“And my pointe dancers were the entertainment”
- from telescopes to Joseph, God’s call from afar, to life’s adventure

In the seeming nonsense of our everyday lives, sometimes a person comes forth to help us to unravel the disorder. There are people who help us to make importance to our everyday lives. One of these people happens to be a member of our church. As she is rather quiet, you may be unaware of the yarns that are spun under her spell, of the dancing that is done by her example, by her instruction. You may not know of her lively choreography and rich web design.
Hilary Smith Callis was born and raised in Turlock, and left town to study Greek and Latin at UCLA. After graduation, Hilary lived in San Francisco for ten years. She and her husband Neill worked for NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), which involves a 2.5 meter telescope that makes observations from 41,000 feet in the air.
Then, their first child was born. “Having Daniel, Neill and I realized how hard it is to raise a child in San Francisco. We had a garage,” Hilary remarked (which apparently is a sign of success in the Bay Area!), but from the sound of it, raising children in the city must be a far cry from the experience of growing up in Turlock. Hilary had been born into the Smith family, “who had been farming for four generations (mostly melons),” she said. “The opportunity arose for Neill to join my family’s farming operation, so we jumped at the opportunity.
Hilary already had a business that she had started while working for NASA. When asked what is, or has been her major occupation in life, Hilary looked confused: “It’s changed so many times!” She finally concluded that her occupation is “making things.” The list of things includes “homemade yogurt, bread, cottage cheese, clothes, knitting patterns, Hey Turlock [a website and business she co-founded with fellow FUMC member Alison Cox Verissimo] . . . and of course, a home.”
Hilary still continues her online business, which arose from her interest in knitting. It started “while commuting through the Bay Area fifteen years ago. It was popular to start a knitting blog, because you didn’t necessarily know any knitters. Then, I started tinkering with other people’s patterns, and coming up with my own. Because I had my blog, my original patterns became noticed, and publications contacted me to publish. The encouragement led to my starting my business.
“When I started my blog, I wanted it to have some classical undertones, so I named it the Yarniad, after the Iliad, which I first read in the Interviewer’s class!” Photos and information about Hilary’s yarn creations can be found at [http://www.theyarniad.com/p/about.html ]
“I’ve always had the urge to make things since I was a child. My mother and both my grandmothers are makers. I’m not sure if it’s Nature, or Nurture!” Hilary’s mom, Kathy Smith, “sews a lot for the home (ten-foot long curtains!), can recover a chair, install a ceiling fan.” One grandmother could “make anything . . .

a rug, once; knitting, sewing, canning as well.” The other grandmother was described as “an avid sewist!” When the Interviewer raised his eyebrows, Hilary said, “We try to use the word ‘sewist,’ not ‘sewer,’ because otherwise it looks like the person is involved with sewage!”
When asked about an adventure she didn’t mind sharing. Hilary at first drew a blank. Then she said, “Well, this whole adventure into ballet, my work on teaching ballet classes at Westside Ministries . . . . I was moved by Pastor Charles’ sermon today, when he said that sometimes when we are called to do something, we say, ‘There’s got to be somebody else! Why would you want me to do it?’”
Hilary now teaches ballet at the Center for Urban Performance and Service (CUPS), in Turlock. “This was completely unchartered territory for me. Although I danced for so long, I’d never taught formal classes, nor choreographed, so I had to learn to do all these things.” Hilary said, “This opportunity came about when I reconnected with an old ballet teacher of mine. Coleen Patterson was the ballet mistress at Central West Ballet when I was studying ballet in the 90’s. Recently, she approached me about substituting for her when she was recovering from hip surgery. This goes back to Pastor Charles: why me? Why now? But when God calls, He will equip you! Teaching ballet at Westside Ministries is one of the most fun and rewarding things I’ve ever done. I feel like I’m getting back so much more from them than I’m giving.”
This summer, Hilary is teaching kids from fourth to sixth grade. Last year, she taught intermediate and advanced ballet: teens to early twenties. “It’s a great mix of kids,” she said, “a lot from the Westside of Turlock, who might not have the opportunity to take classes at other studios because they’re more expensive." The price for the CUPS classes is very low, supported by Westside Ministries. The mix also includes “kids who want this art experience with a Christian bent. Christian kids who want to take Christian ballet.”
To the question of how Christian ballet differs from regular ballet, Hilary stated, “The classes are exactly the same in terms of technique. But the dancing and the performing are considered a form of praise or witness. We often pray before class. Kids also do Bible study. It’s part of the requirement of class. If they don’t turn in their work, they don’t get to perform.
“Performance uses some biblical tie-in. We just did the story of Joseph. It incorporated singing, dancing, acting, and aerial arts. I choreographed the pointe dancers. When Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt and don’t realize it’s Joseph who is in power, Joseph holds a banquet and . . . my pointe dancers were the entertainment!”
Hilary is grateful for her blessings, which include health and relationships. “I take a great deal of pride,” she states on her website, “in living in a place that supplies the US with so much of its fresh produce, and it’s wonderful being part of a small community again.”