USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Springfield > Trinity's first century, 1844-1944 > Part 8
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12
The immediate need was a staff. Philip Landers was leaving to take up his work in Minneapolis. Mrs. Palmer had been stolen by Mr. Ludwig Kongsted. Miss McKin- non was through. Mrs. Mary E. Snyder, director of music and carilloneur, was seriously ill and before the year was out the entire church was saddened by her death.
Only Earle Herbert, Mrs. Mary Lewis, Helen Durgin and the sextons provided continuity.
Slowly, and with difficulty, a staff was built. Miss
124
TRINITY'S FIRST CENTURY
Rev. Dr. F. Marion Smith Second Pastor of the new Trinity Church
125
TRINITY'S FIRST CENTURY
Lillian May White took up the duties of Director of Re- ligious Education, Miss Mary Adams became the pastor's assistant. Among those who served in the office was Miss Eleanor Sederlund, whose sudden death was mourned by the church. The table in the sanctuary narthex is a mem- orial to her. Miss Eleanor Jones, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles W. Jones, came from the Boston University School of Religious Education and entered into the life of the church just long enough to be loved and add to the grief at her untimely death. Four of the groups in the Women's Society have been given memorial names and two of these are the Eleanor Jones Group and the Mary Snyder Group.
When Miss Durgin, as the first bride in the sanctuary, became Mrs. Chester Buckley, Ruth Campbell served for a time in the office, but the first secretary to settle down for a real stay was Miss Ethel Hartenstein.
Mrs. Dorothy Birchard Mulroney, one of Springfield's ablest musicians, was called to the leadership of the music. She provided a combination of skill and enthusiasm which continued Trinity's reputation as a center of great chorus singing and musical pageantry. There were three vested choirs and the Christmas Candle Light Carol Services packed the sanctuary. Mrs. Mulroney also took up the study of the carillon seriously and became widely noted for her proficiency on that magnificent instrument. She was prominent in the American Guild of Carilloneurs, was guest soloist by invitation on the most famous carillons in Europe, where she played before royalty, in Canada and the United States. One New Year's Eve her talent was featured on the coast-to-coast broadcast of a major net- work.
A volunteer member of the staff who, nevertheless, prov- ed to be an important asset was a minister who had just re- tired from the Conference and had come to live in Spring- field, Reverend Dr. Frederick A. Leitch. In 1930 he quietly reported for duty in the work he loved and for ten years Dr. Leitch was the kind of an assistant pastor and Minister of Worship who is beyond the reach of any salary.
126
TRINITY'S FIRST CENTURY
-
Rev. Dr. Frederick A. Leitch
Among the laymen there were names which had shone like beacon lights through the years, but had now dis- appeared from the rolls. Death made its relentless claims. There were many removals. But, again, new members arose to take their places. Kenneth Dowley was treasurer, John Zink entered into the picture, there were Galen Snow, Cy Norton, Ray Peckham, Mrs. Else, Professor Frederick Strasburg and many others.
127
TRINITY'S FIRST CENTURY
Wedding Ceremony in Grace Chapel.
128
TRINITY'S FIRST CENTURY
Deep in the depression, clouded by debt, the church struggled desperately, courageously. It was the bitter and unglamorous role of retrenchment all along the line and all the time. In three years the annual current expense budget was cut from $60,000 to $25,454 -- almost two thirds. With so many of the major expenses in the big plant rigidly fixed, it is obvious where the cuts fell. By 1933 there were no deaconesses, no assistant pastor, Earle Herbert was assuming the responsibility of both the phy- sical and the religious educational programs, Miss Hart- enstein was alone in the office. The miracle is that in this large, seven-day-a-week, institutional church of 1400 members the program did not fall apart completely. In- stead, by the incredible, perservering, dogged toil of these three and the rallying of volunteer lay leadership the gen- eral service program of the church maintained its ministry to a depressed public, deeply in need of it. .
The obstacles were heartbreaking. During part of 1933 all the Community House activities were shut down and the plant vacated. At times there was earnest talk of clos- ing the Sanctuary and going back to worship in the Com- munity Hall in order to save heating bills. The publica- tion of The Carillon was dropped for three years. For two summers there were no services at all. There was a serious effort to unite Trinity and Faith Congregational Churches. One minor but highly suggestive item lays bare the character of that period; in the church year of 1932-33 Dr. Smith performed just five wedding cermonies. For comparison, ten years later Trinity's pastor performed seventy-two. But during that same year Dr. Smith con- ducted fifty-two funeral services, an average of one a week! That was the mood.
