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Farrell |
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First
Methodist Church |
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The Fiftieth Anniversary celebration began on Sunday
morning September 21, 1952, with the dedication of the organ. The Reverend
Lee D. Smith, whose father once occupied the pulpit of this church,
delivered the Dedication sermon. The Memorial Committee then presented the
organ to the church and congregation with this statement:
“Rev. E. V. Rupert and congregation: The Memorial
Committee and the Organ Memorial Committee presents this beautiful organ
for Dedication. It is to be dedicated to the Glory of God and in Loving
Memory of the many noble Christians who have made Methodism in Farrell a
force for Righteousness. Their names we have engraved upon a plaque.’’
Rev. D. C. Plannette
Rev. W. H. Fenton
Rev. H. G. Dodds
Rev. J. E. lams
Mrs. J. E. Mytinger
Mrs. Pearl Gully
Mr. R. L. Ward
Mrs. Martha Peth
Florence M. Guffey
Mrs. Carolyn Miller
Charles F. Chisholm
Mr. and Mrs. R. Brauchle
Mr. and Mrs. John Adams
James T. Chisholm, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Alvin Pfeifer
Mr. and Mrs. R. M. McSchell
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Hunter
Mrs. Maria Martin
Mr. and Mrs. Phillip Williams
Mrs. H. M. Braden
Mr. and Mrs. O. C. Luckey
Wilma Ingram Fisher
Mrs. James Arter
Mr. and Mrs. A. B. Haines
Barbara Carrell
Martha Ann Johns
Howard P. Johnston
Anna Luckey
Anna B. Longwill
Rev. J. A. Parsons
Rev. A. B. Smith
Rev. R. A. Buzza
Rev. and Mrs. Chas. G. Baker
Mr. J. L. Elberty
Calvin Wayne McConnell
Mrs. R. J. Bobby
John R. Guffey
Mrs. J. W. Miller
E. J. Slater
John A. Hamilton
Nettie Beers
Mrs. Emma Stevenson
James Chisholm, Sr.
Harry V. Tyers
Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Horton
Herbert Garster
Mrs. Grace Emminger
Mrs. Harry Lloyd Reese
Hubert Blair
Edward T. Boyles
Paul Johnston
Mrs. Cora Long
W. C. DeForeest
John Frank Fowler
Howard B. Egeland
Mrs. Olive Shaffer
N. B. Longwill
Mrs. Hazel Mae Buckalew
Bishop Lloyd C. Wicke, resident Bishop of the
Pittsburgh area, delivered the Fiftieth Anniversary sermon on Sunday
morning, September 28. The
service was broadcast over Sharon radio station WPIC.
Starting the second fifty year period an energetic
Board of Trustees were determined that Methodism in Farrell would be a
great force for God and righteousness. So these officers mapped out an
improvement and remodeling program to extend over a period of several
years.
A wind storm in February, 1956, did considerable
damage to the church roof and the sanctuary. A second storm occurring in
August of the same year did further damage to the church property. The
necessary repairs resulting from these storms and costing $2000 were
completed and paid for that year.
A DEDICATION CEREMONY
Sunday, September 28, 1958, was a red letter day for
the congregation and friends of the First Methodist Church, Farrell,
Pennsylvania. On this day the newly remodeled sanctuary was consecrated by
Bishop Lloyd C. Wicke, assisted by Dr. Arthur
Colley, District
Superintendent, Grove City District, and the Pastor, Rev. Ernest V.
Rupert.
The remodeling cost $18,000 and included a change in
the design and floor plan of the sanctuary; dividing the chancel;
rebuilding the choir loft; recarpeting the entire sanctuary and chancel
and the installation of new pews in the sanctuary.
A number of memorials were dedicated at the service
by Bishop Wicke. Among the memorials presented by
Howard Horton, Chairman
of the Memorial Committee, and W.
I.
Williams, chairman of
the Board of Trustees were: a beautiful maple pulpit given in memory of
John Hamilton by Mrs. Clara Hamilton; a matching altar given by the Blair
children in memory of their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Hubert
Blair; the
lectern given by Mrs. Nedra Ingram in memory of her parents,
Mr. and Mrs.
Joseph Ingram; two chancel pews given by the Hamilton children in memory
of their father; an American and a Christian flag given by Mrs. Paul
Carly’s Sunday School class; a missal stand and a baptismal font given
by Miss Mildred Scowden of Erie, Pennsylvania, in memory of her mother,
Mrs. Nan Scowden, who was a charter member of the church.
While the physical church building was being
remodeled the spiritual life of the church prospered. What was once a
defeated, discouraged congregation has become a victorious growing
congregation. In a five year period one hundred new working members were
added to the church roll and the budget increased from $3,500 to $20,000.
In June,1959, the First Methodist Church of Farrell once again became a
station paying $5200 for pastoral guidance.
Rev. Ernest Rupert, the present pastor [1959], came
to Farrell in January, 1948, after serving five years as chaplain in the
United States Army. Under his
leadership the church has moved forward rapidly.
from
150 Years
of Methodism, The Story of the First Methodist Church, Sharon, PA,
compiled by Roscoe C. Wilson, 1959.
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