An Informal, Anecdotal History of Saint Francis' Parish
as Told by Past and Present Members
We had been members of St. Francis since 1958, when the church was still over on Community Drive. In the spring of 1959, however, we moved away and were gone until the spring of 1966. During those years, the building on Walnut Hill Lane was built. When we returned, the Sunday School classes were being held in the East Wing. The first room in the hall was Padre's Office, which had a sofa. The next room, Room 2, was used as a conference room. The current nursery had not been opened up and afforded Rooms 3 and 4; leaving the room next to the Sacristy as Room 5. We also used the room over the Altar. Classes were held after Communion, during the Sermon, which was given at the end of the service. The children went to the rail first, even before the Choir, to receive Blessings or Communions and they and the teachers left by the East Door. All of the classrooms were used. Ed Sholty was responsible for Education at this time and he also taught the Confirmation Class. Due to the size of the parish, the grade levels were combined for classes as follows: first and second grade, third and fourth grade, fifth and sixth grade, and seventh and eighth grade. The children stayed in the nursery until they were of school age. Kindergarten was not a part of the Texas School System until 1972, so it was not necessarily considered as part of the Sunday School.
When Ed Sholty left for seminary, in 1968, Emily Mitchell took over as Church School Superintendent. During these years (we still had no pews), the children presented a St. Francis play at the Patronal Festival, complete with costumes. They pretty much wrote it themselves. We had a very large group of youth in the junior-high/high-school age group and they were very active as they had diligent parents. This was basically the major contribution of the youth for the year, although they did help with the Easter Egg hunts. There was a Vacation Bible School for two summers, one or two weeks in length. Lynne Bowman taught music and helped the children plant a Parish Garden, from which the vegetables that ultimately grew were available to any parishioners who chose to harvest them. We used the high-school-age children both as teachers for the younger children and as assistants to the adult teachers of the older classes. We made the Bible School open only through grade six. Betty Ave was the adult in charge.
The EYC [Ed. Note: "EYC" stood for "Episcopal Young Churchmen" at the time. It has been politically corrected to "Episcopal Youth Community" these days.] did not fall under the education heading at this time. The high-school students up to this point had not had a class, but stayed in the church for the sermon. Emily introduced the idea of several men as teachers, one per month, who talked on topics of interest to the older students. They did coordinate the curriculum. One of Padre's preferences was to have men teach the Sunday School classes, based on the idea that most of the educational experiences of the children was via female teachers in weekday school and, of course, the influence of mothers at home. We had a male teacher for every class. He also suggested that the teachers only teach two years at a time, in order to have an opportunity to hear the Sermons. There was no adult Sunday School.
About 1971, we acquired the back building from a lot on Northwest Highway that had been rezoned commercial. It was a house that was next door to Josephine Urban, who arranged for the gift. We had to pay the moving costs. It was moved to the property and renovated by Bill Bard, Bob Davis, and Joe Mitchell. The plumbing and heating were intact and only had to be hooked up. It has served as the Sunday School Building ever since. The classes were moved out there and only Room 5 was used in the side building. The upstairs classes were sent elsewhere, as the children were too noisy going upstairs during Communion.
When Emily went back to full-time teaching in 1972, Nelia Thorp took over the Church School responsibility. (I know nothing about these years. -- Emily) After Nelia, Dee Shoultz was in charge for a year (1977), then Betty Huston became the Superintendent in 1978 and put in the Colorado Curriculum. At Christmas-time, the sixth grade class lined the sidewalks with candle sacks. The class for three and four year olds was begun during this time, taught by Sally Box. Betty Huston was succeeded by Janie McIntire in 1985 and, in 1986, Bette Manzke shared the position with Janie. Rosemary Berry then shared the job with Bette Manzke, in 1987, and Rosemary was joined by Elaine Mecca, in 1988. In 1989, Rosemary and Karen Donaldson were in charge and Karen was assisted by Mike and Cheryl Salas in 1990. Karen and Cheryl continued through 1991. Emily Mitchell took the position again, in 1992, after she retired from teaching. Karen began a service of Lessons and Carols during Advent and the children did the service with the aid of costumes and props, with music directed by organist Doneta Weatherly. Each class had some carol which was sung to accompany the lesson.
At Emily's suggestion, the hour for Church School was moved to 9:00 AM and the Sermon resumed its normal spot in the liturgy. This required more time for the very dedicated teachers, but also allowed for a longer class period. The Living the Good News curriculum was used until Advent of 1997, when Ignatius Press Image of God was begun. In 1992, the classes were reorganized to add the two-year-olds to the three-year-olds and to move the four-year-olds up with the Kindergartners. Fr. Dudley Reed began an Adult Class when he came as interim after Fr. McGhee resigned; then Fr. David Allen continued when he became Rector. Fr. Allen has used the talents of parishioners to teach this class as well. Jan Sholty, who had a Ph.D. in English, Heather Azarmehr, Art History, and Matt Hejduk.
At Christmas in 1992, the Lessons and Carols service was moved to the 6:30 PM early Christmas Eve Mass, as it was not well attended when it was offered as a separate service on an Advent Sunday evening. (The parish had begun to become even more widespread with parishioners coming from Plano, Mesquite, Irving, and Grapevine and it was difficult for parents to come in twice.) The service was well received, with many remarks about how nice it made the early Mass, but as many of the youth who participated also had to serve at Midnight Mass, after three years the Lessons and Carols service was dropped completely. Not wanting the children to be neglected in participating in various parish services, they began to present Stations of the Cross one of the Fridays in Lent, which allowed some of our more challenged children an opportunity to serve as well. Then, in another effort to give them active involvement, a Parade of Saints was initiated for All Saints' Sunday. This allowed them to read up on what saint they wished to portray and to devise a costume, also.
Lovell Phillips went into the Kindergarten classroom the first Sunday of the month to let the children from that class, and the first and second grade, learn songs and enjoy singing.
A Vacation Church School was considered in 1993, but never quite got underway. However, the following summers we began a series on Christianity in the Arts, the month of June involving visual arts, with art activities and a family visit to the Dallas Museum of Art. In July, we concentrated on theater and the children, under the direction of Matt and Catherine Scott, presented an extremely abridged version of the Shakespeare play which was being done at the Summer Shakespeare Festival, and the families attended the festival play. In August, Doneta and Matt worked on the music and dances for the opera Hansel and Gretel, which was being presented by the Dallas Opera that Fall, with the hope that families would be able to take the children to see it. Each of the children's workshops was accompanied by a class for the adults on the same topic. In 1995, the children presented two Shakespeare plays and the No-Adults Theater(NAT) was born. For a good time after that, there was a Shakespeare play each month during the Summer, involving any of the parish children who wanted to be in them; usually given during the Coffee Hour on the last Sunday of the month. In 1997, Matt built a stage, so the visibility was improved. He wrote a script of about 20 minutes length in the common language that our children used daily and they were wonderfully funny. Catherine Rogers coordinated the costumes and props and the NAT grew into a valuable outlet for our Church School. -- Emily Mitchell