a concrete path through the flowers, bushes and trees they planted near the church's northwest corner - earned them this year's Freedom Award in the Religion Category.

"The Rahmanns have provided a prayer garden that comforts people when they are sad and provides peace for people that are overwhelmed. They have shared their talents, time and passion so that others can find an alternative place to go to God in prayer," Judi Sickler said in her nomination letter.

The Rev. Dr. Ron Roemmich, senior pastor of the church at 4500 Linden Drive, saw a similar garden when he was in seminary and asked the Rahmanns to build the Chapel Garden in Kearney.

"We have five prayer stations so that if people want to use it for a meditational walk, they could," he said. "We also have the benches so they can sit down, and we also have a kneeler … and they walk you through a season of faith."

Although it was Roemmich's concept, the Rahmanns have made it into a living garden.

"THEY'VE just taken it and made it into a labor of love. They've put in the concrete and even taken the perennials and split them every year so they don't get too crowded. They've just put in hours and hours," Roemmich said. "They have been so faithful. It's been here five or six years, and nobody else has had to worry about it."

The corner of the church grounds was "full of junk" from an expansion project at the church when the Rahmanns began work on the garden late in the summer of 1995.

"We went in and hauled out many a load of trash, rocks, and we started hauling in the dirt," Lois Rahmann said.

"We knew it was really going to be a lot of work. We'd done enough yard work. But we'd just put a multimillion dollar building here, and we thought it was kinda sad to have a junk pile outside the second front door," she said.

Plants were donated, other plants came from their yard, and memorials have paid for others. The couple paid for some things out of their pockets, but memorials have financed most of the garden. The Rahmanns said they've had help from many other volunteers.

"We kind of built it with what we had to work with," Lois said. "We did try to use things people gave us."

ALTHOUGH some people said they thought the garden should contain only biblical plants, that would be difficult because of the difference in climate between the desert Middle East and Kearney.

"So I said, 'I'd like to see you keep one thing in the back of your mind - God created them all,'" Lois said of the plants used in the garden.

The garden has followed the Rahmanns' design. Part of the deal was that they'd have a free hand.

"One lady walked by one day and went into the church office and said, 'Don't you think those people are too old to get out there and work that hard in the sun?' And they said, 'Well, you can't stop 'em," Lois recalled.

"It wasn't hard to keep on. Of the active members of the church, I'd have to say about 90 percent have recognized us by letter or a phone call."

But the garden isn't limited to the 2,500-member congregation.

"The Chapel Garden is open to all denominations," Clarence said.

"There's no Methodist 'curse,' on it," Lois joked. "As long as it's treated in the way a chapel garden should be treated, everybody's welcome."

Wedding pictures are taken there, tourists have come from Kearney's motels to use the garden, Girl Scouts have used it for ceremonies, and neighbors and passers-by on the busy street stop in.

"It's gratifying … we see a lot of outstate cars come up," Clarence said.

Clarence, 81, was a welder at DeKalb. After retirement, he worked part time at the Buffalo County Extension office for 14 years. Lois, 71, was a convention manager at Holiday Inn and Ramada Inn.

HE GREW up in Hildreth; she grew up in Elm Creek. Now, their own children have grown.

Dan Else lives in Gothenburg and Catherine Rahmann lives in Omaha. There are four grandchildren.

Clarence and Lois have been volunteers in other ways. Lois said she was a 4-H leader for many years.

But the church has been their focus. Clarence has been a Methodist Church usher for 60 years. Lois cooked at the church. They have been greeters.

"We were both born Methodists, and we were born and raised to go to church," Lois said.

Because of their health, they have relinquished their place in the garden. Volunteers will take over from the Rahmanns, but they said they will miss the work.

"I've never done anything so gratifying in my life," Lois said.

e-mail to:

dan.speirs@kearneyhub.com