Why We Love This Place Wednesdays: Dana Conrad

By Terra Avilla

A new tradition in the Avilla household – Peach loves running to the mailbox on Friday to open a letter that is sent to her. Not to mommy or daddy, not to her little sister, to her.

Obviously, I was intrigued when the first letter arrived, I took a look and my heart melted. Dana Conrad, the leader of the Children’s Ministry from Community Church was mailing my five-year-old her Sunday school activities.

Every week. With a handwritten envelope, and handwritten card, and a handwritten joke. It absolutely makes Peach smile and giggle every time she discovers she has mail.

I met Dana through our church, and I was introduced to her as the ‘Pastor’s wife.’ And it’s true, she is in fact the Pastor’s wife, but she is so much more. Independently. All on her own.

Dana has a personality that makes you just want to be in a room with her.

While not overbearing, she may be the friendliest person I have ever met. She has a glow within her spirit that makes adults and children flock to her. So naturally, serving and teaching Sunday School suits her very well.

In fact, the first time Peach and Pearl were out of my presence was when I when I made my first post-partum debut out of my house to church. And the first person to watch them besides me and their father was the same person each time, Dana Conrad in the nursery. I don’t even know if she knows she holds this honor.

Every time I drop Peach or Pearl off in their perspective rooms, and I encounter Dana, the immediate joy my daughters express when they see her is inarticulable. And it’s not just my children, its all of the children around her.

She knows them by name, always greets them with the same wonderful warm smile and hug.

I never attended church growing up and learned about the bible as an adult. I am so lucky that I have “Miss Dana” to teach my daughters the basics. Whenever Peach is at home and says something profound – whenever I ask her how she knew that – her reply is always almost the same, “Miss Dana.”

Dana goes out of her way to give to her time and love to numerous agencies and individuals. She demonstrates patience and a sincerity like I have never seen. She and Pastor Conrad have invited us into their home for marriage advice and I remember being blown away at how intelligent and well spoken she was. She is definitely someone who I would strive to be.

Lastly, (and Frankie would argue the most importantly) that lady can bake.

Every year Miss Dana bakes and donates dozens of goodies for fundraisers, but most relevantly to the Avilla household, she makes some sort of gooey goodness for the LCC Baseball team. They were so good, Frankie hid them in his truck so he wouldn’t have to share them. Naturally, when I went and stole them out of his truck, I understood his actions.

Miss Dana is a serious treasure, not just to the church she attends, but to this community as a whole. Anyone who has ever met her, could tell you that she is simply a priceless treasure and one of the reasons I love the place we live.