There’s no shortage of stories about the ways Shadowcliff impacts people’s personal journeys. This summer, Craig Adams was on site as an intern from McAfee Theologial Seminary in Atlanta, GA, and part of his research involved conversations with Shadowcliff guests, volunteers and stakeholders from different generations. One special story that Craig rediscovered is from Steve and Connie Morris. From Connie:
“June of 1974 Steve and I decided to move to Grand Lake, get married and spend the summer.
Since we did not belong to a church in this area we were unable to find a pastor that could perform this service. We visited the Chamber of Commerce and were told of a pastor building a Youth Hostel and gave us directions to the facility.
Upon entering the building, Rev Warren Rempel was on a tall ladder painting along with several young adults. Steve explained, we wanted to get married and the Chamber referred us to him, as he may be able to accommodate us. He said, “sure can you give me a few minutes to clean up” We responded, “Oh we can wait a few days.” Upon visiting with Rev Rempel we set a date. He suggested we could be married on the property by the wooden cross overlooking Grand Lake. It was perfect for us as we did not actually have a location for a simple ceremony.
July 16, 1974 we were married by Rev Rempel
Four friends from Denver joined us for our special day. We were thrilled when Rev Rempel’s young group attended our service. They brought guitars and sang a song by Loggins & Messina “Danny’s Song“. They all made this a beautiful day we will always treasure.
Rev Rempel and group joined us at our condo to sign marriage certificate and enjoy a slice of wedding cake.
We left Grand Lake later that summer as Steve accepted a teaching/counseling job at Florence, Colo middle school.
Summer of 1997 we made another trip to Grand Lake and wanted to visit where we were married. To our greatest surprise and joy Rev Rempel was at Shadowcliff! We treasure this picture taken with him. There was a beautiful new cross in place which was dedicated to his son who had passed.
The next trip to Grand Lake was a camping trip with our daughter Amanda. Once again we visited Shadowcliff to show her where our lives together began.
We returned this year for our 49th anniversary and wanted to take pictures of this occasion at Shadowcliff. This is where we met you Craig and so enjoyed our time visiting and learning about the changes at Shadowcliff. We loved telling you our history of this beautiful setting at Shadowcliff.
Best regards,
Steve & Connie Morris”