There were campaigns, of course. Professional church finance experts were called in, spring and fall drives were made, there were refinancing steps and new experiments in administration -- including a plan which turned all re- sponsibility and authority over to laymen.
But the trouble was that there just wasn't enough money in the pockets of the people.
129
-
TRINITY'S FIRST CENTURY
Yet the program went on. In 1932 Charles Jones re- ported $2,750 for World Service. There were fourteen flourishing Junior Achievement Clubs under the auspices of the Junior Achievement Foundation, the national youth movement conceived and founded by Mr. Horace Moses and Mr. Robert Cleeland. The average Church School attendance was well over four hundred. The swimming pool and gymnasium were as full as ever, the Trinity Bas- ketball team took championships regularly, the Trinity Athletic Association with Richard Carr as president was active, the Men's Club membership reached four hundred, a series of Thursday evening Church Fellowship institutes combining social, educational and worship experiences were splendidly supported. In 1934 the New England Annual Conference was invited and came to hold its 138th session in Trinity. Bishop Adna Wright Leonard con- ducted a Preaching Mission which drew great congrega- tions of spiritually hungry people. Echoes of Lucius E. Ladd were to be found in one of Secretary Kenneth Mill- er's observations when he wrote, "Our pastor's influence is growing deeper into our lives and his report tonight show- ed how ably he is leading us in these critical hours."
For though people were not getting married and Spring- field was not growing and there were no thrilling building enterprises and no fortunes were being made by exhuber- ant laymen -- people were dying and hearts were heavy, discouragement lay like a wet bank of fog upon the heart. There were many, many hurts. To these Trinity Church, seven days a week, reached out gracious, strong hands, and to these Dr. Smith untiringly carried the assurances of God and the shared sympathy and counsel of a friend who cared.
In September, 1934, a young theologue, Reverend Charles Jack, came to shoulder some of the work as an assistant pastor. Some understanding laymen agreed to underwrite the expense of his service outside the regular budget. He resurrected The Carillon helped the harried Mr. Herbert in the educational field, entered enthusiasti- cally into the dramatic program of the Community House,
130
TRINITY'S FIRST CENTURY
and assisted in the personal pastoral work of the parish.
Mr. Carlos B. Ellis died in 1935. As the long-honored principal of the High School of Commerce and a civic leader he was one of Springfield's first citizens. Unceas- ingly he had served Trinity as chairman of the building committee, chairman of the Board of Trustees and as ever available counselor.
In April 1935, Dr. Smith reported, "This is the fifth year of the depression and the fifth year of my ministry in Trinity Church." Then he and Mrs. Smith went to Eng- land to preach under the auspices of the commission ar- ranging exchanges between ministers of the two countries.
The following December he read to the congregation his resignation to take effect the next June, in 1936, with the intention of entering the administrative area of the educational field. He was subsequently elected to the presidency of Evansville College in Indiana, and is today the successful pastor of the great Central Avenue Metho- dist Church in Indianapolis. The home of Dr. and Mrs. Smith has since been brightened by the advent of a new baby girl. Wilson is in the army.
Shortly afterwards Earle Herbert announced his re- signation to take effect the following August and bring to an end an administration of the broad community pro- gram which had almost encompassed the life of the new church. He was to become a member of the administra- tive staff of Wilbraham Academy.
Miss Hartenstein had fallen in love with and married the President of Trinitan Fellowship, Mr. Richard H. E. Hunt, but she was still at her post in the office -- she, the sextons and Mary Lewis being the only members of the staff left. '
Incidentally, if Trinitan Fellowship had nothing else to its credit, it has more than served the present age, its call- ing to fulfill, in bringing together and leading to the altar a long procession of happy young couples who found each other in a pretty wonderful place for such important findings.
131
TRINITY'S FIRST CENTURY
THE PRESENT MINISTRY
This time Trinity Church, now with 1422 members, turned toward West Virginia for a new minister. There was no pastor between June and September, but then Bishops Burns and Leonard consented and in September, 1936, Reverend H. Hughes Wagner, thirty-three years old, was transferred to the New England Conference and appointed to Trinity. Mrs. Kenneth Miller, president of the Women's Society, was cleaning the stove in the parson- age when he drove in with Mrs. Wagner, six year old Jimmy and four year old Mary Jo.
