Called to carry on
Majors Owen and Pam Pattison have discovered that retirement doesn’t have to be boring! (Photo: Max Fleet / APN)
It was a glorious summer’s day in Tathra on the far south coast of NSW. “The waves were rolling in, the fish were biting,” laughs ‘retired’ Salvation Army Major Owen Pattison, when his wife Captain Pam Pattison declared she was bored.
At that time the Gold Coast-based couple were four years into their official 2005 retirement, but had already served in a number of temporary appointments, including two years as acting officers at Taree.
After the Taree posting, they decided they would caravan down Australia’s east coast, into Victoria and then up through the central Australia to meet their son who had planned a fishing holiday.
But only weeks into the trip, Pam was restless and Owen felt it too.
Taking a prolonged holiday had simply never been a priority.
Both had been part of The Salvation Army all their lives, with Pam’s parents and grandparents also Salvation Army officers. The couple had ministered full-time over a number of years in a range of postings throughout Queensland and New South Wales. Serving God and others was their life.
That night in Tathra, the couple turned on the news and were stunned by reports of the 2009 black Saturday bushfires unfolding in Victoria.
Owen and Pam made some calls to Salvation Army Territorial Headquarters and were immediately directed to the Traralgon Salvation Army in Victoria. There they worked tirelessly for sixteen weeks, during and after the terrible fires that claimed 173 lives, injured 500 and destroyed at least 2,000 homes.
“Words fail to adequately describe the pain felt by the loss of human life, houses, cattle and sheep, farms and fences and wildlife,” Owen says. “Even in the early stages, families were starting to disintegrate as the enormity of the loss began to dawn on them.”
And, there were so many terrible reminders of the tragedy after the fires, says Pam, such as a bus driver who used to pick up 52 children for school, suddenly only having six to pick up.
Aged their early 70s, the couple have now served in 15 different appointments since retiring and are currently relieving at The Salvation Army in Bundaberg.
Owen says: “We are pensioners which gives us tremendous freedom to answer a call for service whether it be in corps, or at scenes of cyclones such as Cyclone Larry in the Atherton Tablelands, the fires in Victoria, the Emerald floods of 2011 or the recent floods in Bundaberg.”
Owen and Pam say they often see overwhelming generosity, courage and laughter in the midst of the tears in many disaster situations.
“Every situation is different,” Pam says. “At Bundaberg during the floods earlier this year the quality of leadership both from a corps level and from the Tom Quinn Community Centre and volunteers was, and still is, outstanding.”
Owen and Pam do take time between appointments to spend time with their family and grandchildren. But Pam says that there are also great rewards in service and the joy of seeing God provide never ceases to move the couple.
“The Lord provides miraculously in so many different ways (in the hard times especially),” Pam says.
“The wonderful thing about it is someone will have a need and the Lord will provide for it. You just shake your head in wonder!
“’All service is beautiful’ was a favourite saying of my mother and we indeed feel privileged to serve our precious Lord and Saviour – when and wherever He leads.”
Comments
This article is validation of the wonderful service and how both Owen and Pam have changed many lives in their years of service in the Salvation Army. This includes my own life and they were the reason that my family become soldiers when they were serving at Dural Corp. May God and our Lord continue to offer Grace and provide for the needs of each community they serve at always. They deserve to be honoured for their constant and ongoing service. Pam's scones are always amazing where ever she serves as her mark of love to everyone who eats them after an inspiring meeting on a Sunday. God Bless them both forever.