Remember When?

40 YEARS AGO • JANUARY 3, 1985

WHITEPINE CHURCH SEEKS INFORMATION

Mary Harker, pastor of the Whitepine Church and church members are trying to fill gaps that exist in the church history, and through this article in the Ledger are asking anyone who has any data that can be verified to contact Mary or Pat Austin with the information.

Pastor Harker reports the history as she found it through church minutes and Crosscuts and Rails, a book of Whitepine history published by the Whitepine Homemakers.

“Concerning the building of the church - William Nicklaus Milanovich, a pioneer atWhitepine, recalls that the building of the church was an important milestone in the life of the community. According to him, the following were among those who helped: John Marich, Mike Marich, Wallace Trumbell, George Graham, Winnie Mohl, Swan Swanson, W.C. Robb and John Eley. It is interesting to note that long, long before ecumenism became the in-thing, Catholics, Baptists and Methodists were able to unite in a common cause such as this. Some of those early church builders were Catholics.

“At one time (circa 1918), there was a vigorous Women’s Christian Temperance Union at Whitepine. I presume it was connected with the church. Not only did persons of all denominations work together, various organizations worked to help each other. So we see in the October 1939 Grange minutes that the Lady Grangers made a quilt and sold chances on it to make money to wire the church.

“Over the years, the church has served as a focal point for the community. Christmas Eve services, young people going carolling, riding in the rack of a cattle truck. A place to laugh, a place to cry. And now, the only reminder of this once bustling village is the Whitepine Church. The section house for the railroad is gone - burned. The school, likewise. The post office is closed, even the railroad itself is gone. The stores and most of the houses have burned or fallen in.

“If the Whitepine Church building were to go, the community would have lost its last link with its past.”

Mrs. Harker read from the minutes that when Rev. G.C. Lee was appointed to serve Noxon and Heron, he also went to Whitepine. Perhaps it was a personality clash, or simply a case of too many miles to travel; at any rate, the reports were made to the annual conference in 1962 or 1963 and then, for no reason given, no more were made. No one was appointed to fill the ministerial position.

Pastor Harker surmises that about this time, the Methodist Church in Thompson Falls (now the Community Congregational Church) was given to the Congregationalists, and at the same time Noxon and Heron, by agreement between the Montana Conference and the Pacific Northwest Conference, became part of the Clark Fork Valley Parish. “Somehow this poor little congregation was allowed to slip through a connection crack. No more was heard of it, though in spite of no appointed pastor, the faithful remnant continued to care for the building and have services whenever they could find someone to do so. Part of the time, there was a thriving Sunday School.

“However, since there was no communication from them, the conference assumed the church was disbanded. Accordingly, in early 1981, steps were taken at the conference level to dispose of the property - and it might actually have taken place - except for God’s intervention.

“Gerry Berkey - who’d grown up and attended that church all her life until she married - lived in Clark Fork and was a member of the P.P.R. committee for the CFVP, of which I also was a member. She got wind of the proposal and, very upset, asked if there was any way to block it, stating the members of the congregation were devastated by the prospect. Instead, Bob Phelps, who came on the Missoula District as D.S. that summer, came to Whitepine and met with them in early October. He asked if they would consider a woman pastor. They agreed to “try her” and the next morning, Mary Harker was asked to be the pastor.

“This is a very lovable congregation. Some might find their stubborn, ‘I-can-do-it-myself independence’ hard to deal with, but 30 plus years in the same sort of situation at Heron has it all over official ‘school larnin,’” Mary stated. “I understand them and I encourage it. A small church can’t afford the soft luxury of dependence. One frustration for all of us has been the loss of the early records. Surely there are records somewhere - but to date, they have eluded us.

“Consequently, we have had to begin as though we were a new church, and we are slowly getting some proper records again. Funerals, births, baptisms, confession of faith, etc. are missing from the records.”

Mary Harker and her congregation have dreams, for “without vision, the people perish.” They want running water, inside plumbing, a bell and a steeple, carpeting and insulation. “And it will come to pass,” Mary said, “God willing.”