As the nation celebrates its 250th birthday, parishioners at Abingdon Episcopal Church marked the occasion on Sunday with a special reading of America’s founding document, the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration holds a special meaning to Abingdon Episcopal, as one of the church’s parishioners in Colonial Virginia, John Page, sent a letter to Thomas Jefferson on July 20, 1776, commending his William and Mary classmate and friend on the document. The Rev. Sven vanBarrs introduced the program, with Sharon Horvath, at left, awaiting her turn to read. Parishioners at Abingdon Episcopal Church, White Marsh, read the Declaration of Independence aloud on Sunday. The reading commemorated a July 20, 1776 letter from Abingdon parishioner John Page to his William and Mary classmate Thomas Jefferson, praising the recently adopted document. Participants included, top row from left, Ann Page, Tyler Byrne and Christine Evans; second row, Jean Duggan, Philip Page and Emmitt Smith; and at bot...