Defenders Of the Faith

There aren't many people at this morning's service at St. Stephen's Uniting Church, but there's much goodwill. And homespun wisdom. The congregation's grande dame is 95-year-old Ruby Coster-Martin, who over tea afterward is asked by a fellow parishioner for the secret of her robust health. "They say you live by what you eat," says Ruby, who lost her driver's license only a few months ago for driving too slowly in her test. "I have always been a vegetable and fruit eater—milk and butter, too—and I have great faith in that."

For the sake of Darnum's little church, long...