Blaine profiles: Tom Dorsey and Nan Geer

When I walked across the border into Blaine, my goal was the First Church Unitarian, thanks to that fortuitous comment left on the blog. I had hoped to meet the church's pastor, Nan Geer (her husband's named Richard-- yes, Richard Geer), but the first person I met on the church grounds was Tom Dorsey, the church sexton.

Tom's an amazing fellow; he's both a hard worker and a great storyteller. He's been all over the world and is an avid sailor. In fact, he lives on a boat now.

Tom took me under his wing right away, offering me sage advice about what route I should probably take across the country, telling me about the weather and terrain I'd be likely to encounter, and expressing his enthusiastic support for my project.

Tom gave me Nan's phone number, so my first "meeting" with her wasn't face to face. I was a little worried at first that Nan might actually be a somewhat remote, standoffish individual, disinclined to meet and talk with strangers who appeared on the church threshold obnoxiously requesting free lodging for an indefinite period.

How wrong I was.

Over the phone, Nan unhesitatingly offered me the use of Hagen House, the outbuilding next to her church that contained her office, a kitchen and bathroom, a living room and some classrooms for kids. Hagen House was once a parsonage back when the church building was built and used by Icelandic Christians; both Nan and Tom had plenty to say about the church's interesting history and the evolving demographics of Blaine's religious communities.

Nan and I met the day I left the Anchor Inn Motel and moved into Hagen House, which is how I discovered she was a hugger. Feisty at 70, Nan speaks her mind. She wasn't shy in noting that the Unitarians in Blaine are "shunned," an interreligious situation I would have liked to discuss further. The day I met her, however, the talk was mostly about Blaine's and the local UU church's history and demography.

Blaine has a large Russian community; the Orthodox group that meets on the FCU premises is apparently Pentecostal; I have no clue how "Orthodox" and "Pentecostal" fit together, but having sat outside Hagen House as the Russians were winding down, I heard plenty of shouting, which was a strong hint that something of a Pentecostal nature was happening within.

Aside: the Russian gentleman I had met earlier, Vasiliy (note proper Romanization of his name this time), was apparently the leader of the religious group. He actually apologized to me when I saw him again around 10:30PM, saying, "When we met, I think I made a mistake by not inviting you to join us." I told him it was no problem, though I privately thought it would have been interesting, from a ritual studies perspective, to have observed the proceedings.

I explained my trans-America project to the youngsters who remained, and one teen girl said with a cute Russian lilt, "It's like Lewis and Clark!" to which I replied, "Yes, but the other way around!"

The oldest generation of Russians I met (I greeted them as they were exiting Hagen House) can speak almost no English; Vasiliy is fluent but has an accent; the kids have native fluency in English and seem also to have it in Russian.

Back to Nan. Nan knows all the best places to see in Blaine; she suggested that I hang out in eateries like Blackberry House and the Seaside Bakery; she also told me about the Goff Department Store, where resides the 1909-era cash register referred to in an earlier post.

Nan knows business, too. Property values just across the border in British Columbia are, she told me, double what you find in Blaine. Many of the richer BC natives have crossed the border and bought second homes in Blaine.

About her current church building, Nan explained it was originally built by Icelandic fishermen, Lutherans, who "knew nothing about construction," but still managed to build a sturdy structure that endures to this day, its fundamental framework intact.

At some point in the church's early history (was it at or near the beginning, Nan?), a Lutheran minister converted to Unitarianism and brought around forty Icelanders with him; sermons were preached in Icelandic until 1949.

One characteristic of this church its strong ethnic cohesion. However, numbers were dwindling and when Nan arrived as pastor, membership was down to a mere seventeen people; the current membership is up around forty.

Nan's many duties-- for she is, like most people of the cloth I know, truly a busy woman-- include "extension work" (presumably the establishment of new churches) and the closing of churches that are no longer viable for financial or other reasons.

Our conversation drifted again to interesting sights in town, and that's how I discovered that Blaine harbors the second-largest copper beech tree west of the Mississippi. I didn't go see it, but I like Blaine enough to think that I'll go back there someday and tour the town, gorging myself on the good Mexican food and waddling around to see all the town's nooks and crannies.

Because of the way I had to rush off to the Sikh temple on Saturday morning, it was too bad that I wasn't able to say a proper goodbye to pert, feisty Nan and hardworking, kind-hearted Tom, but we've all promised to keep in touch. Tom is working on a book about his sailing adventures; once it's published, I hope to buy a copy. The man has been almost literally everywhere. Nan makes for an interesting complement to Tom's roving nature: like a good Zen master, she's very much here.

I hope you've enjoyed this brief profile, which was a long time coming! It doesn't do justoce to these two wonderful people, but I trust it gives you some glimpse into their character.


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