Spirit of St. Louis:
Reflections of a Conference Task Force Member

The enthusiasm continued as nationally recognized compassionate leaders were identified, contacted, and confirmed. As plenary speaker chair, I am thrilled with the caliber of our speakers. While we were disappointed that author Wendy Cadge had to withdraw, we are pleased that Tracy Balboni, M.D., will be able to join us. Dr. Balboni, a contemporary of Dr. Christina Puchalski, has a special interest in how spirituality plays out in serious illness and end of life.

Next, the workshops. A record response to our call for presentations yielded a bounty of well-qualified presenters with timely topics for today’s chaplain. Jack Crabb, workshops chair and veteran task force member, led the quest to review and select the workshops for the conference. At the same time, Wilson Villamar, liturgy chair, was considering the shape, setting, and content of the liturgies and prayer life throughout the conference. Angie deftly sought out places and presenters for the pre-conference retreat. In addition, she became our ambassador to St. Louis as she guided us to consider certain charities, field trips, sponsors – you name it, she knows it.

This phase of our work concluded with a visit to the conference hotel – the historic St. Louis Union Station mere blocks from the arch that serves as the framework for our conference. It didn’t take long before the innovative, friendly, pioneer spirit of St. Louis swathed us like a comfortable blanket. So this is what Angie has been talking about!

The dreary winter weather melted away as we sampled the food to be served at various conference meals. There we learned fun facts about St. Louis: the 1904 World’s Fair made famous the hot dog, iced tea, the ice cream cone and Dr Pepper. We became familiar with St. Louis favorites like toasted ravioli, gooey butter cake and Ted Drewes frozen custard. We learned that yes, the famous Budweiser Clydesdale horses are a part of the Budweiser brewery tour and occasionally St. Louis Cardinals baseball games. And let’s not forget the American Kennel Club’s Museum of the Dog! (Check out explorestlouis.com for a sample of the fun things to do in and around the city.)

Lest you think that all we did was eat, we did explore the hotel and all of its offerings. Under the capable direction of Jeanine, some checked the logistics of the conference rooms, the hotel rooms, and vendor spaces. Wilson and I focused on the meditation space and how we could enhance it by moving this bench there, that lamp over there and this plant here. You see, while we each have our primary responsibilities, we extend the spirit of St. Louis to one another as task force members. We hope you will experience the same spirit through an enriching conference experience.

Peg McGonigal, BCC, is a staff chaplain at Aurora Health Care in Milwaukee, WI, and the plenary speaker chair for the NACC 2014 National Conference Task Force.