Synod Schooler who’s 101 is thrilled to be back where she belongs

Mary Conklin of Winnebago, Minnesota, contributes to worship back home by playing the organ

by Mike Ferguson | Presbyterian News Service

Mary Conklin of Winnebago, Minnesota, is attending Synod School along with her granddaughter, Elizabeth, and greatgrandchildren Orion and Rosemary. (Photo by Kim Coulter)

STORM LAKE, Iowa — Even though she’s 101 years old, Mary Conklin of Winnebago, Minnesota has not attended every edition of Synod School, which debuted in 1954. But she has been a part of most of the last 50 or so versions of the beloved gathering, put on each year by the Synod of Lakes & Prairies and attended by about 540 people this year, ranging in age from 5 months to 101 years.

“I taught [at Synod School] almost every year until 2009,” Conklin said during a half-hour interview Wednesday with Presbyterian News Service. The children “kept me on my toes.”

A retired educator, Conklin still works as the organist at First Presbyterian Church in Winnebago, the church her late husband, the Rev. Robert Conklin, served from 1974 through 1984.

Asked to identify what she likes best about Synod School, Conklin hardly knows where to start. When she calls to request a buggy — the Synod School name for a golf cart — to take her from, say, class to lunch, it’s there in minutes.F

“There are people I don’t see often who are special people” who attend Synod School, like Conklin does, year after year. This year, she’s accompanied by her granddaughter, Elizabeth, and Conklin’s great-grandchildren, Orion and Rosemary. It was Elizabeth who got her grandmother to return to Synod School after Conklin missed a few years during the pandemic.

“She said, ‘Grandma, I think we need to go to Synod School. I’ll push your wheelchair,’ which I thought was pretty brave,” Conklin said. When Conklin makes her appearance twice each day for events inside Schaller Memorial Chapel, she’s greeted by any number of well-wishers.

Elizebeth and her children live in Blue Earth, about a dozen miles from Winnebago. Conklin lives alone, “but Elizabeth takes care of me. She comes by once a week and does what I can’t manage. I don’t do ladders anymore, so she takes care of the windows.”

“We brought Elizabeth to Synod School when she was little,” Conklin said. “That did something for her that makes her want to come back.”

Just this month, Jill Emery, a commissioned ruling elder, began serving First Presbyterian Church after it had been without a pastor for about five years. “We are a small church. Many pastors don’t want to go to a small town far away from a big city, which we are,” Conklin said. “But we have maintained ourselves very well, which I think is remarkable.” The gift of a farm allowed for the renovation of the sanctuary “to update it to get us to the 21^st century,” Conklin said with a smile.

“When I go home, I share the whole experience. I always tell people they need to come to Synod School,” she said. Each year the church offers scholarships to help members and friends attend.

Asked to dig into her memory bank for meaningful events of Synod Schools past, Conklin recalled adding her voice to the alto section in the choir. “You learned so much new music because the director would bring it” to try it out, she said. “It was fantastic to sing with that group.”

Conklin marvels at the care Synod Schoolers show one another, herself included. “I am so well cared for, and I don’t think that’s unique to me,” she said. “I think they help everyone. They’re a fantastic support. You see little groups of people having conversations and making new friends — some of them you’ll never see again.”

“There are no strangers here,” she said. “Once you’re here, you’re part of the group.”

When she was a fourth grader, someone asked Conklin, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” “A teacher,” the girl replied. “And what do you want to teach?” “English and music,” she said.

That’s exactly what Conklin grew up to do. She attended the University of Dubuque and completed her studies at what was then Dickinson State College in North Dakota. Then her husband heard God’s call to attend the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary and serve in the ministry.

She started her teaching career at a country school in North Dakota, where she had 18 pupils in seven grades. Later, she taught high school English and grade school music. She was the education specialist for the Presbytery of Minnesota Valleys during the 1980s.

She and her husband retired to Arkansas, but retirement didn’t take for Conklin, who went to work at the University of the Ozarks, teaching Christian education halftime for a couple of years. She also was a Christian education director at a church in Fort Smith before moving back to Minnesota to be closer to her beloved family.

“All that education paid off,” she said, again with a smile.