Part 42 Activity Abounds in 1970’s

Sometimes reading the records of church bodies adds a humorous moment once in a while, at least as interpreted by the reader. In 1971 as Reverend Blake Ellis and the rest of the membership were making plans for the Annual Meeting of the church, Reverend Ellis asked the meeting body if they thought that food and drink should be prepared for what might be a long meeting. Interestingly the body voted against having any food or drink at the upcoming meeting. Now that had to be a first and only in the history of the Methodist Church and especially Peoples. This proved later to be somewhat embarrassing as the presiding District Superintendent, Travers Smith, and his wife Kit were at least looking for coffee and some sweets. Alas none were to be had until someone ran out at the last minute to put on some coffee and to buy some “store-bought” variety of sweets. This must have been the last time that such a phenomenon occurred in the life of Peoples.

The historical records seem to indicate that most of the time while not alone as a Methodist Church in South Portland we often stood alone to serve our area of South Portland. Every so many years, however, a District Superintendent might suggest that the Methodist churches in the area could improve their service through some cooperative agenda. In the early 1970’s a Cooperative Parish Program was originated with 5 churches participating; the four in South Portland and Cape Elizabeth. Regular meetings were held and both lay and pastoral membership were in attendance. The first members of this organization from Peoples included Mahlon Johnson and Carolyn Fawcett. It was even suggested that perhaps all of the churches that were part of the Cooperative Parish would gather together in one church in order to hold the annual meetings for all of the churches. It appears that one church could not be decided upon, therefore, the practice of individual annual meetings continued.

One successful venture of the Cooperative Parish was to sponsor a School of Missions. In 1972 the theme was “ Reconciliation in a Broken World”. Local and outside speakers made presentations on the theme. Workshops were held on 5 nights in January and February. Each meeting was held in one of the 5 churches of the Cooperative Parish. While the numbers in attendance were relatively small the program was considered a success at getting people from the parishes together. The cooperative parish committee also thought that the youth program in each of the churches would benefit from a jointly hired Youth Ministry Coordinator. This was done and the first and perhaps only person to hold the position was Mike Davis. Mike Davis was a product himself of the South Portland School System and was then undertaking theological studies. This Mike Davis is not the same as the one who would serve as District Superintendent with his wife Jan of the Tri-State District at the time of this writing, 2006.

One other activity that was sponsored during the summer months through this organization was a program that allowed parishioners to sample Sunday services in each of the 5 churches. For five Sundays in the summer only one of the churches would be open. One of the pastors would serve as the pastor in a church other than their own. Services were well attended, or at least they looked that way since there were very few empty pews on any of those Sundays. The church that was open on that Sunday provided special music. This was not a brand new idea since the practice had been followed in the 1950’s for a few years.

Mentioned previously in this continuing saga of Peoples was the name of David Hoyt. Long active in the Christian Civic League and Temperance organizations, he played a vital role in the life of Peoples as well. He began one of the long-standing ministries of the church in the early ‘70’s. It was he that initiated the tape ministry. Purchasing the original recording equipment, he was responsible for recording church services on tape and then transporting manufactured tapes to all of the shut-ins that were related to church life. Faithfully he would spend hours copying the tapes and then delivering them to as many as 17 shut-ins around the city. Eventually the ministry became too much for one person and he then enlisted two other folks to assist him. As of this date (2006) the tape ministry is still faithfully maintained and delivered to shut-ins and others who may miss a service on occasion for some reason.

One of the big events on the church women’s yearly calendar was to sponsor the Christmas Fair. I mention women in particular as this event was fully sponsored by the WSCS which would eventually become United Methodist Women. Christmas of 1971 was the first year, however, of male involvement. At the invitation of the women, the Men’s Club sponsored a Ham Supper at the conclusion of the fair. The youth would not be involved in the operation of the fair for several more years.

