On 100th Anniversary, Garden Grove Church Remains a Rock of Ages
Sandy Emmons has been going to the First Baptist Church of Garden Grove all of her 52 years. She met her husband, Donald Emmons, when they were both teens at the church. They were married there.
Their two grown children belong to the church, and Emmons laughed as she told me that when she finally has grandchildren, they’ll be members too, if she has anything to say about it.
“I’ve been on every board and committee we’ve had,” she said. “This church is home to me.”
So when the members of the First Baptist Church of Garden Grove wanted someone to head their 100th-anniversary celebration, Sandy Emmons was the natural choice. There’s a party Friday night at the Garden Grove Community Center and a special anniversary service on Feb. 9.
The church was founded this month in 1897, with 10 members who met on the second floor of a schoolhouse. Active membership was more than 1,000 at its peak in the 1970s; it still has 800 members.
With so many changes taking place in this growing county, it’s nice to see something 100 years old that remains strong and vibrant.
You’ve seen this church if you’ve ever been to the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival. Its sits on the edge of the grounds for the event along Euclid Street, just north of Garden Grove Boulevard. If you’ve ever been on Euclid, you’ve driven right across the grounds of the original sanctuary. It was right in the middle of where the street runs now, explained Harold Viola, one of the church deacons. The road was rerouted in the 1950s.
It was my wife who heard about the church’s anniversary and suggested I check it out. When I did this week, Viola was the first person I ran into. He was covered with paint; he and some of the others are sprucing up the sanctuary for the big celebration.
Viola and his wife, Claudia, have been members of the church some 35 years. During a cleanup the other day, he came across a closet that looked like it hadn’t been opened in years.
Inside was a treasure, 50 years buried, that will add to the excitement of the 100th-anniversary celebration: black and white photographs of the original church, the construction of the present sanctuary just after World War II and many of the church’s leaders.
There were photos of both men and women working to build the new church. You didn’t contract out the job in those days. The members did it themselves.
It was my good fortune to be there when the Violas gave the photos to Emmons, who was thrilled by the discovery.
“There’s Mr. Sunday School,” she exclaimed about one. She was referring to Harold Hunt, who died a few years ago. At one time Hunt had more than 1,000 young people enrolled in the Sunday School classes he organized. It occurred to me that having the moniker of “Mr. Sunday School” is a pretty nice way to be remembered.
The photos show a great cultural diversity among church members at the time. The church had many active Japanese American and Latino members. The church’s written history describes how the Japanese American members and others in the church embraced after World War II, to “wipe out the war days.” Church members say many of those Japanese American members wound up in internment camps during the war.
At one point as he thumbed through the photos, Emmons gasped. She had come across a wonderful photo of her own father, the late Walter Lotze, one of the church leaders at the time. Emmons plans to make a collage of all these photos for members and their guests to enjoy at the anniversary party.
I left the church with the smell of paint still in my nostrils, feeling great about the many stories I’d just heard, and wishing I’d had the chance to know Mr. Sunday School.
Kings of Flamenco: The Westminster Mall has made its two-weekend Asian Festival during Tet an annual event, with a frank admission by its managers they need to be more in touch with the surrounding Asian community.
If you’re planning to take in any of the mall’s free events (today and Sunday, and again next weekend), I recommend the Kings at 1 p.m. this Sunday. They are four young Vietnamese American men who specialize in flamenco music.
The Kings performed at last year’s first Asian Festival at the mall, and were such a hit they were one of the first acts booked for a return appearance. I’ve heard much of their new CD, “Paris by Night,” and it’s fabulous--if you happen to like flamenco music.
Speaking of Baseball: Some of the best times of the baseball season are weekday afternoon games. Take a day off--or slip out for a few innings during a long noon hour--for a good time at the Big A. This season, however, those opportunities are limited.
Note for your calendars: The only weekday, 1:05 p.m. game the Anaheim Angels play this year is Wednesday, Aug. 6, against the ever fearsome Milwaukee Brewers.
You can also catch a 3:05 p.m. Angel home game against the Oakland Athletics on Thursday, Sept. 18. But a 3 to 5 lunch hour might be difficult to explain.
Wrap-Up: I asked Eva Kanewah, who has been the secretary at the First Baptist Church of Garden Grove for 28 years, if she could tell me which current member had been there the longest. Easy, she said; Gladys Cockerham, who is 83.
When I got the chance to talk to Cockerham, I found her delightful and witty. She’s been a church member since she was 4 years old.
“I’ve seen a lot of preachers come and go,” she told me. “Some I was glad to see come, and a few I was glad to see go.”
A former department store clerk, she’s been faithful in her attendance each week, even though she has moved about by wheelchair for more than 20 years.
She spoke lovingly about the church’s original building--the one where busy Euclid Street is now. “I’ve still got a little bitty spot in my heart for that old church,” she said.
All the more reason for a 100th-birthday party.
Jerry Hicks’ column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Readers may reach Hicks by calling The Times Orange County Edition at (714) 966-7823 or by fax to (714) 966-7711, or e-mail to jerry.hicks@latimes.com
