Evolution of a Church

This is the story of how a church came to be.

Churches are sometimes founded; they may begin as missions or outreaches. Others evolve.

The Humboldt Methodist Church and the St. Vincent Methodist Church (whose official name was actually the St. Vincent Community Church¹, of the Methodist Episcopal denomination) were small congregations, so often shared ministers when the need arose.

The church was in the block directly south of the St. Vincent school, towards its northwest
 corner; Beth Lapp, who was a member, remembers the windows had stained glass in them.
[Image Courtesy:  Marcy Johnson]

Once upon a year, a minister named Reverend Everett Hanson came to the Humboldt Methodist Church. Rev. Hanson eventually instituted a split in the Humboldt and St. Vincent churches in 1949. He took 39 people with him and formed a new church in St. Vincent. People that followed were called "Hansonites". This new church was named Valley Community Church (nondenominational).  The St. Vincent Community Church closed and some of the congregants joined this new church, while others chose to merge with the Pembina Methodist Church.  Several years later, Valley Community Church joined the Evangelical Free Church of America.  In 1969, St. Vincent EFC moved to Pembina, selling the church building (which was the old Green store; it was moved to Hallock to be used as the Masonic Lodge for many years, and is still in-use to this day...)

Rev. Clara Wagner & Rev. Alice Engelbretson, the last ministers of the Community Church...
[Source:  Reynold and Carolyn Ward]

¹ - From the 1936 WPA Survey of the churches in St. Vincent, comes this description of the St. Vincent Community Church, part of what eventually became the St. Vincent Evangelical Free Church:

Name of church:  Community Church.
Location:  St. Vincent, Minnesoa.
Denomination:  Methodist Episcopal.
Date of establishment:  The church was started in 1899.
Charter Members:  Nelson E. Green, John Bernath, and Thomas Ash
Places of meeting:  For about two years after the founding of the church, meetings were held in the different homes.  In 1900, the present church was erected.
Church buildings:  In 1900, the present church was erected and the same year a parsonage was built two blocks south of the track (the same one used for the Free Church pastors many years later...)
First officers:  There are no records showing the early history of the church so the names of the first officers cannot be given.  Present officers:  Mrs. Thomas Ash, president, Mrs. John Monro, treasurer; Mrs. Roy DeFrance, secretary; trustees, Waldo Clow, Clifford Clow, Mrs. R. DeFrance, Mrs. J. Monro, and Mrs. Esther Ash.
Pastors:  Reverend A.A. Meyers, Reverend George Swinnerton, Reverend Charles Flesher, Reverend Benjamin Collins, Reverend John Finscke, Reverend George Powell, Reverend Eli Slifer, Reverend Edwin Trigg, Reverend James, Reverend E.R. Ingram, Reverend Stanley McGuire, Reverend Clara Wagner, and Reverend Alice Engelbretson.
Organizations within the Church:  Ladies' Aid was organized in 1916.  No dates can be found in connection with organization of the Sunday School.
Remarks:  There are no records of the early history of the church available so a complete list of the charter members and pastors cannot be given.

(Compiled by Cyril Cannon, September 1936)

NOTE:  The North Star Church was an associated church for many years.  The North Star Church began as a Presbyterian Church, later having Covenant ministers serving it.  Eventually it was served by ministers from the Valley Community/Free Church.

Gamble Reunion Report

I had an wonderful time at the Gamble Family Reunion.

Bill and I spent most of Friday on our own around the area, exploring and taking photos. On the way there, we stopped at Northcote, then went on to St. Vincent.

Photo by Bill Reynolds

In between I visited an old classmate and friend, and her husband in Hallock, who put me in touch with a member of St. John's Church there. St. John's was always linked with Christ Church in St. Vincent, both being Episcopal churches who often shared ministers among other things. I learned from a woman associated with the church - which is now down to just a literal handful of congregants - that St. John's has many of the items that used to be in Christ Church. All the pews in St. John's sanctuary are from Christ Church, for instance. Also two ornately carved large wooden chairs on the rise by the altar are from St. Vincent. A cabinet with a glass front containing several silver offertory and communion articles were also from St. Vincent. Downstairs in the basement kitchen was a memorial china plate with a hand-painted image of Christ Church commemorating its 50th Anniversary in the 1930s. The member then showed us a few of Christ Church's books they had possession of. I looked through them and found some fascinating bits of church and town history in them. For example, Rev. Smiythe once made a note about the attendance one Sunday that it was "deer season" - that made me smile!

