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| Year 2008 provided the opportunity to celebrate 60 years of ministry in Reiffton. Several activities were celebrated throughout the year. Click on this link 60th Anniversary Celebration to see our history and how we celebrated. |
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Reformation members who worshipped in the Barracks, namely Shirley
Focht, Jean Lombardi, June McDonough and Catherine Reed, all met in the parlor
at Reformation Church on the morning of August 27th to share their memories
with members of the 60th Anniversary Committee and Pastor Steve. Shirley,
Jean, June and Catherine were able to identify many members who were featured
in old, unlabeled pictures of those early days in the Barracks.
Catherine Reed recalled that her family joined Reformation 47 years ago.
During the 1960s it was not unusual to arrive at church for a meeting, and
find Pastor Ducker already there busily hand turning the mimeograph machine to
print out Sundays bulletin. The original had been typed either by Pastor
Ducker or the volunteer secretary. Then Pastor Ducker would take the
bulletins home and have his 80-plus-year-old-mother fold them. Mrs. Oletta
Sassaman, Shirley Fochts aunt, finally gave the church her own typewriter, and
this was proudly mentioned in the following Sundays bulletin. During winter
Catherine arrived to see Pastor Ducker busily shoveling snow, chipping ice or
salting the walks. Yes, Pastor Ducker was a jack-of-all-trades.
June McDonough recalled that she joined the congregation because Pastor
Gilbert made a home visit. June was instrumental in converting the basement
of the Barracks into a place for teenagers. June was a part of the choir in
the Barracks, and she remained a Reformation choir member for over fifty
years. She also was one of the first women to serve on church council.
Shirley Focht, a Reformation charter member, remembered one Sunday
morning after a bad Saturday snowstorm when no traffic was moving on Route 422
she and her mother bundled Shirleys sons in snowsuits, got the sled and walked
down the highway pulling the sled. No cars were seen on the road as they made
their way to the Barracks, but a worship service was held nonetheless.
Shirleys mother, Iona Steinmetz, donated the altar flower vases and her aunt,
Oletta Sassaman, donated the candlesticks for the Barracks.
Jean Lombardi moved from Allentown to Reiffton in 1962 and joined
Reformation Church so that her two sons could attend Sunday School. Jean was
active as a Sunday School teacher and as a choir member in the Barracks.
Others who worshiped in the Barracks but who could not attend this
meeting forwarded their memories to the committee earlier. Peg Ruch shared
that she was one of the first babies to be baptized in the Barracks in
September of 1949, and that her mother, Vesta Minnich, was the first organist.
Susie (Yoder) Olson has fond memories of the Luther League that was started by
Catherine Reed in 1962 for young people aged 12-25. Susie recalled a summer
when the Luther League painted the sanctuary of the Barracks and another time
when the group made an overnight trip to the beach.
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Click here for a picture of the Barracks Sketch. |
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Updated:
October 22, 2010
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