the Glade Mennonite Church, near Bittinger, MD. They will celebrate their 100th anniversary this Sunday, August 24, 2008. Mom and I would love to be there. I sent them the following e-mail and followed up with a copy by snail mail. I may share more about this on a later blog.
Glade Mennonite Church5011 Accident-Bittinger Road
Accident, Maryland 21520
301-245-4285
Admin Asst. Barb Opel
gladechurch@iceweb.net
August 22, 2008
Dear Barb and Friends at Glade,
How pleased we were to receive an invitation to your 100th anniversary celebration. It’s hard to believe it’s been over 50 years since our time together. We cherish the memories. Brother Isaac Metzler had recently retired and I became the part time pastor. How green I was! Still very young and not as serious as I should have been.
Brother and Sister Metzler were precious to us and we appreciated their help and direction for a young aspiring pastor and family.
We first learned of the Glade Mennonite Church while attending the Pinto church near where we were living. When our efforts to get a Grace Brethren church started in Cumberland came to naught, the Pinto Mennonite invited us to their church. Arlene had had a number of their children in her Good News Club. Brother Myron Livengood recommended us to fill the need at the Glade Church. Being Grace Brethren, I sat for a ministerial examination at the Grantsville Church. I don’t remember the names of the men involved.
So we came up the mountain to Glade every Sunday morning. We had four children at the time and usually stayed for dinner with one of the families—usually with the Opels or Brennemans. Often we had venison, but not always. At Opels, we had to eat in shifts—not every one could get to the table at one time.
For a brief time while working at WKYR radio station in Keyser, I was in charge of a satellite station in Oakland. I played music for an hour or two and had to sell spots to local merchants to pay for my keep. It was during this time that I stayed in Oakland with Jim and [? Opel] ____. I forget their last name. [Note: Jim and Erma (Opel) Stephens].
I have posted some old pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/royglasspc/GladeMennonite1955
I hope you can help or correct me with some of the names.
Anyway, as I recall, we had the nicest brick outhouse for miles around. It even had lights. There was a ‘pot-bellied’ stove to heat the church. And some of the guys did strip mining and furnished the coal. That included some of the Brennemans and Herman Opel too. They had to squirm into that tiny space to dig out the coal. What a miserable job! I think Park had a turkey farm.
When we first started coming to Glade, I didn’t realize that an offering was received only once a month and that it was usually given to Brother Metzler. So in my ignorance I passed the offering plates every Sunday. After a while Miriam Brenneman, who was the treasurer at the time, came and asked me what to do with all the money she had. I said she should do with it as she usually did. I was given a monthly offering. My memory may not be correct, but I think this resulted in the installation of a real furnace. Much nicer than the old stove.
We had wonderful times with you there at the Glade church that will never be forgotten. Of course we were much younger at the time and the years have gone by quickly. Many of the older ones are now with the Lord and the little ones are in their 50s and 60s. Arlene and I will celebrate our 60th anniversary on August 27. The Lord blessed us with 7 children, 23 grandchildren, and 27 great grandchildren and another on the way.
I wish we could be with you for this special time. We could get some of these names and faces back together. The stories you could tell would be exciting to hear.
On a serious note, we must remember that the Christian fellowship we enjoy here cannot be compared with that which is to come. The sound of the trumpet [I Thess. 4:13-18] cannot be far away, when we will be caught up to be with the Lord in the place [Jn.14:1-6] He has gone to prepare for those of us who have accepted Him as Savior. When that happens, we can spend the first thousand years praising God. After that we may have time to spend with the wonderful people who made our sojourn here a pleasant experience.
With Christian Love to All,
Roy and Arlene Glass
No comments:
Post a Comment