Photo by Bill Reynolds

In another part of a book, I found my Dad's name listed as one of the 'vestry men' in 1953. Sometime between then and 1959 they began attending Valley Community Church, which eventually became the Evangelical Free Church (now in Pembina). I recently found out that the building that housed that church (my childhood church) in St. Vincent - which was moved to Hallock and is still there not far from St. John's - was once Green's Store in St. Vincent. What a tangled web do buildings and towns have when you dig into their histories!

On Friday, my parents' home was still open, but by Saturday it was not; some time Friday afternoon or Saturday morning, HUD had been there boarding up the two-car garage door (which was open for some reason, no door on it) as well as put padlocks on all the house doors. A good thing, really, because sooner or later someone would be more tempted to vandalize it otherwise. Lucky for me, I was able to get photos and visit one last time, in the nick of time. As Bill and I walked up the sidewalk towards the front door Friday, I said to Bill, it's like it was yesterday I was here on a visit and Mom and Dad should be coming to the door, and I broke down and cried hard for a few moments. My stomach twisted and my heart was breaking...it was very hard deep inside me to continue but I did it.

Photo by Bill Reynolds

When touring St. Vincent, I finally had the opportunity to visit inside the jail building. It was always a mystery to me and I had often wanted to see inside of it when I was growing up. It has amazing bars of iron on the window of a sort I have never seen before, while the door has the classic old-fashioned flat iron bars. The door is also hung with impressive handmade iron hardware - long, large hinges and a two-piece locking mechanism, part in the door frame and part in the door itself. Bill was very impressed with the workmanship. I'm guessing they very well could have been made by a local blacksmith. The original tin panel ceiling tiles in the two interior rooms of the jail were still in-place. I'd love to get one of them someday when the building comes down.

We also visited the St. Vincent cemetery, and located my parents' graves. I finally saw both their tombstones, side-by-side, Dad's on the north, Mom's on the south - "You are my Sunshine" (Dad), "My Only Sunshine" (Mom)

Friday evening was a meet-and-greet. I had met only Alice before - the cousin who discovered her family through this blog - but never met in person anyone other Gamble member. That all changed quickly!

Saturday, we toured the old Alexander Gamble farm house and homestead, which when I was growing up we knew as the Rodney Webster farm, never knowing it's true origins at the time! Gary Webster, Rodney's son, saw all of us visiting en masse and came out to see what it was all about. We reassured him it was harmless, and we ended up having a good visit with him and he with us. We learned a lot about the land and who owned what and when.

Photo by Bill Reynolds

Later, we tried getting into Christ Church in St. Vincent, having been told the current owner would leave it open, but it was padlocked. After visiting the cemetery, the Gamble family went in caravan to Lancaster and we all ate a late lunch at Dean's Diner. From there we went on to the Kittson County Museum in Lake Bronson. The Museum was having a big fund-raising event, an auction which proceeds all go to benefits the museum. It was just ending when we arrived, and the Gambles asked to see the Gamble Family letters which are now housed there. Cindy Adams, the director, has done an amazing job encapsulating them in Mylar plastic (the tried and true method of preservation where you leave openings on side for air to get in and out) and then presenting them in a binder in plastic archival sleeves. It was amazing to see in-person the original letters. We even saw the one where Alex shares about a baby that was recently lost, a very sad time in the family.

While at the library, Bill and I toured it and saw many fascinating exhibits - it was especially illuminating to see the interior of a trapper's cabin, very small indeed, but logically it made sense that no more room was needed for a single working man under those conditions. We found out the Gamble letters have not been scanned yet, but the family expressed their hope they would be. Cindy said it was a good idea, but it was only a matter of finding the time - I'm sure she is a very busy person! I wish I lived closer - I'd be happy to volunteer. At least I am happy to say, I finally joined the Kittson County Historical Society on Saturday!

