MAY

A GLANCE AT THE PAST

We left our church family in April of 1940, worrying about church finances and the growing war in Europe, but finding happiness in the warm spring days and in following the adventures of the Cleveland Indians baseball team, led by their great young pitcher, Bob Feller.  On opening day he had pitched a no-hitter, an unheard of feat.  He had been signed by the Indians in 1936, while he was still in high school, going directly to the major league, and returning in the off season to finish his education and earn his degree.  He would have excellent years in 1940 and 1941.  Then, just days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, he enlisted in the U S Navy.  He would not return to pitching for the Indians until late in the 1945 season.  He picked up in the 1946 season where he had been when he left, an amazing pitcher with the fastest fastball recorded at that time.  He also pitched his second no-hitter in 1946, this time against the formidable New York Yankees who had Tommy Heinrich and Joe DiMaggio on their team at that time.  He would pitch his third no-hitter in 1951 against the Detroit Tigers when he no longer had his blazing fastball but had to rely on his slider and finesse.  But, in May of 1940, the Indians many fans loved to watch him whenever they could hitch a ride to Cleveland, and listen to Jack Graney give the play by play on the radio the rest of the time.  It’s hard for us to understand, but baseball was much bigger than football seventy-five years ago in 1940.  So our Girard church family would have been well aware of Bob Feller and the Indians even as they went about the business of our church.  As usual when reporting about our church seventy-five years ago I rely upon our church archives along with articles from The Girard News which can be found on microfilm at the Girard Free Library.

The Friday, May 3rd edition of the News reported that Rev. Hilberry would be preaching on “Life’s Waiting Room” Sunday, the 5th.  There is another interesting sermon title!  Little did he know that seventy-five years later we would be wondering what on earth was he preaching about?

The following day, Monday evening May 6th, the Official Board held their monthly meeting.  The minutes are available in our archives.  J J Wiand presided.  Rev. Hilberry opened the meeting with prayer.  Mrs. Williams made the financial report, which noted a deficit of $863.30 as of that date.  Mr. Wiand and Rev. Hilberry reported on changing the order of services on Sunday morning worship.  (No details were recorded of what the change involved .)  Mr. Howells moved, and Mr. Burtsfield seconded, that meetings of the Official Board be moved to 8 PM on the first Thursday of the month instead of Monday evenings.  Motion carried.  Mr. Burtsfield moved and Mr. Crider seconded that the President of the Official Board arrange a joint meeting of the Official Board and the Sunday School Board to discuss the question of a new order of the Sunday service.  Motion carried.  Mr. Howells moved and Mr. Burtsfield seconded that the Chairmen of the Finance Committee and the Trustees meet to address the question of the Building Fund Account and report at the next meeting.  Motion carried.  Then the meeting was adjourned. 

In addition to finances, our church family was most certainly worrying about events in Europe.  The German army began its invasion of France on May 10th, and by the 13th, had opened up a 60 mile wide breach of the Maginot Line providing a wide highway into the heart of that country.  In England, Neville Chamberlain had resigned and Winston Churchill became Prime Minister, telling the House of Commons, “I have nothing to offer you but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.”  On May 16th, {although we were neutral, we had watched as other neutral countries were invaded}, our President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed a joint session of the U. S. Congress and asked for an extraordinary credit of approximately $900 million to finance construction of at least 50,000 airplanes per year.    By May 20th, German Panzer forces had raced across France to take the town of Noyelles on the English Channel, leaving nothing but that narrow strand of water between them and England.  The British and French armies fighting the German Army in Norway were being pushed back and in danger of being cut off from escape.

Meanwhile back at our church, May 26th was designated a Homecoming Service with all friends and former members of the church invited to attend.  There was special music by the choir and a guest speaker, Rev. Charles B. Hess, D.D. gave the morning message.  Although our church family would not know it at the time, that day was also the beginning of what would become the “Miracle of Dunkirk”, a turning point in World War II.  Due to a combination of events including an incomprehensible three day delay of an attack by the German Army and a miraculous spell of smooth water in the British Channel along with cloudy skies that made it hard for German planes to see them, the British Navy, along with a flotilla of every kind of small boat in England that could help, evacuated a total of over 330,000 British, French and other Allied troops to safety in England to regroup and fight again. 

On that note, we will leave our church family from 75 years ago – looking forward to the warmth of June, summertime activities, and maybe better news from Europe.