My late former pastor, the Rev. Dr. Maurice (Mickey) Drown, died on March 24. He began his ministry in the Troy Conference in 1971.
I started attending Trinity United Methodist Church Albany in 1982, joined the choir in 1983, and became a member in 1984. Mickey became pastor in 1985 and was there until, I believe, 2008.
Early on, I saw him berate the superintendent of the Sunday school in a mean-spirited manner that left her crying. It seemed totally unnecessary.
The tenor soloist, Sandy Cohen, had a heart attack and would not leave because he wanted to, in his words, “finish the gig.” Going to Mickey for some comforting words, Mickey joked that Sandy was just seeking attention; he often inserted “humor” at inappropriate times.
He was a jerk leading up to my and my bride’s wedding in May 1999. He irritated my new MIL.
The events of 2000 that led to my departure were more substantial, and I wrote about them here. Still, while there, I worked with Mickey quite a bit because of my roles in the church.
The good side
He was best at tending to grieving loved ones. I noted to a former Trinitarian that his “dichotomy” ran a much wider range than any pastor I’ve known. They countered that it was a wider range than anybody they had ever known personally.
One thing he was right about was that before we got married, my fiance and I, along with two other couples, were involved in a premarital counseling session. He said that we ought to move into a house that was ours, not hers, because it would feel like I was moving into her space. Sure enough, that’s what happened. A year after we got married, we bought our house.
The last time I saw Mickey was in February of 2020. We were both at the funeral of one of the people who were kids at Trinity in the 1990s but are now in their 40s.
I went back and read the “troubles” post. Oh my goodness!! We are a large church with a large choir and a large administrative board that is a good representative of the congregation. My jaw hit the floor when I read that the SPRC suspended the choir. What a crock! I truly cannot imagine what our choir would say/do if our SPRC tried to pull a stunt like that. It sounds like that was a very unhealthy church!!