Profile: James Scobbie

St. Vincent EFC - formerly Valley Community Church, Green Store 
(circa 1960s)

A big part of growing up in my hometown area was your church.  My church began in St. Vincent, and eventually moved to Pembina. The church was literally at the end of the road from my house, due south, and across the side road from my grandparents' home.

Of the St. Vincent church, I have fragmented memories:  large hanging ceiling lights; the piano on one side of the platform and the organ on the other; a nursery room in the back of the sanctuary near the entrance; a basement kitchen and eating area with several curtained sections, used for both Sunday School and potluck dinners; high, exterior entry steps that were used as a dare to jump off of.  I remember other things - after everyone greeted the pastor on their way out, there was lots of visiting after the services between the adults.  I suspect that there wasn't always a chance to visit otherwise during the week, men and women being too busy working and taking care of families.  People took more time then to find out how you were doing, and what the latest news was.  Social events like church were the 'Facebook' of their time.  Often we kids got restless, wondering what on earth the adults could possibly be talking about that long, so we'd start playing games like hide 'n seek, or kick the can.  Games like this were particularly fun if it was an evening service and were played after dark.

Some of that changed when the church moved to Pembina in 1968 - but that's another story.  This story is about the first pastor I remember of my church:  James Scobbie.  I recently reconnected with Mrs. Scobbie, or Ena (short for Christina), and asked her if she would be so kind as to provide some memories of their time with us.  The other day, she wrote to share...

Interview: Beth Lapp

Elizabeth Lapp in 1948
[Courtesy:  Digital Archive, UMC] 

Thanks to Kristine Baldwin Ohmann, who facilitated our get together, I interviewed one of the oldest living natives (and a resident) of St. Vincent last weekend.

Elizabeth Lapp, better known as Beth, was raised in St. Vincent.  Her parents, Richard (Dick) and Lillian Lapp, met in 1926 when her mother came to town to teach at the school. Dick's parents were early settlers of St. Vincent, arriving in 1879 from Canada.

I share with you here the interview in its entirety, as it happened.  As you will read, there are a lot of clues for further stories, which I intend to explore in future posts...

1. Her earliest memory is of getting ill and vomiting on her workbook at school. In those days, you only got one workbook to use for your schoolwork, so she was mortified. She was sitting near chalkboard at the time. Her teacher was Miss Penovich.

2. Some of her other teachers were: Elaine Bergh, Gunda Hanson, Mrs. Isley, and Mrs. Monte(gue) Clinton.

3. The year she had Mrs. Clinton, “we didn’t learn anything”. Math and Science were "sacrificed for art". All she remembers is Mrs. Clinton having the class place chairs facing west and looking out towards Christ Church and drawing what they saw…

4. When it came time to go to high school, students during her time had three choices: Hallock, Pembina, or Crookston. Hallock and Pembina were public school (free) while Crookston was a boarding school and charged tuition. This was during the 1940’s and into the 1950’s.

Northwest School of Agriculture Crookston MN
[Photo Courtesy Digital Archive, UMC]

5. Crookston was called the ‘Ag School’. It's actual name was the Northwest School of Agriculture.  Several area natives attended it, including Beth and her siblings.

Small Town Minister - ARRIVAL

I remember this humble small church very well,
and many of these faces from many years ago...

Upon discovering the roots of the church I grew up in, by overhearing a casual reference made by family or friends, I asked my Mom to elaborate. This was when I was still at home. As I remember it, she said there were several people in the town's Episcopal Church that were not happy there. I'm not sure what inspired the group to start their own meetings, but they did. Perhaps there was a nearby revival they had been challenged by. Whatever the genesis, they took that step. Eventually they had their own building, and called it the Valley Community Church. It was non-denominational at first, then decided to affiliate with the Evangelical Free Church. The EFC isn't a denomination, but rather an affiliation of independent churches. (Some may quibble with the semantics, but it's an important component to the people of those churches for many reasons...a story for another time!)

I'm not sure if the pastor in the letter below was the first pastor of the church, but the letter has the sound of it. The congregation was obviously excited to have the new pastor, and wanted him to have the best they could offer.

