Church’s Flock Is Reunited on Centennial Day : North Hollywood: Past and present parishioners reminisce as First United Methodist celebrates its long history with a joyous gathering.

To the peals of a bell choir and the laughter of parishioners, one of the San Fernando Valley’s oldest churches marked its 100th anniversary Sunday with a celebration that brought together 500 past and present members from all over Southern California.

“It’s neat. You go away all these years and come back and the same people are here,” said former parishioner Tracey Dodge of Santa Ana, as dozens of people behind her filed into the First United Methodist Church of North Hollywood for an afternoon celebration.

It was the culmination of a year of centennial events, including reunions for former choristers and youth-group members.

The day began with a worship service in the sanctuary then continued with a luncheon in the social hall, where hundreds of people chatted, sipped coffee and reminisced. For Richard N. Thompson of Van Nuys, who attends another church now but was an active member during World War II, some of the memories were of the church’s red-brick buildings themselves and the land they rested on.

“We bought this property here for $20,000,” said Thompson, 85, who was treasurer when church officials claimed the land in the late 1940s. “Six years after we built the church, we were free and clear.”

The church’s present site, near the intersection of Tujunga Avenue and Riverside Drive, is its fourth location. Since its establishment in 1892, First United Methodist of North Hollywood has held services in a school and two other buildings it subsequently outgrew.

In the late 1950s, membership peaked at nearly 2,000 parishioners, who swelled a sanctuary complete with wooden ceiling and stained-glass windows.

“We used to have two services pretty well-filled,” recalled the Rev. Bill Merwin, who headed the church from 1957 to 1963 and came out from Tucson, Ariz., for the celebration. “Ernie Ford and Andy Griffith--people like that were in the congregation. It was well-known in the Valley.”

“It feels historic when you note that there are at least a dozen couples here who have been married 50 years or longer, who were married here,” said the Rev. Joey K. McDonald, the current pastor. “And their children and grandchildren are here, so you sometimes have three or four generations.”

Dodge was one parishioner who came to the church single and left married. In 1978, she met her future husband at the church, although at first it was love from afar.

“I was very active in the choir. That’s how I spotted him. I was up there singing, and I saw him and said, ‘Hmm--that’s for me,’ ” Dodge, 38, recalled with a laugh. “That’s the advantage of being in the choir.”

Nowadays, the church has about 200 regular attendees, among them Virginia Havick of North Hollywood, who has belonged to the church for the better part of three decades.

“The people that are still here got older, and our children grew up and moved away,” Havick said. “But we have a new crop coming in.

“I love this church.”