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by Andrea Laurita
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Multnomah's financial aid counselor lives her dream
Cindy Aldrich with her husband, Tad, and their daughter, Bethany,
enjoy outdoor family trips together. -Cindy Aldrich, photo
Cindy Aldrich dated only a certain kind of man. In ninth grade, Mrs.Aldrich determined that the Lord was calling her to the role of a pastor's wife. Her youth pastor and his wife had a great influence on her, and she watched their relationship closely. While she attended college, the courses she took revolved around preparation for the ministry as a pastor's wife.
"Consequently, that goal also affected who I dated. If he wasn't going to be a pastor, then I wouldn't date him," she said. "Once I felt called, that was something I never, never wavered from."
Mrs. Aldrich, Multnomah's financial aid counselor, grew up in Seattle as No. 4 of six children. "I didn't have the greatest childhood," she said.
Her parents' marriage was wobbly, and when she was 17 years old, her dad died of a sudden heart attack. "He died three days before my high school graduation," she said. Although her father's death was disturbing, Mrs. Aldrich perceived it to be an answer to prayer because her parents were so unhappy together.
"They didn't believe in divorce or separation; this way it was final, it was over," she said.
After attending Grand Rapids School of the Bible (now called Cornerstone) in Michigan for one-and-a-half years, Mrs. Aldrich returned to the Northwest. She went to community college before transferring as a junior to Multnomah School of the Bible in the fall of 1975. "Some of the teachers the students have today, I had," she said. She served as a resident assistant and the student body treasurer while at Multnomah.
During her senior year, Mrs. Aldrich met her future husband at an alumni basketball game.
Tad Aldrich was a youth pastor at Central Bible Church. He was an alumnus of Multnomah and came to the game to see if any of his friends were there. He joined his friend, Ron, who was sitting with two women. "He ended up sitting next to me," Mrs. Aldrich said. "That was the first time we met, although I think I probably had him as a substitute teacher somewhere along the way."
Mrs. Aldrich owed Ron a banana creme pie. She and her friend scurried to their dorm room after the game and gathered all of the necessary ingredients. Throwing flour, bananas, and pudding mix in a cardboard box, they ran back to the gym and presented the pie to Ron. Then they ran away, amused at their own cleverness. "So that's what Tad remembered about me--that silliness," she said.
Tim Aldrich, Mr. Aldrich's brother, had tickets to a concert that he couldn't attend, so he gave the tickets to Mr. Aldrich. "I thought, Who could I take? Oh, yeah, what was her name?" Mr. Aldrich said.
"He went through the facebook page by page until he found my face," Mrs. Aldrich said. "He called me, and we started dating."
During the summer of 1978, Mrs. Aldrich was involved in Wycliffe's jungle camp training throughout Central America. The couple corresponded during her time away. As a joke, Mr. Aldrich mailed Mrs. Aldrich newspaper comics of insects and cockroaches. One warm summer day, he received a letter in response.
"I went out to the mailbox to see if there was a letter from my dear beloved. I opened the mailbox, and there was a most peculiar smell," Mr. Aldrich said. He removed a ziplock baggie from the parcel. The contents was a dead cockroach from Central America that had been smashed in the postal meter. "I had to hold up the letter and spray it with Lysol just so I could read it," he said.
Mr. Aldrich proposed marriage to Mrs. Aldrich while she was doing dishes. He waited to buy her a ring until he knew that her answer was yes. When she said yes, Mr. Aldrich sold his cows to pay for the ring and the honeymoon to Canada. "I even had enough cows left to butcher," he said.
On July 6, 1979, 24-year-old Mrs. Aldrich married Mr. Aldrich, a 32-year-old youth pastor. Dr. John G. Mitchell performed the wedding. "Dr. Mitchell pretty much set our wedding date," Mrs. Aldrich said. "We got married the only weekend he was going to be home."
The couple has moved several times and served in various capacities in local churches. For her ministry, Mrs. Aldrich started relationship-building projects in the churches where she and her husband have worked.
One such project was Ladies' Night Out. "We did fun things where people who wouldn't normally dart in the door of the church would come and have fun," she said.
In December, 2000, they returned to Portland from a church in California. When the couple moved back to Oregon, First Baptist Church in Gresham asked Mr. Aldrich to fill the pulpit for a temporary season. After 15 months, the church hired him to be the permanent pastor.
Convinced that a wife needs to support her husband wholeheartedly in ministry, Mrs. Aldrich takes her role at First Baptist very seriously. "One of my key things is helping people feel greeted and welcome when they come to church," she said.
In Gresham, the family lives in a one-story, mint ice cream-colored, three bedroom house. After her 17-minute commute home, Mrs. Aldrich is greeted at the front door by Reiley, a friendly Doberman. Mrs. Aldrich drops her keys on the table and says hello to her two youngest children.
Bethany is propped against the couch, watching the evening news, and spike-haired Jonathan sits at the kitchen counter reading a magazine. "The meatloaf is kinda funny," he says as Mrs. Aldrich enters the room.
She checks the meatloaf in the oven and determines that it's all right. She bangs a bag of frozen peas on the counter and snags a family-size container of ketchup from the pantry.
Mr. Aldrich arrives from his church meeting, and the family quickly gathers for supper. They hold hands, and Mr. Aldrich prays. Then they pass the meatloaf, baked potatoes, cooked peas and jug of milk around the table.
The discussion is upbeat as they each briefly describe their day. Each person chimes in as they continue on-going jokes directed at Mr. Aldrich.
Once everyone is finished eating, Mr. Aldrich removes a well-worn daily devotional book from the bookshelf next to his chair. Jonathan makes a comment, and Mrs. Aldrich throws a napkin across the table at him. In response, he throws his wadded-up napkin. Mr. Aldrich clears his throat as Jonathan's napkin soars over his mother's head.
"OK, let's do devotions," Mr. Aldrich says.
"Sorry, sir," Mrs. Aldrich says as she shrinks back in her chair.
After the dinner devotional, the kids clear the table and do the dishes. Reiley boldly moves into position for leftover table scraps. And Mrs. Aldrich changes her clothes and leaves for a Bible study, one of the many privileges she enjoys as a pastor's wife.
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