Pastor Erickson's daughters have graciously offered to share their father's memories of those times of his early pastorate through his letters. Although he is passed on, we'll revisit those times through his words, about what it was like to be a small town minister. Read below of how the pastor and his family were welcomed, and their first impressions of St. Vincent...
__________

Excerpt of letter written to friends by Rev Edward Erickson… February 12, 1955 (upon arriving in St Vincent January 27, 1955)…

“…We loaded up the big International truck, that the St Vincent Free church people sent down (Liberty, Nebraska), on Monday, January 24th. As big as the truck was, it looked quite inadequate to take all of our belongings. But by careful planning of the load, the good crew of men from the Pleasant Grove church led by Pastor Skoog himself, found a place for most everything, and still placed padding between, so that everything arrived here in good condition…

…arriving at St Vincent about 4 o’clock (on Thursday, January 27th). We discovered that the truck had arrived without trouble and was already unloaded. The parsonage is a fair sized house (6 rooms and bath) and it appeared for awhile to be full of boxes and boxes of our things. But we managed to find a place to sleep after having a delicious supper with the Kochendorfers, one of good families here.

The next day, with the help of some husky men here, we got the bigger and heavier furniture in its place, so by Saturday night the house was quite livable. The coldest weather of the winter had come on, so we surely appreciated the new automatic Lennox oil heating system that was just installed and completed the day we arrived. As a result the house is very comfortable even in this 20 to 28 below zero weather we have been having the past several days. I am using one of the upstairs bedrooms for a study, and Danny has his bed here also, but so far it has worked out quite well.

The church is about a block away, in this town of some 300 people. There is a Catholic and an Episcopal church besides our own. Also a Plymouth Brethren and a group of Cooneyites (commonly called 2 by 2’s) that meet in homes in the community. Most of the people we are told, consider some church as their own… The people of the community appear to be very friendly, yet I can detect that they are looking us over quite carefully…Most of our people of course are farmers, and I have been told that all but one family owns their farm. Some of the farms are quite big I understand, being a section or more. As a general rule they have good crops up here in the Red River valley, but last year the army worms did considerable damage. They were able to control some of it by airplane spraying. What seems to be the main crop, but there also are other grains, and potatoes. Some farther south in the valley they raise sugar beets too.

The first Sunday here, January 30th, we found 67 in Sunday School and a few more for the church service. Again in the evening there were about 40 out. At the Mid-week Bible Study and Prayer on Wednesday after choir practice, there were over 30 out. It is good to see such a good number for these services, bringing their Bibles with them & revealing by their questions and discussion that they had a spiritual hunger for a greater knowledge of the Word. Even last Wednesday evening when it was 20 below zero and a sharp, cutting north wind, that really would penetrate, there were 19 out.

On Friday evening, February 3rd, we were given our official welcome, by an invitation to a tasty Fellowship Supper at the church. This was followed by an informal program led by a nearby Baptist pastor, who serves in Emerson, Manitoba, Canada (we are only 2 miles from the Canadian border). After the kind & friendly welcome, to which I responded with a few words of appreciation and meditation from 1st John, concerning the blessed privilege of fellowship with the Lord and His people, we were invited to come upstairs. Upon going up, we were amazed to see a big assortment of canned stuff, flour, sugar, meat, etc. It pretty well filled our car, both in the trunk and back seat. We should not need to visit a grocery store for quite some time.

And that was not all. They gave us 100 gallons of oil for the new furnace, a new linoleum for the downstairs bedroom floor (all the other floors had some good covering of rugs or tile already furnished by the church). Then today, a new gas range (Caloric) arrived and was set up to take the place of the combination range, that was no longer needed for additional help to heat the kitchen.

…This church group is only about 6 years old, but they have come a long ways, including spiritually…

Our address is simply – St Vincent, Minnesota box 81 and telephone VA3-6245 (St Vincent)…”

Fading Away

Population 6...plus two big dogs
[Photo: Ghosts of Minnesota]

There are towns even smaller than St. Vincent, but not many.

One of them is Tenney, Minnesota.

