ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Monday, January 20, 1997               TAG: 9701200065
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-3  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: STAUNTON

SALE OF STAMPS TO HELP CHURCH

The lifelong passion of the Rev. Walter McCracken, demonstrated by an extraordinary collection of stamps, will be felt by the members of Staunton's Trinity Episcopal Church for a long time to come.

McCracken's stamp collection, which according to Trinity Rector John Lane was made up of ``16 good-sized cartons'' of books filled with stamps, was sold last week at an auction to benefit the church's building fund.

McCracken died in March. He had served as an unpaid assistant pastor at Trinity.

Lane said the massive collection was made up of several decades worth of stamps McCracken felt were significant to his own life's journey.

``He was particularly interested in stamps from the areas he served (in the military),'' Lane said.

McCracken served in the southwest Pacific during World War II, and after the war, in occupied Japan. He also served in Korean. He came to Staunton after Korea to take a post at the Staunton Military Academy as chair of the ancient and modern language department.

It was in Staunton that McCracken became involved in Trinity, serving as an assistant at the church for nearly four decades.

The money raised from the sale will go toward repairs and remodeling of the church's buildings.

- Associated Press

LENGTH: Short :   35 lines