Again the first job was to gather a staff. Howard Simons, who had been the right hand man of Earle Her- bert in the swimming program, took over the direction of physical education. Miss Anna Wilbur was invited to become director of religious education. Two years later it was decided to have one qualified person co-ordinate and supervise the whole educational program with the assis- tance of swimming and gym instructors from Springfield College. For one year, before taking a charge in the Northeast Ohio Conference, Reverend Roland G. Carter served in that capacity. The Phi Beta Pi Sorority he or- ganized on March 27, 1939 with Miss Carolyn Clark as the first "Alpha", has become a flourishing group. Then Mr. Morris Burroughs came in the fall of 1939. He was a versatile young man with both teaching and preaching experience, extraordinary musicianship and possessed of a charming new wife. For four years there wasn't much that he couldn't or wouldn't or didn't do.
When Mrs. Ethel Hartenstein Hunt finished her term of seven years in the church office, it was the accomplished Mrs. Burroughs who took over.
When the musical set-up was reorganized in May 1941 and Prescott Barrows became the organist and director of music, Miss Margaret Hill the soprano, Mrs. Esther Strong Clapp the contralto and only George Roberts re- mained as bass, it was Mr. Burroughs who became the tenor in the quartet.
132
TRINITY'S FIRST CENTURY
Rev. Dr. H. Hughes Wagner Present Pastor of Trinity Church
133
TRINITY'S FIRST CENTURY
When the departure of Mrs. Mulroney left the sixty-one bell carillon without a carilloneur, it was Mr. Burroughs who journeyed to New York, studied under Dr. Lefevere of the Riverside Church, and became the popular maestro of that difficult instrument.
The Men's Club which had disbanded was revived with Ralph Smith as the president and when Minstrel Time came it was Morris Burroughs who trained a glee club, organized an orchestra and himself starred in the shows.
Dr. Frederick Leitch died in 1939. The funeral was held in Grace Chapel before the altar where he had so often baptized babies, married happy young people and consoled the sorrowing. Since the altar-rail in Grace Chapel is the same one that was in old Pynchon Street Church, it has looked down upon the sadness and joys of a hundred years of Trinity life. Dr. Rolland Smith was asked to accept the voluntary but important work of assisting in the wor- ship service and he has been regularly in the chancel since.
In 1940 the Burroughs' little daughter was born, only to be lost. Miss Elizabeth Johnson became secretary and continues to the present with increasing efficiency and graciousness. And in 1942 the parsonage at 87 Maple- wood Terrace was startled by the appearance of a new little baby boy in the preacher's family. But the parson- age gathered its strength for the ordeal and is still stand- ing.
The famous hurricane blew the Eastern States Exposi- tion away and the ladies' dining hall with it. In 1937, under the leadership of Harold Johnson, a unique New Year's Eve program was promoted combining a Commun- ity House Party with a Sanctuary Watch-Night service which has become a popular annual tradition and been flattered by emulation all over the country. A Summer Preaching Program was launched in 1937 which has brought leading personalities to the Trinity pulpit and kept the doors to the altar open and busy every Sabbath since. In 1936 evening vespers were broadcast regularly over radio station WSPR and from 1938 until 1943 the entire morning worship service was broadcast.
134
TRINITY'S FIRST CENTURY
Mr. Herbert Hutchinson, who had been sexton almost from the first, died. He, too, was buried from Grace Chapel which he had cleaned many thousands of times, the funeral text being, "Better to be a door-keeper in the house of the Lord than to dwell in the tents of the wicked." Richard Forrest took his place for two years, then Harry Tilbury came in November, 1942, later to be assisted by Mr. Harlan Deitz. Soon Mr. Frederick Berry, an inter- ested layman, would be supervising the program of phy- sical education.
And what of the debt?
First, early in 1937 a successful drive wiped out the current expense running deficit of over $4,000 and the budget was put on a clean basis and stayed that way.
For all the years since the 1929 crash the entire build- ing debt structure had been handled personally by Horace Moses. Not only did he keep the sheriff away single handed, he paid the heavy interest charges himself, man- aged the vexing taxation and rental problems, quietly re- duced the principle as necessary, and never for one mo- ment faltered in expressing his confidence that between the Lord, himself, and the people the load would eventually be lifted.
As early as 1936 there were rumblings of war. In 1939 Europe broke into flames. America began to arm. Spring- field was now an industrial city of 150,000 people. Its chief industries were machine tool products and the im- plements and skills which closely follow the nation's gen- eral business trends. The very factors which had made Springfield suffer excessively during the depression were now the same which boomed during industrial expansion. True, heavy taxation prevented the centralization of wealth but income was spread more widely. Trinity,
peopled largely with the white collar class, was hurt almost as much by the inflationary cost of living as helped by rising wages. Furthermore the demands of the armed ser- vices struck hard. By 1944 there would be 230 away in national service, many of them taken from places of vital leadership in the church.
