After 55 years Pastor Gary gets to a Prom

Rev. Gary Manthorne and wife, Donna, at prom time

If he’d known he was going to his prom, Rev. Gary Manthorne would have changed out of his work clothes, but it was a total surprise.

His wife, Donna, had to work hard to keep the secret from him. He was eager to get in the car that evening, so she patiently hid in the bathroom for 20 minutes to keep them on schedule.

At 7:30 p.m. on June 16 they pulled in by Gaspereau Baptist Church. Gary was immediately curious as to why the parking lot at the nearby hall was full. For three or four minutes once inside, he was stymied, but then he realized the party was for him.

He is starting to clue in

“I finally got to my prom 55 years after graduating from Guysborough High School in 1963. I wouldn't have known what to do if I HAD gone back then,” he contends.

With Acadia University’s graduation coming up a few months ago, one Sunday Gary happened to note in a sermon his lack of graduation prom. That gave choir member Zelda Weatherbee an idea.

After some consultation all five of Gary’s churches and communities, Wallbrook, Melanson, Forest Hill, Gaspereau and White Rock were on board, the Gaspereau hall was booked and the prom was on.

Regardless of his garb that evening, Gary was immediately glad they “sprang this delightful surprise on me.” He’d missed out five and a half decades ago due to narrow Christian attitudes.

In fact, the pastor of his home church in Seal Harbour believed dancing was evil. He offered, Gary recalled, to organize an alternative event at prom time for all those graduating.

“I was the only one who showed up out of four churches,” he remembers. “You felt guilty being alive.”

Gary’s parents held similar convictions. He chuckles and says his mother likely thought the water Jesus turned into wine at the wedding in Cana was practically Koolaid.

Gary still doesn’t drink alcohol, his wife says he prefers chocolate milk. Arriving at the Acadia Divinity School after high school he did find a way to break out of the restrictions of home.

He smoked. “That was totally forbidden,” Gary says. “I smoked Old Port Cigars and a pipe.”

Luckily an innocent question from his young son, Allan, cured him of that sin, so Gary laughs, “that was as evil as I could get.”

This month’s special prom touched him. So many turned out, including his brother and his wife from Timberlea.

“I finally danced after all these years - a three-minute Gary two-step of Newfoundland Jig Square Dancing Waltzing Hip Hop Ball Room Samba.”

MC Mark Parent, who used to share the pulpit at Pereau Baptist Church with him, turned the evening into a bit of a roast. Kings South MLA Keith Keith read a tribute and the live country music he loves flowed.
Gary said. “I was touched and honoured. Everybody was so wonderful. It was a light-hearted occasion, not a funeral. I appreciate that you need humour to survive.”

The cake featured his grad pic

Donna thinks that Gary’s down to earth sermons result in his congregations taking his words to heart.

“Gary is a very caring person and deserved a special surprise and to tell him we are glad he went to the church event instead of his high school prom and on to Acadia,” noted Zelda, the organizer. 

“This Valley would not have all the positive church related memories if Gary hadn't of come over the hill,” she added.

“Gary is someone you never hesitate to visit with. You don't have to check yourself for perfection,” Zelda said. “He easily gets along with everyone and doesn't judge.” 

Gary still can’t get over the fact that his prom remained a complete secret.

“No wonder I love living and ministering in your midst over these past 45 years,” he says of his congregations. “I am truly blessed!”

Five years ago Heather Card compiled and wrote a book called ‘The Life and Ministry of Pastor Gary Manthorne.’ As organist at Forest Hill Baptist Church, she knew her subject pretty well.

Card’s book makes readers both chuckle and tear up while following Gary’s pastoral path. Life certainly handed him struggles, but today many would say he is the most beloved minister in the area.

His quick sense of humour was a feature of the storytelling in the book, so was his prodigious appetite.

“Indeed,” Mark Parent recalled at the launch, “one member of the church told me they woke up one morning to find him cooking breakfast in their kitchen.”

If you Google ‘Rev. Gary Manthorne’ multiple postings of obituaries scroll up. As a pastor he is there in the bad times, like the death of a loved one, and in the good times. When it comes to the lives of his parishioners, he’s not just in church on Sunday.

Gary has always reached outside the walls of the traditional church. Many people who have never attended a service view him as their pastor. He drops in on folks, MCs country music concerts, organizes benefits and knows how to wield a hammer.

Mark has said that his colleague will “go down as one of Kings County’s greatest ministers, not because he preached in big and wealthy churches,” but because “Gary has taken the church and, more importantly God’s love, to them.”

Growing up in rural Guysborough County, Gary had daily challenges with congenital hearing and speech problems. He was taunted and bullied as a child, but, with the help of supportive parents, he took on higher education.

Gary has served churches in Greenfield, Queen’s County; Clarence, Annapolis County; Seal Harbour, Guysborough County; Upper Vaughan, Hants County and a whole handful in Kings.

In the book that came out in 2013, he recalled the rebuilding of the Allen family barn in Melanson. In 1975, it was targeted by an arsonist. Gary and another famed local character, MLA Harry Howe, held a meeting in the Melanson hall, where the community decided it would rebuild the barn.

The project started in the woods with log cutting and then Ivan Levy’s mill hands volunteered to saw the lumber on their day off. The Carey brothers of Avonport donated labour and materials for the foundation.

Volunteers – from as far away as New Ross - worked evenings and Saturdays through to November to complete the build. The women kept them fed until the Allen’s were able to bring the cattle in. The barn cost them $150 and still bears the sign, made by Alex Smith, that deemed it “the spirit of 75.’

One humorous tale from Gary’s years at the Avonport and Lockhartville churches related to plans for the baptism for four adults in the Minas Basin.  Somehow on the day of the event the pastor had them trekking across the mud at low tide.

The tide was so low, the story goes, that they had to walk halfway to Parrsboro through the muck to reach enough water for a baptism. Folks on shore could hardly see them in the distance.

A former area minister, Rev. John Beers of New Minas, believes Gary’s rural roots made him the minister that he is today. When he struggled through a couple of periods without churches, Gary simply picked up his hammer and worked as a carpenter.

Dr. Harry Gardner, who was baptized by Gary, has said of the book about him, “If you are struggling with challenges right now, allow this story of triumph over adversity to encourage and uplift you.”

Another charming chapter was added to Gary’s life history earlier this month. Although 55 years late, his prom was, “an absolutely fun evening,” he believes - and not evil at all.