Saratoga News

West Hope member makes donation

By John Pancharian

West Hope Presbyterian Church has a new collection in the church library, compliments of Burt Roome, a leader and teacher at West Hope for the past nine years. In keeping with his tradition of educating the members of West Hope, Roome donated his collection of biblical scholarly works to the church after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

"They're books that were of value to him that he would like to share with other people," Katherine Roome said of her husband, who chose not to comment for this story.

"I would say it's the largest single donation we've gotten," church librarian Jeanne Stephens said. The collection consists of more than 150 volumes, both hardbound and paperback, that range from simple introductions to the Bible to in-depth studies of individual gospels and essays on applying biblical wisdom to modern life. Stephens explained that the church library does not see much traffic, but that does not deter her.

"It's almost an individual thing," she said. "I find out what people want and then put a book in their hands."

She also makes books available for church members who come for coffee hours. "In our work we're planting a seed," Stephens said. "Even if there's only 10 people there and only one or two are encouraged by it, that's wonderful. I don't go by the numbers that are reading them." She said members not only of West Hope but of other churches are welcome to look through the collection.

"Burt is a real biblical scholar," said West Hope's pastor, the Rev. David Hanson. The word "scholar" came quickly to Stephens and Katherine Roome as well. "He was the adult Sunday school teacher, and he took that very seriously; he took very seriously the importance of the adults in the church really learning to understand the Bible," Hanson said.

Roome, now 74, was born in Caldwell, N.J., grew up on the East Coast and graduated from Stevens Institute of Technology.

"We met on a blind date," his wife said, "the day after President Roosevelt died, on Friday the 13th."

Before he retired, Roome was a vice president at Schoenberg Radiation, a company that sold X-ray machines and other devices usedto examine the properties of a material without taking it apart. Roome taught both junior high school and adult Sunday school for years, then became active in the church when he retired, taking a position as a Ruling Elder at West Hope.

"We spent 25 years on the East Coast, and he promised me 25 years on the West Coast, so we're working on it," Katherine Roome said, adding, "He's a very broad-minded and interested person in finding out what it's all about. I don't know if we ever did, but we're trying."

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