Carthage church dedicates garden to late Rector Steven Wilson

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CARTHAGE, Mo. — On Sunday, Grace Episcopal Church dedicated a garden in honor of the late Steven Wilson, its former rector.

Wilson helped build the garden before his death in 2022. It was named The Rev. Steven C. Wilson Memorial Bible Garden and Labyrinth.

The current rector, the Rev. Joe Pierjok, described his predecessor’s vision in a prayer during the dedication service before more than 50 church members.

“Your servant Steven had a dream of a garden to reflect your beauty, to offer your peace and feed the hungry,” Pierjok said. “This garden in which we stand is the fruit of his dream. He was our priest, a husband, a father, our mentor and friend. We give you thanks for his example of what it means to live a life that follows that of Christ.

“We come before you in this moment to dedicate this garden, The Rev. Steven C. Wilson Memorial Bible Garden and Labyrinth. May all who come to enjoy this space be filled with your love and your light.”

The church also honored members Larry and Ruth Hartman, who have dedicated their time to maintaining the garden, with a statue.

“Ruth and Larry Hartman work tirelessly in this garden,” Pierjok said. “Rain, snow, sleet, sun, heat, they are out here all the time. So not only this day do we give thanks for Father Steven Wilson and his dream that came to fruition, we have a gift that we would also like to give to Larry and Ruth.”

Larry Hartman said the church has owned this property for decades and that Wilson wanted to turn it into a space where people could find solace and that also would produce food for the community.

“Father Steve, probably through a lot of prayer and talking to God, decided that God would much rather us have a place of beauty than just mow grass,” Hartman said. “So he started to envision what it would look like. We started with the front portion, we put in the big rocks and the labyrinth steps, and then Ruth and I designed and envisioned the vegetable part of the garden, and that was probably 2012 or 2013.”

Hartman said the garden includes plants mentioned in the Bible as well. He and his wife planted green beans this year because they are hardy and better able to stand the heat.

“We pick beans all season,” he said. “We pick about 20 pounds a week.”

In two weeks, he said, “the green beans will be torn out, and we go in with broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, cold-season crops. And it’s not uncommon to have broccolini at Christmas dinner fresh out of the garden because they’re very hardy.”

He said he and Wilson got the pieces for a stone fountain in the garden from Sandstone Gardens in Joplin.

Regina Newport joined the church in 2013 when she married Kirby Newport, a lifelong member. She said her husband introduced her to the garden before they were married the first time she attended church with him.

“The very first week we went to church here we went to the garden,” Newport said. “My husband was very excited about this garden. He wanted to show it to me, and we went out to the fig tree and we had to try them. I had never had a fig fruit by itself in my life. We just picked them off. It was so good. I loved it.”

Newport said volunteers go to the garden every weekend to pick produce and bag it for church members to take home on Sundays.

She said the garden also provides a place of solace for people who are troubled.

Wilson’s younger brother, Michael Wilson, and his wife, Amy, were in town from Kansas City for the dedication. Michael Wilson said his brother talked about the garden whenever he got the chance.

“He’d be really proud of it,” he said. “When he moved here this was an empty lot next door and he always had this vision of this garden. Steven always had visions of things, and he’d be really proud of how this looks with all the vegetables and that it was giving back to the community.”

“It’s kind of an oasis of peace,” Amy Wilson added.

Died in 2022 The Rev. Steven Wilson was 56 when he died Feb. 14, 2022, after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was rector at the Grace Episcopal Church in Carthage from 1999 until his death.

The Rev. Steven Wilson was 56 when he died on Feb. 14, 2022, following a lengthy battle with cancer. He was rector at the Grace Episcopal Church in Carthage from 1999 until his death.

CARTHAGE, Mo. — A project that seemed like the pipe dream of Grace Episcopal Church Rector Steve Wilson years ago came to fruition on Sunday a…

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