Tenney recently dissolved, meaning they are no longer a town.  I can't help but realize that it's only a matter of time before St. Vincent has to face that decision.

When I was growing up, St. Vincent had around 200 people.  It was already in its descendency, a shadow of what it once was.  But there were hints of its glory days, such as the sidewalks - some sections had been maintained well, others were disappearing under encroaching soil and grass.  We still had a general store, a gas station (two, when counting the Junction), a post office, a school, and four churches (St. Anne's Catholic Church, Valley Community Church - later known as St. Vincent Evangelical Free Church - Christ Church, and the Plymouth Brethren Church.  We also still held an annual fall event, the St. Vincent Fair (which was at one time, vying to be the county fair.  Despite Hallock prevailing, St. Vincent continued their fair tradition for many years, and people from around the area continued to enter their produce, livestock, hand work, and baked goods in friendly (but deadly serious) competition!

But I digress.  The point here is, all of that is long gone.  It echos in my mind how my mother and grandmother used to talk wistfully about what the town used to be like, all the life of the town now gone, they said - businesses, families, parks, public concerts and socials.  They pointed out here was where a saloon was, there was where the blacksmith's shop was.  Across the road by that alley - which was actually the old railroad track bed - was where the depot used to be.  On a trip with my father to the nuisance ground, my mother told me that was where the park used to be, and there was a gazebo there, where town brass bands would play on Sunday afternoons.  The fair itself used to be down by the river once, too, but later was held in the downtown.  Exhibits were in the Quonset, near the old temporary holding pens once used by the railroad for livestock, now used for sheep, hogs, etc. at fair time.

Now there are only around 60 souls.  Every block has vacancies, empty space where once stood homes and businesses, where circumstances have, like a cancer, dictated surgical removals.  Natives like myself can walk the streets, seeing and hearing what once was.  Like ghosts bearing witness, it is all too real.  The poignancy is very bittersweet.  I once saw a movie that hit all too close to home, and it made me think how my hometown was headed in that same direction.

Most people don't face a death in the family involving their hometown, but that is how it feels to me.  St. Vincent has never just been where I'm from, it's my family.  All those souls from the past, that I grew up with, related by blood or by just being neighbors, were not merely faces and names to me, but family.  I miss them all, and their memories will never fade from my mind as long as I am alive.  This blog is testimony to them as much as I am able to make it...

Pastor Erickson

The above photo is one of many from Joan [Erickson] Swanson. Her father was Pastor Erickson, who served as pastor at the church I grew up in, the St. Vincent Evangelical Free Church (now known as the Pembina EFC...) It started out as a small non-denominational group that came to be known as the Valley Community Church. At some point they affiliated with the EFCA. Anyways, back to the photos and Joan...

I was doing a search on Flickr to see if there were any images posted from my old hometown area. Lo and behold there was. It was an image of a home I didn't recognize at first, but after contacting the user found out it was the parsonage, and she was the daughter of a former pastor of my old home church, serving from 1955 to 1957.

Although I never knew the Erickson family, I felt I did in a way thanks to my parents talking about them. Pastor Erickson had a special place in my parents' hearts since they were led to dedicated themselves and their family more to the Lord due to his influence. Pastor Erickson lent a helping hand and showed Christian love in practical terms, when assisting my father in building a much-needed addition to our humble home. It was acts like that, that cemented in my parents' minds that their faith was more than words.

I contacted the user, who turned out to be Pastor Erickson's daughter Joan. During our brief exchanges since then, she has kindly posted more photos of their years in St. Vincent, including group shots of the St. Vincent EFC congregation, choir, and parsonage, and a few of the town itself.

PROFILES: My Grandmother’s Friends

Left to right:  Mrs. Zaharia, Margaret 'Toots' Ryan, Florence Godon, Esther Cleem (Florence and Esther were Thiefault sisters...), and Alberta 'Pat' Fitzpatrick Baudette, and in front, my grandmother, Elizabeth Fitzgerald Fitzpatrick in the wheelchair...

