$10,000 in woman’s will puzzles Bangor church

BANGOR – Members of Redeemer Lutheran Church were stunned to learn that Thelma D. Anderson had left the congregation $10,000 in her will.

The Brewer resident did not attend the Essex Street church, and no one in the congregation, including those who have been members for decades, knew her, according to the Rev. Elaine Hewes, Redeemer’s pastor.

On a Friday in December, Hewes was working on her sermon at her home when her beeper went off. The pastor returned the call to learn that Anderson had left the church $10,000.

Hewes called the executor of the estate and learned the basic facts about the woman’s life but not what motivated her to leave so much money to this particular church.

Anderson died on Nov. 4 at the age of 90. She was born in Madison in 1912. Her father died when she was an infant, and Anderson was reared by her grandparents, Hewes learned. She married Eric Anderson, who worked for Mobil Oil, for 56 years, but the couple had no children.

Hewes said that the executor didn’t know why Anderson chose to bequeath $10,000 to Redeemer Lutheran rather than some other church. The $10,000 was left with “no strings attached,” she said.

“After thinking about this for a bit, it struck me … how profoundly we can touch someone without even being aware of it,” wrote Hewes in the January church bulletin.

“Maybe Thelma Anderson visited Redeemer one Sunday morning and someone shook her hand warmly and welcomed her in a way that made her feel God’s love. Maybe she came one Christmas Eve and was filled with the wonder of the night. Maybe she read about the quilts made by Redeemer women for babies in need and wanted to support that effort. Who knows?”

Vivian Townsend of Hermon, one of the women who regularly played golf with Anderson at Hermon Meadows Golf Club, was not sure why her friend left the money to Redeemer. But she offered a clue: “Her husband was a Lutheran,” Townsend said.

Information about Eric Townsend turned out to be harder to find than facts about his wife.

Hewes said the congregation has not yet decided how it will turn Anderson’s generosity into ministry.