My parents, Horace and Carol Sue, were at Sandy Cove from its beginning in 1946. That first summer my mother was there as Carol Sue Palmer. She was the new bride of George Palmer Jr, namesake of Dr. George A. Palmer, Sandy Cove’s founder.
Having studied voice at Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute, Mom was the musical voice of Morning Cheer and would be called the “Songbird of Sandy Cove.”
My father went to work for Dr. Palmer as a teenaged wunderkind on the piano and organ. Dad provided the soundtrack for Morning Cheer’s radio broadcasts and evangelistic meetings. He also acted as the manager of Morning Cheer’s bookstores in Center City, Philadelphia, and at Sandy Cove.
After young Palmer’s premature death, mom grew closer to her accompanist, Horace. Sandy Cove was an important site of their courtship; they performed together at two services each day. Sandy Cove became a part of their lives. Thus, it can be said that Sandy Cove is in my blood.
Until my sister Carol Perkins Lynch died in 2020, there had been Perkins people on staff since that first summer. Carol went from working for my father at the bookstore to serving multiple directors as Executive Assistant. Our sister, Beth, did Sandy Cove duty, too, working a variety of jobs.
Despite the blessings of wonderful parents and the Sandy Cove family, I was a headstrong kid, a rebel. I needed to find my own way in the world and that included religion. From witnessing myparents’ passion for music, watching them become their true selves while performing, my compass was set toward becoming a music maker. After college, I embarked on a 40-year musical journey.
I played guitar for a number of iconic artists. That environment, however, only encouraged my wayward disposition. Still, my spiritual inheritance — from Mom and Dad and Sandy Cove — stayed with me. The proverbial “hound of heaven” was always sniffing around.
After a decade on the road, I was physically and spiritually spent. I dedicated a year to the pursuit of spiritual growth. I spent that year working at Sandy Cove. I traded the bright light of music performance for a position on the grounds crew. I mowed grass, painted cabins, and did whatever else needed doing. When summer came, the Sandy Cove music program needed a bass player. After playing with artists who had sold millions of records, I was not expecting much. The silver lining was that I heard many of that summer’s guest speakers.
My wife Sue and I refer to it as “the summer of the two Tonys,” Campolo and Evans. For a week Tony Campolo and Tony Evans did battle royale in the pulpit. Because of my focus on the Bible and things spiritual, my relationship with my wife and children was becoming what it always should have been, the main event. The ground was laid for good things. I felt that I could handle anything and remain on an upward path. However, there was a ‘kicker’ in the offing, something I did not see coming. Campolo and Evans, both brilliant, both pastoral, both prophetic, and both seemed to have my number. The summer of 1984 was my life’s turning point. It happened at Sandy Cove.
After seeing a lot of the world, Sandy Cove remains that one special place that nurtures my soul. The water and the woods baptized my boyhood imagination; I felt God’s presence. I contend that Sandy Cove is marked, marked by the Holy Spirit. It is alive and well — and still available — at the headwaters of the Chesapeake Bay.