All the women in this picture (with the exception of my Aunt Pat who just happened to be home visiting that day...) were part of a group of friends who regularly hung out with one another, on an almost daily basis.  Growing up in St. Vincent, I saw many of them myself daily, as we all went about our business.  Most of the time, they were busy keeping house, looking after their families.  But as they went about their days, they would often run into one another at stores or church, in their yards or on the street, or stop by and visit.  Years ago, there was no common desire to avoid people and self-isolate as is common today; quite the contrary - most people sought out opportunities to socialize, to catch up.  

Names that still conjure up well-remembered faces and voices:

• Mrs. Zahara (a Ukrainian lady whose strong accent made me nod a lot without knowing a thing she was actually saying), 
• Matilda Cameron (a well-regarded seamstress whose second husband Wallace Cameron was a famous town constable), 
• Esther Cleem (who along with her husband were victims of a home invasion turned deadly), 
• Mrs. Gardiner (whose family tragedies rivaled my own Aunt Lena’s), 
• Florence Godon, whose husband Bill worked for many years with my Dad at the Noyes depot,
• Toots Ryan (good friend and neighbor-across-the-alley of my grandmother),
• Glenice Friebohle (good friend of my mother’s), 
• Ena Scobbie (wife of first pastor I remember of St. Vincent Evangelical Free Church), and 
• Cousins Hattie  Schwenzfeier, Annie Nordine, Mabel Steien, and Faye Lyberg.

They all loved to gab, to share news and gossip, and to have a good laugh.  In other words, they loved to visit!  They were never at a loss for words.  There were no awkward silences.  If anything, people spoke over top of one another at times, interjected at others, and at still other times, the room divided into two or three subgroups like modern-day ‘threads’, multiple simultaneous conversations, and later came back into one again.  

The one who was more often than not dropping by Grandma’s place, or she to her’s, was Toots Ryan.  Toots lived north of Grandma’s place, just out the back door, through the back yard, and across the alley.  As you’d approach Toot’s house, you would notice the steps were higher than most around town.  That’s because the house had been put up on a higher foundation, my guess to protect the home’s contents in case of flooding.  It was the only house like that in town, but I later thought that was pretty smart thinking.  But as a little girl, the time period I knew Toots well, it never crossed my mind - it was just the way it was.  Her steps were harder to get up than my Grandma’s, each one a bit taller than normal, so I’d have to lift my little legs especially higher and give an extra hrmph to lift myself up.  The top step was a length of railroad tie, then the highest step of all over the lintel into the house proper.  

The door led into the kitchen, which as I recalled had one length of counter along the west wall.  There was a sink like at home, but instead of a faucet and water turns for hot and cold, there was a hand pump, which brought up water up from a private well under the house.  I have a feeling there was probably more of these at one time, but to my knowledge it was the only one left in town by then, the early 1960s.  There was still a town hand pump just kitty-corner from the Ryan home, by the town pond and curling rink.  Knowing more now historically, I think the town pond and pump may have served multiple reasons - for watering animals, water for people, water for fighting fires.  Heck, Grandma would have me go fetch buckets of water for her, to water her garden during the summer, since drinking water for her cost her precious money; at that time, most of us had our water brought in by water trucks, costing x-amount much per 1,000 gallons, stored under the house in cisterns. Anyways, I always thought it was so interesting that Toots still pumped her water.  She had a big stove in her house, too, but I never noticed what kind it was.  

The only other room in the downstairs was her parlor.  The first time I saw the parlor was on a visit to Toots with my Mom; in the parlor were two chairs, and a piano.  I hadn’t started playing the piano yet, but we had one that I was always tinkling on at home, showing an interest in learning already.  So it wasn’t surprising at all that I headed straight for it the first time I saw hers.  It had a fascinating seat, not a bench like ours, but a stool.  I found out immediately that it could be adjusting in height, delightfully by spinning it to the right for up, or left for down.  The stool’s feet looked like the claws of an animal, and clutched within those claw were small, clear, crystal balls.  I opened the lid to the keys to see keys that had faint marbling and yellowing, which I later learned meant they were real ivory keys made from elephant tusks.  A few were missing, but most were still there.  The really cool part was when I began ‘playing’ the keys, I learned the piano was badly out-of-tune.  However, to me, that made is all the more special:  It reminded me of the pianos played in the old western movies on TV - in tune enough to make out familiar melodies, but enough out-of-tune to be an authentic saloon piano!  

