First Bishop’s Committee and Confirmation Class

Bishop Emrich appointed the first Bishop’s Committee in February, 1955, naming S. R. Booker, M. J. Anderson, James Almond, E. W. Eaton, Edmund Kayser, Louis Ramp and Joseph Stanley. (Women were not allowed to serve on this committee at the time.) The first confirmation class of March, 1955, consisted of Marjorie Arnold, Edwin Brown, Eleanor Freligh, Ann Kayser and Joseph Stanley.

The Altar Guild was formed in April, with Mrs. Paul Niehaus, Arlene Howe and Dorothy Stanley as officers. (All the women belonged to the Altar Guild when it was formed.)

Herbert and Rose Crandell stayed with us through the first difficult, but enthusiastic year. We can never be grateful enough for their leadership and friendship. A few years after they left, Herbert entered the Virginia Seminary and was later ordained. He served in Flint and for a number of years in Fenton. We had hoped to have an ordained man next to give us the benefit of his experience and to lead us in the way we should go. However, Bishop Emrich thought differently. He said we had a tiny congregation, couldn't afford to pay a proper salary, had no vicarage for him to live in, and told us he would let us have Jack Lee, who would be giving up a good job to go into the ministry and would study under his jurisdiction at the Cathedral in Detroit. A vicarage had to be provided and a small house was found on Pierce St., which the Bishop’s Committee rented for the purpose. The women went in and scrubbed, painted and papered the rooms to make it as attractive as possible. Jack and Leah Lee with daughter Judy, came to us on August 1, 1955. They were tremendous workers and organizers. He was a real leader, even though he was still studying.

In December, 1955, we had a second confirmation class, and Bishop Emrich came to confirm the confirmands. This class consisted of Harold Waller, Arlene Howe, Reva Rogers, Jeremiah MacDougall, Catherine Wojciehowski, Charles Waller and Dorothy Brown. Catherine became ill before she could be confirmed, and after the service, Bishop Emrich went to her home and confirmed her there.

Many others that had joined with us were already Episcopalians, or were later confirmed: Robert and Myra Baldwin, Dewey Tenant, Jean Colquhoun, the young Niehauses, the Robert Taylors, Peggy Almond, Mary Mitchell, and the Bowlings.