Part VII
Centennial Celebration
of the United Methodist Church of Texhoma, Oklahoma 1903 - 2003
We have written a lot about the history of our Church during its first
100 years. I would like to put this into the context of the history of
the entire Methodist Church in Oklahona for just a few minutes.
My son Steve, loaned me a book, "History of Methodism in Oklahoma,
1820-1907" by Baboock & Bryce, (Published in 1935) that belonged to Chriti's
Grandfather, a long time Methodist member in Fairview, Ok. A great deal
of the book concerns the history of the Indian Methodist Church, which
was active back in the 1800s. But the part that is in our era, starting
in 1903, lists 207 active churches, missions and circuits in the
"Territories". This lists the Goodwell-Texhoma circuit, with L. R. Jones
as the appointed circuit minister. The other two circuits in this area
were the Beaver Circuit with J.E. Lovett, and Tyrone with A.G. White.
By
1904, the list still includes Goodwell-Texhcnia, the Beaver District, town
of Beaver, Guymon-Hooker circuit, with W.O. Eassary a later minister here)
as supply minister, and Tyrone.
In 1905, there were several other churches
listed in the Beaver District (of which I assume we were members at that
time), and in present day Texas County, the churches listed were:
Goodwell-Texhcnia, Guymon-Hooker, Tyrone, Grand Valley, and Kenton. (which
now is in Cimarron County).
In 1906, the list of churches had grown to
256, and included several new churches in this area, including Boyd,
Carthage, Garrett, Grand, Grand Valley, Guymon (now separate) Hooker (now
seperate) Ingersoll, Hazelton, Lockwood, Persimmon, and Woodward.
A few other pieces of trivia concerning our history: On March 26,
1941, Albert Click left the Texhoroa Church to become a Chaplain in the
Army. The Epsworth League became the Methodist Youth Fellowship on June
6, 1941 with Velma Field as Sponsor and Bill Riffe as President. On October
4, 1942 Bishop John M. Moore started holding a week long revival in the
old red brick Church here. Bishop Moore had been educated in Heidelberg
U. and Yale, and was elected Bishop in 1918 after having served as Editor
of the Christian Advocate for 8 years. He had also served on the Commission
for Methodist Unification. It was a wonderful week in the life of our
Church. On Oct. 8, the Youth held a special banquet in his honor. I still
have some of the table decorations from this affair. The Youth prepared
for it for weeks.
More trivia: Our church has produced three ministers. John Rankin
(retired). Bill Riffe (who left the ministry), and Steve Roach, presently
serving in Stillwater, OK.
People ask about our stained glass windows; They were made especially
for us by the Trinity Art Glass Co. of glareproof Blenko Art Glass.
When we were still meeting in the old red brick church, we completely
ran out of Sunday School class room. In April, 1949, we bought the adjacent
lots and small house just west of the church from Mrs. Art Waggoner and
had been the home of her Grandfather, John Ailison. This house was then
used by some of the adult S.S. classes for several years.
Centennial Celebration Schedule
Our Centennial History, Part I
Our Centennial History, Part II
Our Centennial History, Part III
Our Centennial History, Part IV
Our Centennial History, Part V
Our Centennial History, Part VI
Our Centennial History, Part VIII
Texhoma's Location and History
Texhoma, Oklahoma/Texas Home Page