A capacity crowd filled The Lodge Dining Room at the Second Annual Clergy Appreciation Lunch at Covenant Shores on Wednesday, Oct. 29. The event, sponsored by the chaplain’s office and the Spiritual Life Committee, honored pastoral representatives from the 20 area churches at which Covenant Shores residents hold their membership. The clergy appreciation program is an effort of the Mercer Island retirement community to keep pace with Clergy Appreciation Month, observed nationwide each October.

The theme for this year’s program was “It’s a Wonderful Calling” and featured Karolyn Grimes, the child actor who played Zuzu Bailey in the 1946 film “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Grimes, who also played a PK (pastor’s kid) in 1947 film “The Bishop’s Wife,” reflected on how the church nurtured her not-so-wonderful childhood, in which both her parents died before she reached high school.

Each clergy member received a copy of the book “Finding God in It’s a Wonderful Life” written by Chaplain Asimakoupoulos and was offered a personal tour of the lakeside retirement campus.

Grimes, who lives in Port Orchard, is in much demand as a film historian and speaker.