Betty: Jean, I heard you are 91 years old and have been a Reformed Presbyterian all those years. Tell us a bit about your childhood.

Jean: I was born Nov. 29, 1931, in Philadelphia to a Czech father and an Irish mother and was baptized as a member of Second Philadelphia RPC. Psalm 27:4 has always been my aim—to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

As a child, I delighted in how the light shone through the stained-glass windows, and when the minister got up to preach, the light seemed to always be shining around the pulpit. I childishly thought it showed, God is really here!

We had a long trip to church every Sabbath morning and evening: two long blocks to the trolley line, a trolley ride from 51st Street to 17th Street, and then four or five long blocks to the church at 17th Street and Arch Street—about 45 minutes. So, in inclement weather, we attended the United Presbyterian Church that was around the corner from our house. In those days, the UPC had psalms in their hymnals. As the minister became acquainted with us, when we would walk in the door he would cancel the hymns for that service, and they would sing only psalms!

At age 12, I was asked if I wanted to attend a communicant’s class. I was shy and said, “Ask my mother.” I remember being terrified of meeting with the session. What if they said, “No, you can’t be a member”? I always loved the church and am very grateful that the Lord kept me in the RPC. It wasn’t always easy. My brother and I and a cousin were the only young people in the congregation. It was lonely. But God kept me.

Betty: You were an adolescent and young teen during World War II. What was it like? How did it affect you?

Jean: Not much, really. I didn’t know anyone who died in the war except for our neighbor’s son. I remember the air raid sirens most. My father was an air raid warden. When the sirens went off, we had to hurry into our house and pull down the blackout shades. My father had to go out and check that the people in his territory had their shades down. I didn’t think much about it except that I decided if the bombers arrived, I would be safe if I crawled under my bed.

Betty: Tell us about life after high school and how you met your husband.

Jean: I didn’t attend college because there wasn’t sufficient money for it. So, I went to work. Then a young gentleman, Marshall Weir Smith, came from the seminary to preach for us. As you can tell from the name, he had lots of RP family connections—both Weirs and Smiths. His parents had been missionaries in the Syria Mission. His father, Dr. Esmond Smith, was a tuberculosis specialist, and his mother, Jean Smith, taught English and history in the mission school in Latakia. (Both are mentioned in William Edgar’s History of the Reformed Presbyterian Church 1920–1980 on page 41.) She also home-schooled Marshall and his brother.

They returned to the States in 1933 when Marshall was seven years old and settled in California. There, Marshall went to public school and determined that if he ever had children, they would go to Christian schools. He graduated from Geneva College and then went to the seminary.

The day that he preached for us, he asked my cousin, “Who is that girl over there?” She answered, “Oh, that’s my cousin, Jean Jilek.” Marshall’s response was, “Hmmm.” There were two sisters from Ireland in our congregation—Sarah and Debbie Archer. Debbie decided to be a matchmaker for Marshall and me. At our wedding, she kept saying, “It worked! It worked!” Indeed it did, for 53 years.

Betty: Where did you settle then?

Jean: I had just turned 22 when Marshall and I were married. A shy homebody, I had basically never been anywhere. Marshall accepted a call to San Diego, Calif. So, this Philadelphia girl had to move across the country while learning how to be a wife. Then, the money petered out and the San Diego congregation couldn’t pay Marshall. By God’s providence, a tiny congregation in Winnipeg, Canada, called Marshall.

Here was another new experience for the little Philadelphia girl. There were all of six or seven people in Winnipeg. The money ran out again in four or five months, and we went back to Philadelphia. San Diego called us again. This time, Marshall said, “We are not moving about hither and yon all the time. If we go to San Diego, we are staying there, no matter what.”

I dealt with real struggles in those days. I knew that with the Lord’s help, I could do this, that the Lord would not fail me. But it was still challenging. The Lord taught me that I had to be in a new environment away from the things I had trusted in to learn some of the things He was teaching me.

We were in San Diego for 12 years. Marshall did not remain in the ministry for long. He became convinced that wasn’t where the Lord wanted him. His engineering and architectural skills enabled him to get a job with the city doing drafting work for road and bridge projects. That necessitated taking the Loyalty Oath. Marshall sought counsel from the Oath Committee of Synod. They told him to write that his first allegiance was to Jesus Christ and then to the government.

The city accepted that caveat, but, a few years later, when he accepted a position with the county, the county refused. The Oath Committee wanted to make a test case of this and hoped to take it to the California Supreme Court. (You can read more about this case in History of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America 1920–1980.)

It was covered by the media in newspapers and television and became complicated. Our lawyer said, “We can fight this, but no one will hire you, and if the county is forced to retain you, they will treat you miserably.” We decided the Lord no longer wanted us in California, so we put our house on the market. Three days later, it sold. This was around 1967. We returned to the Philadelphia area, moving into the Broomall, Pa., RPC parsonage until Harold Harrington came to take up the pastorate there. Then we purchased a house in Broomall, and I’m still in the congregation!

Betty: What was your hardest trial?

Jean: There were lots of ups and downs, but losing Marshall was the hardest. He had a heart attack and was suddenly gone. After 53 years, it was an awful shock. But even as I grieved, God gave me contentment such as I’d never had before about anything. It was a blessing that around 1981 we had bought a duplex with my daughter, Kathy Gladfelter, and her husband, Larry. I am still able to live here today with Kathy and Larry right next door.

Betty: You have other children, too, and grandchildren and great-grandchildren?

Jean: Yes, Kathy and Larry are in the Broomall congregation, as are my son, Mark, and his wife, Shirley. I have a son David and his wife, Cathy, in Virginia. So, three children, six grandchildren, and twelve great-grandchildren.

Betty: Lots of blessings! What stretched your horizons?

Jean: Marshall taught me to travel. We went to international conferences and all over. That encouraged me to take my mother back to Ireland when she was 79; she had not been back since she left at the age of four. She was a McElrevey. I met 44 cousins!

Betty: Most people would say that at your age you should relax and let people take care of you.

Jean: That is the conventional theory. It isn’t mine. It is very easy to become self-centered. My desire is to be doing what God wants me to be doing. At my age, I am released from the responsibilities that I had when I was younger. That freedom gives me more time to be in the Scriptures and in prayer. I am still able to go to both services on Sabbath and attend prayer meetings and the women’s fellowship.

Also, the Bible has several things to say to gray-haired folks. Psalm 71:17–18 summarizes one. The gray heads here tell God’s strength and power to the coming generation. I like one-on-one interactions, so I’ll invite one of the women from the church over for tea and a snack. We can spend the afternoon talking and sharing our lives together. I am available to listen. I thoroughly enjoy these times of getting to know the women and being better able to pray for them.

Betty: What is important to you to say in closing?

Jean: That all the glory is God’s, and He is faithful. I want the people reading this to know that I am praying for you, that you will reflect on your own lives and see God’s faithfulness to you.