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Models of modern majors

Theirs is the Salvation Army, not the U.S. But like the latter, they have served acause around the world.

By MARY JANE PARK
Published July 9, 2006

ST. PETERSBURG - Reliable electricity. Clean water. Supermarket aisles filled with a dazzling array of choices. Smooth pavement.

Salvation Army Maj. Allen Satterlee marvels at life in St. Petersburg as he walks around the block of the house where he and his wife recently settled.

Papua New Guinea, their last post, is desperately poor. "We couldn't go on a stretch of road from here to 34th Street without it being full of potholes," he said during an interview in a Salvation Army office at 38th Street N and Ninth Avenue.

Satterlee is the new head of the St. Petersburg Area Command of the Salvation Army of South Pinellas County. His wife, Maj. Esther Satterlee, leads its evangelical and social women's ministries.

Crime and health issues were of concern in New Guinea. The Satterlees are white, and people in Papua often assume that whites are affluent, Allen Satterlee said. Malaria mosquitoes are a problem.

"Even the most dangerous parts of St. Petersburg aren't as dangerous as Papua New Guinea," he said.

Before that, they were in Singapore, where they opened a new Salvation Army Corps.

"It's easier to go to a new culture than to come back to your own," he said. "You're geared up for new challenges."

Returning to the United States, they notice changes. Podcasts. Text messages. Ringtones. Pay per view.

"We wanted to get regrounded in our culture," he said.

Allen Satterlee, 53, was born in Tampa while his father was in the U.S. Navy, stationed at MacDill Air Force Base. He also has worked with the Salvation Army in Lakeland, Bradenton and west Pasco County.

Newly reassigned to south Pinellas, he said: "St. Petersburg keeps being part of my life.

"We read all we could about the Devil Rays from the beginning. We read the St. Petersburg Times online. Emotionally, we are very tied to the area. When we found out we were coming to St. Petersburg, we were just floored, because we knew it so well."

One of their four adult children was born in St. Petersburg; two live in Bradenton. The couple adopted all of them; three were in the foster care system.

"We didn't do it for admiration," Allen Satterlee said. "We did it because we wanted children."

The St. Petersburg command is the only Salvation Army in the United States to have programs specifically designed for foster children, said Janet McGuire, community relations coordinator.

Sallie House shelters 18 boys and girls taken from families defined by abuse, neglect or abandonment until they are placed into foster homes or with relative or nonrelative families or can return to their biological families. Construction on a new Sallie House is expected to begin soon, McGuire said.

Children's Village comprises four houses in which siblings can be reunited until they reach age 18.

Situations must be dire for state officials to remove children from their own families or from foster care, Allen Satterlee said, and the subsequent effect on youngsters is staggering.

"Losing a parent, to a child, is like dying," he said. "Even if they're bad parents, they're still parents. These are very small people having to deal with very big things."

Often, they experience great sorrow or rage. They sometimes act inappropriately, unable to verbalize their emotions and having few coping skills.

"The best we can is to try to put them where they can be loved," Maj. Allen Satterlee said.

The Satterlees won't talk about specifics, not wishing to single out any children, including their own.

He and Esther Satterlee, 51, met when he was a first-year cadet, training for the ministry; her parents were second-year cadets. She, too, entered training and was ordained.

It took awhile for the couple to fully connect; by then, he was in west Pasco, and she was in McComb, Miss. She was reassigned to Fort Lauderdale, closer to Port Richey, but not exactly nearby.

Traditionally, Salvation Army officers, all full-time ordained ministers, marry other officers.

"It's the standard," Allen Satterlee said. "Women and men in the Salvation Army, by standard, are equal. It's very much a shared ministry."

Officers are appointed to various posts, as in the Methodist tradition, where the Salvation Army has its roots. Five years in one place is considered to be an extended assignment.

In Singapore, Allen Satterlee opened a new Salvation Army Corps, published four books and edited War Cry for the army's Singapore, Malaysia and Myanmar (Burma) territory. Esther Satterlee headed the women's ministries.

In Papua New Guinea, he was public relations secretary, editing Tokaut, the publication for that territory, and writing a Salvation Army history for the area. It will be issued in November, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the corps there. She was projects secretary, overseeing the work of donors who provided for new buildings, village wells and other enterprises.

"I wasn't ready to leave that," he said. The couple returned to the United States because of some health concerns, which since have cleared up.

"In one sense, my appreciation for my country is far greater than it's ever been, seeing what people have built, the standards of excellence," Allen Satterlee said, "seeing how hard people have worked to make this country what it is."

Still, the couple hope to return overseas.

"There are no easy jobs in the world," he said. "There's no easy life. Everybody pays for it one way or another.

"We do our work with a tremendous sense of purpose. It's nice, when you get up in the morning, to know that this day matters."

[Last modified July 8, 2006, 23:43:07]