135
TRINITY'S FIRST CENTURY
George W. Lamb General Chairman of the Trinity Crusade under whose magnificent leadership the Com- mittee, one hundred and'twenty five loyal, earnest and determined men and women of Trinity, brought to a successful conclusion the stupendous effort of clearing off the debt of $205,000.00.
Nevertheless, the strategic hour had arrived. It was Easter, 1943. There would never be a more opportune time, psychologically or economically. Throughout the church life could be felt a deepened spiritual consciousness.
Horace Moses gave the word. George Lamb was select- ed as general chairman, with Leland Symmes, Edwin Malone, Charles Lee, Nelson Foley, G. Brady Buckley,
136
TRINITY'S FIRST CENTURY
Paul Rothery, Hubert Carmack and J. Allan Hunter heading departments of a grimly mobilized organization. The Methodist Board of Church Extension sent Dr. F. Olen Hunt to afford valuable counsel and inspiration. It was to be a Crusade. The church swallowed hard when the goal was set, for it represented far more than the total building costs of old Trinity and old Grace combined. It was for $205,000, to be subscribed and paid in full with- in one hundred weeks.
On the fourth of July, 1943, George Lamb could an- nounce to the congregation that the full amount had been subscribed. It was not to be wondered that the congrega- tion broke precedent by rising and bursting into spontan- eous applause. By the summer of 1944 $150,000 had been paid in cash and applied to the notes, the balance was fully underwritten and coming in regularly each week.
This was the entire unsecured indebtedness of the church. There were still mortgages of $179,500 on those painful Bridge Street properties, but rentals were now yielding sufficient income to cover their carrying charges and valuations were, at least, not falling. It looked like Trinity, the great new Trinity, would be out of debt in just about the same time it had taken old Trinity and old Grace to clear the decks -- fifteen years after dedication. All this would have pleased Lucius E. Ladd very much. Now he could rest again.
It is superfluous to add that the contribution of Horace A Moses to this Crusade was, to use a mild term, con- siderable. There are two sentences which describe the story, as eloquent as they are simple.
Horace Moses promised to see the church through. He kept that promise.
Old Pynchon Street had its William Rice. Old Grace had its David Smith, that "strong friend." Old Trinity had its Horace Smith. Trinity Church and Grace Chapel have their Horace A. Moses.
After serving four years Mr. Burroughs left to accept a teaching position in the Eaglebrook School at Old Deer- field. In the fall of 1943 Miss Edith Jordan, of Scranton,
137
TRINITY'S FIRST CENTURY
-
A
Vacation Bible School, July, 1944
Miss Edith Jordan, Director of Education, at extreme right.
138
TRINITY'S FIRST CENTURY
.Pennsylvania, was invited, accepted, and assumed the leadership of the educational program. The tensions of war were to be seen in many new programs, one of them being the Red Cross unit, headed by Miss Erma Randall, with forty women in surgical white busy each Tuesday and producing an accumulated total of 176,460 items.
The untiring reaper was the only one from old Pynchon Street who still came and went among the members. Now Professor Strasburg, A. A. Carroll, Mrs. John Ohnsman, Royal B. Sturtevant and many, many others had joined the great host who had gone before. In the Centennial Year itself, within a few weeks of each other, four of the old guard marched up to Heaven almost hand in hand -- Henry Streeter, Horace Clark, Edward Seyler and Lewis Robinson. The venerable old altar-rail in Grace Chapel looked down upon familiar scenes.
As Dr. Rolland Smith, Edwin Malone, and their com- mittee laid eager plans for the Centennial observance in October 1944, Dr. Wagner was appointed to his ninth year as pastor. And, as he was heard to say only yester- day, "I am happier and prouder each year."
139
1
TRINITY'S SERVICE FLAG IN WORLD WAR II
Gold Stars
1 Lieut. Richard E. Day, U. S. Army Air Force Ensign Harold D. Webster, Naval Air Force Ensign Robert W. Calhoun, Naval Air Force Lieut. Charles W. Hutchinson, U. S. Army
8 TRINITY IN 1944
T HE total full membership is 1886, of which 273 are on a nonresident inactive list. There are 733 homes in the immediate parish.
900 copies of The Carillon are published and mailed each week for 41 weeks of the year.
40 separate organized activities are now regularly sche- duled and in addition there are numerous special events.
