CALIENTE – It was easy to tell that Christmas was coming to Lincoln County. Pickups and sedans hauling freshly cut pinyon pines steered down U.S. 93 toward homes in Pioche, Panaca, and this 150-year-old ranching and railroad town.

On a recent trip through eastern Nevada, colored lights were already twinkling in anticipation of the holiday. Some families had trimmed their trees. It made for an idyllic scene that belied harder truths about life in the rural counties, where good-paying jobs can be hard to come by, healthcare can be scarce, and the scourge of opioid abuse casts a shadow over too many households.

But scratch the surface here, and you’ll also find faith and family in great abundance and many big-hearted people who care for their neighbors — even some they’ve never met.

Whenever I pass through this part of the state, I am reminded of conversations I’ve had with Father John McShane about the uncommon generosity of common people. The priest’s seemingly endless sojourn through Nevada has made him a familiar presence from Virginia City to Laughlin and along the U.S. 93 corridor in Ely’s Sacred Heart Catholic Church and Caliente’s Holy Child Catholic Church. At home with the unwashed as well as observant, McShane is perhaps best known for ministering to the homeless in Las Vegas and delivering an abundance of warm socks and hope to people in sore need of both.

One day we were talking about his life’s work and travels when Holy Child Catholic Church entered the conversation.

“Its community is so generous,” he said. “I think it is something that people living in Las Vegas need to know about their fellow Nevadans.”

Members of Holy Child, just a handful of families in all, had been quietly assisting other families in need in their own backyard and all the way to the streets of Las Vegas. McShane recalled a plan developed by the Ladies Group at Holy Child to help a family in need. Word spread, and “It caught on as many locals offered their help with hours of labor and financial gifts,” he said. “It was a county-wide labor of love.”

The community gathered blankets, shirts, and backpacks for the homeless. They contributed financial assistance to local families in need. Like other small churches in the county, they gave with their hearts.

In doing so, they symbolized this season of giving that is so often overwhelmed by flashy abundance. Reflecting on the love of the small congregation, McShane wrote in 2008, “In my thirty-four years as a priest of Nevada, I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a wonderful display of love. And it all began at a Ladies Club meeting at Holy Child! Too often in busy and crowded Las Vegas, it’s hard to express the personalism that comes easier in rural Nevada. I’m impressed, to say the least.”

These days, Holy Child keeps its humble doors open with a visiting priest in the wake of the death last month of its dedicated Deacon Pat FitzSimons, an Irishman born in Belfast who devoted a decade to the little church at Locust and Tennille streets. As a Facebook post reflected, “He was not only our Deacon, but our dear friend. He always stood for what is right and he fought like a good Irishman for our parish.”

In a place where a priest isn’t always available, Deacon FitzSimons played an integral role in keeping the intrepid church going. Longtime parishioner Margaret Buschman acknowledges the loss. She’s attended mass at Holy Child since the 1970s with her family.

As for the parish itself, “It feels like we’re just a family. Everyone knows every other person really well. We’re together a lot and we would hang out with each other socially until COVID put the kibosh on things.”

She describes Pioche, Panaca and Caliente as “kind of one spread out town, I guess you could say. It’s about as rural as you can get.” In short, conservative and kindhearted. That’s the message she wants others to know about her neighbors in Lincoln County.

Somehow, with or without a priest present, through good years and lean ones, Holy Child abides and continues to serve its community.

At Christmas, members from area churches gather to ring in the season.

“Every church brings their group of singers and we just share songs,” Buschman said. “And every year we go to one of the different churches and do that. We kind of all band together and everybody’s so, ecumenical, I guess is the way to put it. Really, in all practice, it’s so ecumenical. Maybe because the community is so small.”

Small, but caring.

Traveling Father McShane was sure right about the giving spirit of Caliente.

John L. Smith is an author and longtime columnist. He was born in Henderson and his family’s Nevada roots go back to 1881. His stories have appeared in Time, Readers Digest, The Daily Beast, Reuters, Ruralite and Desert Companion, among others. He also offers weekly commentary on Nevada Public Radio station KNPR.