Once I wore out my welcome on the piano, I jumped off to rejoin the women (my Mom and Toots, visiting…)  Toots was a shorter-than-average lady, who was almost as round as she was tall.  That day, I was probably about four years old.  I interjected into their conversation with the observation, “You’re really fat!”  There was sudden silence.  Then Toots erupted into what I can now only describe as jolly laughter.  My Mom directed a mortified, “Patricia Kaye!” Towards me.  Toots came to my rescue by saying, “Patricia Kaye, eh?  That used to be my favorite chewing gum!”  She got a kick out of my outburst.  I had no idea I had done anything wrong, stating the obvious.  Toots and I always got along famously after that early meeting - I would often run out my Grandma’s back door and run over to her house and into her house up those high stairs.  

But when Grandma had friends drop by, there was a lot of visiting…and always over tea and baked goods.  The visiting might start off slow and casual, and build up to stories filled with gales of laughter; or they might start out with an excited, “Have you heard…?”  Whether it was a neighbor, or a cousin coming from across the county, in those days, people would often just pop in, no call ahead - no one minded, in fact, it was an occasion to be excited about.  Out would come the teapots full of Red Rose tea, served up with bars, cookies, and sometimes even cake…but always plenty of tea!  If Mrs. Zahara was in attendance when I was there, I would avail her of her talents and beg her for a reading of the tea leaves. I wish I could recall at least one of those readings now…

Christmas Sunday School Memories

Shared by Lori Wood Goertzen:

This photo was a Christmas gift from my favorite Sunday school teacher, Clara Loer. 

Left to right: Debbie Dykhuis, Danny Hodgson, Marilyn Loge, Anita Calkins and myself.

This was taken on the front steps of the old St. Vincent Evangelical Free Church.

Easter 1955

EASTER PROGRAM – April 10, 1955

Evangelical Free Church – St Vincent, Minnesota


Song – by Congregation – “Tell Me the Story of Jesus” #113

Prayer – Mrs Winnie Lapp, Sunday School Superintendant

Piano Prelude by Janice Kockendorfer as Beginners & Primary classes appear to recite Bible portions & sing

Recitation – “A Great BIG GREETING” – Bobby Gaetz

Beginners Class – “In God’s Garden”

Primary Class – “I Thought I would Make a Garden”

Song – “Happy Easter to You!” – by both classes

“Two Ways to Conquer Faults” – Intermediate boys

“Near the Cross” (dramatized) – Intermediate girls with a Trumpeter (Ed Lapp) & Pianist (Janice K) used in interludes

“The Easter Story” – by older boys and girls

Mixed Quartette – Mary K, Winnie L, Roy C & Eugene W

Easter Carols & Scripture presentation by following group:

Piano Prelude (as orchestra & readers march in)

1st Reader – Douglas Ward – I Tim 1:25

Reading – Kay Babcock “There is a Green Hill” #458 – piano

2nd Reader – Bill Clow – Isaiah 53:5-7

Solo – Doretta Rachuy “Hail, Thou Once Despized”

3rd Reader – Danny Erickson – Psalm 22:6

Orchestra – “There is a Fountain” #115 with the 2nd verse sung by Helen Gatheridge

4th Reader – Bill Dykhuis – Acts 13:29-30

Violin Solo – “Christ Arose” – Pastor Erickson

5th Reader – Dean Rachuy – Acts 2:24

Orchestra – “He Lives” #124 with 2nd v. played by trio

6th Reader – Charles Clow – I Cor 15:20-22

Duet – “In the Garden” – Janice K and Doretta R

7th Reader – Bobby Feick

Instrumental Sextette – “Lord I’m Coming Home” #105

8th Reader – Kay Babcock – John 14:3

Solo – “O Zion Haste” – Grace Dykhuis

Remarks & Benediction – Pastor Erickson

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“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” – Romans 10:9-10

DO YOU KNOW JESUS CHRIST AS YOUR PERSONAL SAVIOUR?