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Church, childhood forever connected As the daughter of a Methodist preacher,
I spent a lot of time in a lot of different churches during my formative years.

But the “church so dear to my childhood,” to quote one of my favorite old
hymns, was Glover Memorial Methodist.

I’ve been thinking about Glover a lot lately, because of an invitation I received to the 45th Heritage Sunday celebration July 9 at Wesley United Methodist Church, 2200 Phoenix Avenue. There will be morning worship services at 8:30 and 10:30 and a potluck lunch at noon, followed by fellowship and hymn singing.

Glover and St. Luke’s Methodist Church merged 45 years ago this month to form Wesley Methodist Church. All former members and pastors and their families of all the churches that have been a part of Wesley – Pine Street Methodist, Towson Avenue Methodist, South Fort Smith Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Wesley and Grace Community Church – are invited to the celebration.

The history of the merger of the churches can be found in the archives of the Western District of the Arkansas Conference of United Methodist Churches
located next to Wesley UMC. The records are maintained by Iris Hightower of the Wesley UMC Archives and History Committee and are open to the public from 1- 3 p.m. Thursdays and by appointment.

When I visited the archives for the first time last month, I was surprised to ind so many relics from Glover Memorial there. Seeing the old, wooden communion service, pulpit, lighted cross, metal baptismal bowl and choir chairs brought tears to my eyes.

As long as I live I will cherish all the memories I have of Glover Memorial, which my dad, the Rev. Roy Poynor, pastored from 1953 to 1958. I grew up in that church, met some of the most wonderful people I’ve ever known there and returned there when I was 18 to marry the love of my life (and husband of 45 years) Frank Seubold.

Some of my best friends at Glover were Becky Burke, Helen Simpson, Bettye Ben Clark and Peggy McAlpin. Helen was the church pianist when we were in our teens and Becky was her “reluctant” back-up.

“I never liked to practice, so it was harder for me,” Becky Burke Faldon recently reminisced. “I dreaded hitting a wrong note – especially when I had to play for Chico (Norvell) when she sang ‘O Holy Night.’ ”

Chico had a thrilling voice – I can still hear her singing “The Holy City” on
Easter morning. And Lily Quick’s octave-spanning rendition of “His Eye Is On The Sparrow.” And the Shoemaker family quartet harmonizing on “Peace Be Still” and “Lead Me Gently Home, Father.” Once, in the mid-’50s, my dad invited the choir of a local black church to sing at Glover – and what glorious music filled the sanctuary on that surprising (to some members) occasion.

The names of many members from those days come to mind – Price, Louise, Jimmy, Ruth and Ronnie Robinson; Thelma Hendrix; Mildred, Milla Beth and Don Cozart; Helen’s family – Naman, Naomi, Ben Ed and Nancy Simpson; Lorene O’Neal, Faye and Harris Lewis; Johnny, Vera and Barbara Romine – to name but a few.

The history of Glover Memorial Church began with a tent revival held in south Fort Smith by the Rev. Elmer Hook in 1935. Out of the revival, Pine Street Methodist Church was founded. Members of the fledgling congregation raised the money to build the small, white frame church on what is now Knoxville Street.

My Aunt Minnie DeHart remembers her mother (my grandmother) Lucretia
Kidd and Bea Marchbanks “taking up donations and selling little cookbooks to help get that little church built.” Aunt Minnie says she can still see her son Buddy and daughter Beverly walking down the railroad tracks from their house to the church, hand in hand with their grandmother. Buddy remembers hearing some of the first sermons my dad ever preached – probably around 1946 – at Pine Street Methodist.

“Your daddy was preaching there the morning your grandmother Poynor got
saved,” Buddy told me recently. “He was somewhere between earth and heaven in his joy and I remember him saying, ‘If I don’t ever have anybody else to preach to I can preach to my mom.”

In about 1947, Pine Street Methodist was moved to Towson Avenue and
renamed Towson Avenue Methodist Church. Around 1952, it was moved
again, several blocks north and east to Independence Street, and renamed Glover Memorial Methodist in honor of the Rev. J.F. Glover, who had pastored the church the last year it was on Towson.

Church members, friends and neighbors built Sunday school classrooms and a fellowship hall onto the back of the church. A house on nearby Jackson Street was purchased for a parsonage and friends, relatives and church members helped Mom and Dad repair and paint it before we moved in.

In 1958, Dad was assigned to another church and within two years began a
series of moves that took him to many different cities and churches – each with its own memorable and wonderful congregations.

Dad’s in a nursing home now, and unable to communicate very well. But if he
could, I think he would agree with me that I doubt we’ll ever experience another church like Glover Memorial this side of Heaven.

Church and childhood forever connected