Remembering Our Past: Rev. Dr. Glenn and Joan Abbott
Glenn Abbott was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA, attended Eastern Baptist College (now Eastern University).
Glenn was a talented singer and took a year off from college to travel and sing with a Quartet. When he returned for his senior year, he met first year student Joan Brownville.
Joan was born in the parsonage of the Baptist Church in Asbury Park, NJ where her father, Rev. Gordon Brownville, was the pastor.
Glenn and Joan were married on June 18, 1955. Together, they, and their growing family of seven children, served at churches in Salem, NJ; Worcester, MA; Philadelphia, PA; and Sioux Falls, SD, before moving to Brewster and serving at Brewster Baptist Church.
Tragically, in 1963, their ten-month-old daughter, Heather Anne, passed away from a rare heart condition as they were beginning their pastorate at Burncoat Baptist Church in Worcester. On the day after Easter, in 1978, eight months after beginning their pastorate at the First Baptist Church of Sioux Falls, SD, their daughter Heather Allison passed away after a fall while playing with friends. These heartbreaking events in their lives, shaped their ministry, allowing them to be able to walk others through crisis, bringing them help and the hope of Christ in the midst of trauma.
While serving in Sioux Falls, in a church of 1300 active members, Glenn participated in a weekly ecumenical television show with a Catholic priest and a Lutheran pastor; facilitated conferences on family, singles, death and dying; and Biblical studies. In 1983, Glenn had heart bypass surgery. He made a full recovery and went back to working full time, but felt it was time to move from a large church to a smaller one, where he would be able to devote time to the individuals who made up the congregation.
Joan’s family had been coming to Brewster since they were kids, and, for her it represented family, many happy times, good memories and home – so it was fitting that they would be able to complete their ministry at BBC.
Church Historian, Marge Flint, shared in the 1984 Annual Report, “After searching for over a year, our Pulpit Committee recommended a candidate to fill our pulpit.
On March 25, we were privileged to listen to Rev. Dr. Glenn Abbott, and we knew our prayers for a new leader had been answered.
On May 6, we welcomed our new pastor and his family. Rev. Everett Washburn, our interim pastor, and Rev. Dr. Glenn Abbott both participated in the service.
On May 27, Rev. Abbott was installed as our new pastor. Since Glenn’s arrival, attendance and membership have dramatically increased. Perhaps it’s time to begin thinking of enlarging the sanctuary!”
Glenn and Joan were both very personable and fun, always ready with a quick laugh.
In the June 1984 Beacon, Glenn shared,
“It is with great joy that Joan and I begin our time with you. The Brewster Baptist Church and Cape Cod have always been very dear to us. We have watched and known a succession of your (now our) pastors. We have worshipped upstairs and down, early and late, over the years. Once, I even spoke here and nearly toppled the pulpit into the front pew. And, of course, we were delighted to watch you build your addition. Who would have thought that some day we would become part of your lives?
Well, it has happened. Now that we are here, we hope to get to know each one of you in a very personal way. My wife’s name is ‘Joan’ and she answers to that very well. ‘Mrs. Abbott’ is much too formal for her. I answer to ‘Glenn’. Some people can never bring themselves to call their minister by his first name. If that is the case then call me ‘Pastor Glenn’ or ‘Pastor’. When we’re around somebody who needs impressing, you can call me ‘Dr. Abbott’. But do that very sparingly, lest we frighten a prospect away.
By the way, I depend heavily upon my secretary to keep my appointments straight. Never trust me to remember anything unless you give me a note, or, better yet, have Harriet put it on my calendar. I’ve never missed a funeral or wedding yet – but there’s always a first time.
All my ministry, I have considered myself a servant. (I don’t do windows.) I am the Lord’s servant and yours. I want to do what I can to help my family of God. Yet, we are all servants one of another. As I minister to you, so I expect that you, in turn, will be ministering to me and others. There is a ministering spirit within this church. Perhaps you have sensed it, too.”
During their time at BBC, our congregation, and its impact on our community, continued to slowly grow. Glenn and Joan both sang in the choir. Glenn worked with volunteers to begin sharing the worship services on television. Joan was actively involved in teaching Sunday School and VBS.
In the community, Joan opened Stonecroft Abbott Real Estate in Brewster. When Joan began her real estate business, it allowed her gifts to come forward and she blossomed. She didn’t just sell houses; she made friends and wanted people to know she cared for them.
She was available to people and helped them in many ways. Joan truly cared about this town and its people and actively served with the Brewster Chamber of Commerce. Glenn was active in community theater at the Academy of Performing Arts in Orleans, including many leading roles in shows such as “Sound of Music” and “My Fair Lady”.
In the later years of his ministry at BBC, Glenn struggled with health concerns, and after ten years, made the decision to retire. In one of his closing letters to the congregation, Glenn shared,
“Retirement doesn’t mean leaving Brewster or the church. We plan to live here and work here. I hope to worship here with you, my friends. I will be working for a new employer, my wife, in her real estate business. We can honestly say that these ten years have been the happiest ones in our lives, and that has come, in no small measure, from your love and care for me.”
Glenn’s last words in the fall of 2001, appropriately, were sung, not spoken, and they were the words of a familiar and joyful hymn that celebrates the coming of the Lord: “Joy to the World, the Lord Is Come.”
Joan passed away a year and a half later, in April of 2003. The winter before, Jeannette Louth, and her husband, Bill, organized members of the congregation to create a Lenten devotional. Joan wrote one of them, amazingly the one for April 19, Holy Saturday, the day of her memorial service. In it, she shared about the losses experienced in their lives and she ended it, saying, “We are Easter people. We know the end of the story. We mount up with wings, as eagles, we walk and not faint.”
At the committal service for Glenn, Joan, and their son, Geoff, who passed away in 1999, the family had three doves to be released. At the end of the service, they opened the cage to release the doves, and together, the three doves flew to the roof of the Chapel, and sat there on the roof for over a minute. Then, together, they flew in a circle around where everyone was standing, before beginning their flight away.
We are grateful for Pastor Glenn and Joan, and for the love, friendship and faith that they shared with Brewster Baptist Church and the Town of Brewster.