Guilliamses Leave Havre de Grace A Better Place

Tom Guilliams will never forget his first day in .

“We had to do a funeral here in Havre de Grace,” he said. “We hit the ground running here and I don’t think we ever stopped.”

The running for the Guilliamses stopped Monday.

Tom and his wife, , led the for four years. Now they’re off to Charlestown, WV for the next challenge in their careers.

“The average stay for an officer is about three years,” Tom Guilliams said. “This is above average stay.”

Above average, indeed.

The Guilliamses have overseen a number of initiatives in the city during their time with the Salvation Army. Many of those programs have been based around the youth in the community.

Tuesday youth group attendance grew from six to 75.

The summer camp program took off, too, from four in the first year, to 250 this summer.

“It blows our mind,” he said. “God has just blessed us with the kids.”

The camp begins June 25, running through the end of July, in Martinsburg, WV.

The impact the Guilliamses have had with youth in Havre de Grace is one of the reasons why Charlestown came calling.

“We were asked to grow the youth group when we got here. Now they’re asking us to do the same thing,” Guilliams said.

Gary and Dee Stewart will take over here in Havre de Grace.

"We’re hoping that they just take what we’ve done," Guilliams said. "The groundwork has been laid. We’re handing it right to them. We’re hoping they run with it. We’re trusting that they will."

Guilliams said he has driven through Charlestown, but has never been to the town. They’ve had six weeks to prepare.

But leaving won’t be easy, he said.

"I really got involved with the Susquehanna Ministerium," he said. "I really enjoyed my time with the guys and ladies in that group."

Then there’s the staples of what draws and keeps people in Havre de Grace, he said.

"Physically what I’ll miss the most is just being on the water. I love lighthouses, and ," he said. "Almost everywhere I go in the last few weeks, almost every person I see is someone I know. I’ll miss that."

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