The men would raise funds through the twice a year Clam Suppers. These funds would often be used to help maintain the properties. The Men’s Club also made substantial contributions in support of Boy Scout Troop 23 and Cub Scout Pack 23. Many of the men served in counseling and leadership roles. Both the troop and pack were well known in Scouting circles for their well-rounded programs. Folks who were a part of the Scouting program during that era and beyond have fond memories of fund raising and, I’m sure, especially the Tom Watt Kits. Others would remember volunteering to support camping and outing opportunities or a cold winter night at Bates Cabin located on the property of Camp Hinds.

Hillie Cass and Belle Graney have had a long association with various missions and mission programs that have been sponsored in the name of Peoples Church. Among the first to consider recycling was a program to recycle cans and bottles. The aforementioned ladies began this in 1971. The notion of recycling was in its infancy locally and nationally and their involvement drew greater awareness to the issue of how we might as a nation renew what resources we have. Hillie and Helen Jewett were also responsible for helping to create a Senior Citizen program that was held on a regular basis for the community in Ellis Hall and was known as the Mature Years Program.. Puzzles were acquired, fitness instruction was provided and movies were sometimes shown. Refreshments were also provided. This program was a predecessor to the program eventually provided by the Southern Maine Agency on Aging as part of the Meals on Wheels program. Hillie, Belle and others, including Elsie Hoyt, were also in close contact with Camp Waban, which provided programs for handicapped folks in York County. Necessities for the Camp were collected in the form of paper products and food and delivered to the camp. A spin-off of the Camp Waban project Belle and Hillie also began a collection of S and H Green Stamp books that would go toward the purchase of a bus for the Cumberland County section of the Augusta Mental Health Institution. It is obvious that 50 Green Stamp books would not do the job, but along with those collected by other organizations the bus was purchased and delivered.

It was also during the 1970’s that Hillie Cass also began the “save the soup label” campaign for the Cerebal Palsy Center. Campbell Soup and associated products would supply institutions with various pieces of equipment that were especially suited for young folks afflicted with neural muscular diseases. The soup labels are still collected in 2006 for the Cerebal Palsy Center for much the same reason.

In October of 1972 a Lay Witness Mission was held at Peoples. Earle Harvey who at this time also served as the Chair of the Council of Ministries was chosen to head this endeavor. Small prayer and concern groups were held in homes of parishioners. A significant series of worship and commitment services were held over the weekend. A banquet of celebration helped the church membership to be closer with each other, the folks who had been with us for the weekend and most importantly, Jesus Christ, our Lord. It was a truly meaningful time for all. In retrospect the Lay Witness Mission did for the church membership at that time what several other programs would be used for spiritual development later.

Reverend Gene Koelker, new to the parish when former Pastor Blake Ellis became the District Superintendent, was particularly concerned for people in the age group of 25-40 range. It seems that age group as it has aged has remained rather small in the life and leadership of the church. We will see later what effect that might have on the life of this parish, and for that matter all parishes.

Tidbits:
By 1973 four former pastors of Peoples had also served or were serving as District Superintendent. Lawrence Porter, William Chamberlain, H. Travers Smith, and Blake Ellis.

Presidents of the Methodist Youth Fellowship in the early 1970’s were Marilyn Darling, Gary Webber and Nancy Tordoff.

Carolyn Fawcett served as the Chairman of the Sunday School in this period of time.

Evelyn Tilton retired as the pianist for the Junior Choir and was replaced by Wealthy Harvey and Carolyn Fawcett.

The membership committee acquired a map of the greater Portland area and placed pushpins in the locations where parishioners lived. This document was kept in the pastor’s study and gave leadership an idea of how spread out the parish had become.

New Methodist hymnals were available in 1972. Donations led to the fund for the new songbooks. The old hymnals were donated to Camp Mechuana and others went to the North Sebago United Methodist Church.

Two church services were initiated in October of 1972. The belief was that younger church attenders would come to an earlier service. The earlier services were attended by about 40 in the year of life the service had. Ironically many of those that attended the earlier service were actually older members of the parish,

Ron Messer the pastor serving the Eliot United Methodist Church (2006)was the President of the Peoples United Methodist Senior Choir in 1972.