EMMITSBURG – Pardon Dennis Ebaugh if he feels particularly reflective these days.
March 13 marks the end of his more than 40 years as the facilities manager of St. Joseph Parish in Emmitsburg. Four years after he began work there, in 1984 Ebaugh came into full Communion with the Catholic Church during the Easter Vigil at the Frederick County parish.
He did so not just at the invitation of his wife, Elaine, who grew up in the parish and happens to be its secretary, but at the urging of the late Father Francis X. Quinn, the first of 12 Vincentian priests who served as his pastor and boss over two generations.
“The two of us converted him,” she said. “Denny did not have a father figure growing up. Father Quinn took him under his wing, and filled that void.”
Ebaugh grew up in a dysfunctional home, with, he said, a father “suffering from alcoholism” and his mother being the “rock of the family.” It was rife with domestic violence, as Ebaugh described being run out of the house with his siblings “numerous, numerous times in our underwear.”
He was a champion sprinter at Francis Scott Key High School, but dropped out “to get away from all of that” turmoil. His father died by suicide in 1974. Two years later, a younger brother, Bruce, died of smoke inhalation in a house fire.
In the middle of all that, Ebaugh began to find comfort and stability in Elaine, now his wife of almost 45 years. They met at old Corney’s Corner snack bar on Route 15, just north of Mount St. Mary’s University, and married in its Immaculate Conception Chapel.
The wedding ceremony was there instead of St. Joseph, because its roof was damaged, a metaphor for the work needed to be done, both on the parish’s physical facilities and on his psyche.
Ebaugh was 9 years old when his mother had him and everyone in her household baptized in the Lutheran church, but his faith life was dormant when he got married.
“I knew right from wrong, but I didn’t have any guidance,” Ebaugh said. “Elaine is a good example for me. She’s a true Christian girl. She’s just a good, good person. I try to be one.”
As a young husband and father, he found himself dealing with stress the same way his father did, with alcohol and anger. He was searching for a different path when he encountered Father Quinn at St. Joseph.
“I wanted to change; I needed help,” Ebaugh said, of Father Quinn. “I decided to come to work for him, and during that time I realized that I needed to live more in line with Christ. That’s where, that’s how, my faith started.
“I’ve got a long way to go to get right with the Lord, but I’m trying every day.”
According to Vincentian Father Martin McGeough, pastor of St. Joseph since 2017, Ebaugh has done more than try, all while dealing with serious medical issues that would have stopped other men.
“Denny’s a tremendous security blanket. You know he’s going to show up every day, and do a good job. He’s proud of what he does for the church. He wants the place to look good, and it does,” the priest said, noting the appearance of the church hall that dates to the early 1990s. “Thank God – and Denny. He’s probably why it’s held up so well.
“As good a maintenance man he’s been, he’s twice as good a person.”
Email Paul McMullen at pmcmullen@CatholicReview.org
