Ardyss Golden does unto others
… over and over again
For the Rev. Ardyss Golden, it’s never too late to answer a
calling.
She didn’t get her masters degree until she was married and had
started a family. She became a minister at 53 and started a second
foster family shortly thereafter.
Ardyss Golden does unto others … over and over again
For the Rev. Ardyss Golden, it’s never too late to answer a calling.
She didn’t get her masters degree until she was married and had started a family. She became a minister at 53 and started a second foster family shortly thereafter.
Her degree from San Francisco State University is in theater arts – a passion she didn’t realize she had until she performed in a community play at the age of 37. More than a decade later, she received a master’s degree in divinity from the San Francisco Theological Seminary.
Her life course began to shift when she and her husband moved from New York, where he’d been working at a university of Fredonia, to San Francisco. She interned at the San Francisco Conservatory Theatre and studied costumes at SFSU, where she designed several shows for the acclaimed author, director and actor Sam Shepherd.
While she enjoyed drama, her life lacked purpose, she said. She took a part-time job as an activities director for a senior home. By the end of that year she was the administrator, and spent another five years with the senior home.
But then she got sick. The doctors couldn’t immediately diagnose her condition, but would later discover it was Fibromyalgia – a chronic condition that causes fatigue, widespread pain in the muscles, ligaments and tendons. Any slight pressure would cause significant pain.
“I couldn’t even drive,” Golden said.
But her condition improved with treatment over time. Then the church that she and her husband attended weekly asked her to give a talk about her overcoming adversity and achieving goals. It was that day that she finally discovered what was to be her calling.
“It took a long time for God to prepare me, but it was what I was called to do,” Golden said.
So, she went to seminary school and in July 1996 was appointed by the United Methodist Church to Hollister.
She discovered that she could use her theater background to hold plays at the church. Likewise, her experience dealing with seniors helped her serve the predominantly senior congregation.
Golden had never heard of Hollister or San Benito County, but loved that the county is agriculturally based.
“I’ve always been a cowgirl at heart, so this has been a perfect fit. And a lot of the ranching families have allowed me to be a part of the things that they do,” Golden said.
One of the first people in Hollister Golden met was Barbara Nicoara. She was a volunteer at the church when Golden first arrived. The two hit it off from the start.
“She was very energetic. She’s dedicated to her congregation and very in tune with Hollister,” Nicoara said. “She also cares very much for this community as a whole, not just for her congregation. She’s dedicated to the way she does God’s work. She always leads by example and is always trying to branch out.”
That branching out included youth. When she first arrived in Hollister she volunteered to be on the Juvenile Justice Committee. The committee encouraged the members to visit with kids at the juvenile hall as part of the experience.
“I didn’t know what to expect. I kind of thought if you were there, maybe you deserved to be there. But I went and discovered that that wasn’t true at all,” Golden said.
She got to know one young man who was set for release, but his family was homeless, so Golden asked him to come and live with her and her husband.
“We ended up taking in him and his younger brother,” Golden said.
So, despite having raised four boys and had 11 grandchildren, Golden started a second family.
In all, Golden would end up taking in six foster children, the majority of whom came from juvenile hall.
“The goal was to take in abandoned teens, because the system abandons them at 16,” she said. “One of our foster sons lived with us until he was 20; it took him that long to get things together. I don’t know many people who can be on their own at 18, let alone 16, without resources. We wanted to help these kids survive.”
Her only rule for herself was that she would only take in boys. She said it was easier, since she’d raised four boys of her own and she’d never been much of a homemaker. She was always more comfortable outside, so it just made more sense. Then she met her foster daughter.
“When Cynthia came and she was pregnant, we couldn’t turn her away. The congregation raised money for her and never once judged her,” Golden said.
It was such an awesome feeling, being able to step into the lives of these children and make a difference.
In Golden’s eyes, these kids aren’t foster children; they’re just children. Golden was with Cynthia when she delivered her baby and considers Cynthia’s child her grandson. She’s the one who taught Cynthia parenting skills.
“So, not only did I get to help this generation, but I get to help the next one too,” Golden said. “These kids were abandoned by their natural parents, so the fact that they could trust enough to love at all astounds me.”
When Cynthia came to live in the Golden home, she couldn’t read. This year she graduated from the Adult Education program at the high school and was one of the speakers at commencement. She’s going to start college in September and wrote grants for herself to help pay for college. Golden attended school with Cynthia every day the first year and worked diligently at home with her until she caught up with her classmates.
The other foster child lives in Hollister with his wife and his two sons. He attends services at his mom’s church.
Not all of her foster children have had that same level of success. A few of the others had problems and some are back in jail. But every one of them still keeps in contact with Golden. She receives letters all the time.
“We’ve been parents for 44 years total, so we’re getting to the point where maybe we’d like a little less involvement,” Golden said. “We’d maybe like to work with the foster grandparent association.”
Golden praised her congregation for welcoming her foster family in with hugs and fresh baked cookies.
“The people in the church tutored the kids, taught them to drive, or helped with math,” she said. “They say it takes a village to raise a child, in our situation it took a whole church to raise these kids. It was a very bonding experience.”
While Golden gives an inordinate amount of herself to the community, she does take time to pursue some of her own personal passions.
Since Golden has always been a cowgirl at heart it should come as no surprise that she loves horses. For her 60th birthday she gave herself a gray paint mare. Later she and her family moved out to Buena Vista Road where she and her family started a ranch. She had one horse and her son had one horse.
But that year she was diagnosed with lymphoma and couldn’t ride.
“So I decided to breed my gray mare and instead of thinking about the cancer I would think about a baby,” she said. Then, my husband and I learned one day after reading the newspaper that we could adopt horses from the [Bureau of Land Management] so we got three mustangs and a burro. Our ranch kept growing. A friend gave me a steer and then we had three paint foals and three mares.”
The cancer went into remission and Golden is not only riding again, but also participated in this year’s Saddle Horse rodeo at Bolado Park.
She has always had a lot of respect for the men and women of the police department. Golden said that police officers have to be called to their profession like ministers. So, with that admiration she became a chaplain for the police department. And though she loved the experience, when she got her foster kids she couldn’t do the job anymore.
Around the same time she got a letter from the sheriff’s department telling her that they were starting a mounted search and rescue division and asking if she’d be interested in participating.
“So, my son and I took all the classes and got lots of equipment and the proper horse and got qualified. That first year they qualified 10 people and I was one of the first,” Golden said.
Golden is the chaplain of the mounted search and rescue division of the sheriff’s department.
It was through the search and rescue program that Golden met one of her good friends, Tony Lemos.
“She loves to ride; we go riding all the time,” Lemos said. “She sees beauty in stuff most people take for granted. She loves life and she loves horses. I think that’s part of the reason we get along so well.”
The two are part of a cattle-sorting group, Lemos said. Last year they went to the rodeo and set a record for the fastest disqualification. This year only eight teams got their cattle out, and Lemos and Golden was one of the eight teams.
Golden said that it was rewarding just participating in the rodeo despite the fact that they didn’t win.
“There were 30 teams and only like six of us that were able to do it, I won the minute I rode into the arena with Tony because I’d waited so many years to do that,” she said.
But then again, waiting many years to pursue dreams is nothing new to Golden.
