The similarities between a Wesley community and a college campus are hard to miss. Both environments are filled with residents forming new friendships, exploring their potential and learning new skills and ideas. Like a college student whose family has attended the same university for generations, legacy can also play a role at Wesley. Just ask Wesley Bradley Park Brownstone resident Reverend Leslie Ann Knight, DMin.
“At one time, my father and mother-in-law lived next door to my grandmother at Wesley Des Moines,” says Leslie Ann. “My daughter would call the dining hall ‘grandma and grandpa’s restaurant’. I joke that my decision to move to Wesley lacked imagination, but this is how I saw people I love retire, and it looked pretty good to me.”
Retired?
A “lack of imagination” couldn’t be farther from the truth when describing Leslie Ann, a Methodist minister who received her doctorate from the prestigious Claremont School of Theology. Retired after 30 years in the pulpit, she continues to guest preach and teach ethics and other classes at Puyallup Community College. These classes explore how we perceive and participate in our world.
“For most people who retire, I find they may still love their work; they just want less of it,” says Leslie Ann. “I like occasional work today, but it remains very enlivening for me to write a sermon or teach a class. I find that you can get rusty really fast when you aren’t writing sermons or lectures regularly. It takes a minute to regain the rhythm of the writing and the preparation, as with any skill.”
Living a full life
Like living at Wesley, the calling to the ministry runs in the family. Her maternal grandfather was also a Methodist pastor. Her ministry spanned Washington State, with eight different congregations located in Spokane, Mercer Island, Grays Harbor, Tacoma and other areas.
“Washingtonians state with great pride whether they are from the east side or the west side,” she muses. “But I consider myself bi-Cascadian.”
She was also called to Sendai, Japan, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and other countries. There she worked on diplomatic relations between branches of the Methodist church.
“I went to sit in on meetings and for cultural interactions,” she says. “I also engaged in many other practices, like celebrating the orthodox easter in St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow.”
Leslie Ann and her husband, Victor, continue to explore internationally when they can. They enjoy making interesting discoveries in unexpected places, like when they returned to Japan a few years ago.
Years ago, “Victor had been stationed in southern Japan, and I had lived in the Tohoku region in the north. On this return visit, we ended up lodging in the wrong town, a place neither one of us would have selected if we had chosen our more familiar regions. One day, in this tiny town, our innkeeper, who was new, told us about a Shinto shrine located just a few blocks away. It turns out this shrine is noteworthy for being the longest undisturbed place of Shinto worship. We shared a wonderful experience we never would have had if we had stayed somewhere more familiar. Travel is so often like that,” she says.
Embracing life today
As active as she is in teaching others, including guest preaching at Wesley this month, Leslie Ann insists Victor is the extrovert of the couple.
“He loves to be out and about talking with people in our community,” she says. “I like to spend my days reading and fussing with plants. I have a few little frogs that have made their home in the potted plants on my patio. I enjoy, and have deep concern for, ecology and wildlife. I’m also in the choir at the church.”
Not surprisingly, Leslie Ann is a proponent of Wesley U, the on-campus and virtual resident enrichment program that features lectures, classes and workshops from college professors and other professionals.
“I have enjoyed the geography lectures, especially the one about Norwegian fishing and logging communities along the Columbia River,” she says.
Although the physical campus has undergone many changes over the years, Leslie Ann has visited Wesley Des Moines. She believes certain characteristics remain as true today as they were 30 years ago.
“This is a very easy community to be in,” she says. “Our ages range from 70 to 100 years old. Some of us are fully abled and others unabled, but we all fit together well.”
Leslie Ann demurs when asked if she thinks her family’s legacy will continue to grow at Wesley.
“Well, my sister and her husband have been poking around lately, coming to open houses and such,” she says, with a slight laugh.
Clearly, seeing where Leslie Ann retired looks “pretty good” to her family members, too.