The cumulative number of people who participate in Trinity affairs per year is 107,120, divided almost equally between strictly religious functions and community type activities.
8000 different individuals take part in the various pro- grams annually.
The average number of people in all Trinity worship services, per Sunday, is 1060.
The average number of people in Trinity community house enterprises per week, is 1000.
On this Easter Sunday, in two identical morning wor- ship services, 2,210 persons attended.
The enrollment in the Christian Education Department is 530, in the morning Church School Departments 329. There are 51 officers and teachers on the Christian Ed- ucational staff.
There are 230 in some branch of the armed services of our country, four gold stars, one missing in action, one a prisoner of war.
141
TRINITY'S FIRST CENTURY
-
r
L
*
The Gymnasium
142
TRINITY'S FIRST CENTURY
-
CHURCH
Trinity's Championship Basketball Team In Action.
2,500 persons used the gymnasium this year. There were 14,519 individual swims. In one day there were 253 people in the swimming pool.
The Trinity Men's Basketball Team this year won the championship of the Springfield Inter-Church League, and broke a league record with the phenomenal score of 212-36. The Trinity Men's Bowling Team took second honors in the Inter-Church Bowling League.
143
TRINITY'S FIRST CENTURY
The Swimming Pool
/ / 1/09/1
/45/
4
33 7331
33013339
144
TRINITY'S FIRST CENTURY
NO RUNNING
Boys and girls of all races and creeds enjoy Trinity's fine pool.
The largest number of babies treated in the Well-Baby Clinic in one day, 157.
There are just four full time paid members on the church staff; the minister, the director of education, the office secretary, and the chief sexton. In addition there are ten part time paid workers, fourteen in all on the em- ployed staff.
There are.300 members of the Women's Society for Christian Service, organized into 11 unit groups, and in- corporating the foreign and home missionary work. This past year the Society contributed $736 to missions, $700 to the church current budget, and $1000 on a $1500 pledge to the Debt Crusade.
There are 150 members of the Trinity Men's Club.
There are six local preachers, three of whom are in a pulpit each Sunday.
There are 80 voices in the combined Chancel and Junior choirs.
165 boys, girls and leaders are in Scouting groups.
145
TRINITY'S FIRST CENTURY
Community and Banquet Hall, with stage.
146
TRINITY'S FIRST CENTURY
K
4
Worship Group in Grace Chapel, Vacation Bible School.
Plays produced by the Trinity Players this past year; "The Patsy," "Nothing But The Truth," "Claudia." Three times members of the Players transplanted their tal- ents to Bradley Field Base Hospital or to Westover Field for the entertainment of the soldiers.
The church guide, Mr. J. Edwin Fletcher, this past year escorted 343 through a lecture tour of the buildings.
There were 159 accessions to full membership of the church.
There were 50 weddings in Grace Chapel, 74 baptisms, 6 funerals. The minister conducted 51 funerals in all.
715 pledge cards represented the contributions to curr- ent expenses of approximately 1200 individuals, and total- ed $24,373. The total budget of current expenses and in- come for the year is $35,118.
During the past 11 months the people also paid in cash $124,764 toward the liquidation of the debt. Other con- tributions to this fund and more recent collections have brought it up to $150,000. The remaining $55,000 is fully covered by subscriptions.
147
TRINITY'S FIRST CENTURY
A Kindergarten Class, Church School.
ITEMS OF INTEREST
Ministers in special service related to Trinity Quarter- ly Conference are Reverend Warren T. Powell, Director of Student Counseling and Religious Activities in Boston University, and Reverend Frederick W. Smith, Superin- tendent of the Christian Civic League of Maine.
Trinity Church was awarded first prize in the National Church Building Contest held in conjunction with the Conference on Church Architecture at Cleveland, Ohio, during October, 1930. Designs of many of the important churches of the nation were entered and the judges were outstanding architects and specialists.
In 1943 the Golden Rule Foundation of America pub- lished a brochure of Cathedral Stamps, which illustrated and gave short descriptive sketches of the 100 outstanding church buildings of all faiths in the world. Trinity was one of them.
Grace Chapel is always open for private prayer and meditation.
148
TRINITY'S FIRST CENTURY
7
Handicraft Class in Woodworking. Junior Achievement Room.
The Junior Achievement Room was the first ever built into the design of a church. Mr. Horace A. Moses, of Trinity, one of the founders of the Junior Achievement Movement was also prominent in the original organization of the 4-H Clubs of America. He was the founder of the Strathmore Paper Company, its president until 1943, and is still chairman of the board.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.