Early Memories of Westminster Presbyterian Church

Reflection by Dave Noble

I was baptized into Westminster Church 82 years ago. Some of my earliest memories are of attending Westminster services in Memorial Chapel on the campus of the College of Wooster. I estimate that the Westminster services in those days were attended by close to 1,000 people each Sunday. This included a College choir, dressed in black robes that processed up the center aisle during the opening hymn and recessed during the closing hymn. It took nearly the entirety of a four stanza hymn for the choir to process or recess. The choir probably had nearly 100 college students in it.

Before church, my brother and I attended Westminster Sunday school in the basement of Kauke Hall. For many years, the leader of the Sunday school was Clare Adel Schreiber. When we were in junior high and high school, Sunday school was held in Taylor Hall which was the home of the College Theater. We liked to get to Sunday School early so we could explore the backstage of the College Theater. There was a warren of props, pictures and costumes that we found fascinating. There were sets and backdrops on stage. We enjoyed exploring all of this.

My favorite Sunday School teacher was Phil Shipe, the College football coach. He kept us entertained with stories of the football team. We found this much more interesting than the usual Sunday School fare.

I also remember Westminster holding regular potluck suppers in the basement of Kauke. My mother always cooked up a storm before one of those events because each family was expected to bring far more than they would consume themselves. The College students were invited and many participated.

Memorial Chapel looked like the most solidly constructed building imaginable. It was built with what appeared to be huge blocks of sandstone. The outside aisles featured large pillars supporting the walls and roof above. There were metal rods passing overhead that connected the walls on both sides of the Chapel. I never thought much about those rods until I heard Howard Lowry describe how engineers informed him shortly after he became President of the College that the Chapel was about to fall down. The rods had to be installed to keep the weight of the roof from causing the walls to collapse outwards.

After the rods were installed, the building survived another 23 years until it was flattened in 1968. I remember watching Bogner Construction demolish Memorial Chapel. It turns out the apparently thick sandstone walls were merely a facade of three inch thick sandstone slabs. The large pillars supporting the roof were made of lath and plaster with a 4x4 in the center to support the weight of the walls and roof. In other words, the original construction was incredibly flimsy.

When I was a student at the College of Wooster in 1962-63, I learned one reason the Westminster services were so well attended. The College students were required to attend an approved religious service about half the Sundays of each semester. Most found it easiest to attend the Westminster services on campus.

After college, I moved to other locations. I returned to Wooster in 1999 and Westminster became my church once again.

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