An Informal, Anecdotal History of Saint Francis' Parish
as Told by Past and Present Members
Before the formal establishment of St. Francis Episcopal Church as a mission in the Diocese of Dallas, Bishop Mason, circa 1946, encouraged an outreach in the Bachman Lake area north of Love Field Airport. Services were conducted by various staff members of the Cathedral School for Boys, which was located on the campus of St. Matthew's Cathedral, at Ross and Garrett in Dallas. These initial services and meetings were held in temporary, borrowed facilities, such as rooms in a former riding academy and stables (Rendez Vous Stables) on Northwest Highway and in an old framed Parks and Recreation building near Bachman Lake. This framed building was used by various community groups by reservation, so any appointments used in church services had to be portable and set up temporarily, just for the time of services. The altar, lectern, vessels, et al were stored separately and set up for services after the building had been cleaned up from the last group that used it. The Bachman Lake buildings were used for parish functions, such as parties, suppers, and picnics, even after more permanent quarters were located for worship.
Early pioneer clergy and lay assistants, during the originating stages, were Frs. Joseph Haske and Alley Junker Call (associated with the Cathedral School) and Eugene Blankenship, then a teacher and later a candidate for seminary and ordination to the priesthood. In early 1947, Church of the Holy Cross was established as a mission in the neighborhood of Love Field, south of the airport, including Oak Lawn. The priest-in-charge was Fr. Edwin L. Conly who commenced his duties in September of 1947. Even though almost totally absorbed in the grueling task of organizing a new mission with only minimal Diocesan support, Fr. Conly was encouraged by Bishop Mason to explore possibilities for a new mission to the north of Love Field. It was later (in 1948) that a young seminary student, Harry Secker (then on summer leave before his senior year), was assigned to work in the Bachman Lake neighborhood. He did preliminary canvassing work, and continued under the tutelage of Fr. Conly, as he prepared for his senior year at seminary and later ordination in the summer of 1949.
The Diocesan record shows formal establishment of St. Francis Episcopal Church Mission in January of 1949. The first formal assignment of a Missionary Priest-in-Charge was after Fr. Secker's ordination in July of 1949. Meanwhile, in late 1948, various clergy from the Cathedral School (including Fr. Joseph Haske) conducted early 1949 services in the Bachman Lake park facilities. After Fr. Secker's ordination and his return to active duty in Dallas in the summer of 1949, he established residence, with his family, in a home purchased for him by his father on a one acre lot on Community Drive, near what is now Webb Chapel Road and Lombardy Lane. The house was a rambling style home in one wing while the other wing, the garage area, could be converted to a chapel. This was the setting for the first Mass for St. Francis in a semi-permanent structure. Fr. Conly, from Holy Cross Dallas, said Mass in this setting and Fr. Secker, who had been under Fr. Conly's instruction, served as MC (Master of Ceremonies) for that first Mass.
Fr. Secker served as Priest-in-Charge of St. Francis Mission from July of 1949 to May of 1952. The Community Drive property was purchased from Fr. Secker when he moved to Angleton, Texas. These were days of struggle and financial strain for the tiny mission and the money was obtained by a bank loan. During this period, there was a St. Francis Day School, located on Lemmon Ave. near Community Drive, which later used the church facilities and paid a small rental fee that was important to the mission as income. The Day School did not use church facilities after 1961. In those days, the present Webb Chapel Road was nemed Lemmon out to Lombardy from Northwest Highway.
Fr. Secker told this significant anecdote related to this period: "During the year 1950, Fr. Secker became friends with a neighbor at 3017 Community Drive, Durwood Carl "Dud" Lester and his wife Ruby. Ruby's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ollie Freeland, lived in a house behind the Lesters'. Shortly after midnight August 6, 195?, [Ed. Note: Apparently, Ralph wasn't sure about the year.] Evelyn Secker was experiencing the early stages of labor with their first child when they became aware of an ambulance going to the Freeland house. Soon, Dud Lester knocked on the door to ask Fr. Secker to administer last rites to Mr. Freeland. Fr. Secker was told that Mr. Freeland had been denied last rites by his Roman Catholic priest because of a dispute over his choice of a burial plot that was not in a Roman Catholic cemetery. Two days later, Fr. Secker conducted the funeral for Mr. Freeland at Restland Abbey. Dud and Ruby Lester joined St. Francis Church and Dud furnished a strong example of Christian stewardship in his diligent work on the Community Drive property. He was a good friend of William "Bill" Bard and the two labored mightily in the building of the original buildings on Walnut Hill Lane. Dud Lester was a captain with the Dallas Fire Department. His wife, Ruby, was well known for her cooking and she was instrumental in bake sales and bazaars to raise money for the tiny mission.
In May of 1952, Fr. Willis R. Doyle became Priest-in-Charge of St. Francis Mission. Fr. Doyle introduced what was then considered "high church" format: Holy Eucharist every Sunday, Church School with children attending Mass through Holy Communion, prior to departing for classes. Attendance grew. Services were held at 8:00 AM and 10:00 AM on Sunday. As the only church in the immediate area, St. Francis became a social center with many parties and gatherings. Money did not accompany the growth, so fundraising became a primary function. There was an annual carnival, rummage sale, and barbecue dinners, but poverty still prevailed.
In January of 1954, St. Francis obtained Parish status. In those days Bishop Mason pressed hard for missions to become financially independent of the Diocese and numerous missions became parishes while still struggling financially.
St. Francis Parish bought the three acres at 3838 Walnut Hill Lane on which the present structures stand. There was an old converted WWI barracks [Ed. Note: Betty said "WWII". This could be a typo.] on the property used for apartments. Some of the workers involved in the building of Thomas Jefferson High School, across the street, rented space. The conditions were bad and deteriorating. For a time, the parish was actually a slum landlord, yet the income was important to the survival of the parish. At that time, Walnut Hill Lane was high-crown, two-lane blacktop, built to county road specifications.
In 1956, Fr. Doyle resigned and, in October of 1956, Fr. Homer Rogers was called to be the Rector. After Fr. Doyle resigned, a number of parishioners departed and it was a small, demoralized group that greeted Fr. Rogers. With the assistance of Fr. Rogers's parents, accommodations for his family of eight were established in Farmers Branch.
The need for funds and the need for relocation and new church buildings cast a heavy financial burden. Fr. Rogers convinced the Vestry that it would be a mistake to undertake a large debt and, with some misgivings, the Vestry agreed to look toward planning church buildings on the Walnut Hill Lane site using parish labor.
In January of 1959, the St. Francis Vestry passed a formal motion to undertake building a church at 3838 Walnut Hill Lane. As a small, struggling parish, the community faced heavy indebtedness. Combined balances on mortgages totaled almost $25,000 and the proposed building was estimated to cost $20,000, plus $2,000 for unforeseen expenses. Anticipated sale of the Community Drive property was expected to be in the area of $12,000.
In later years, Fr. Rogers referred to a gift made to the parish during the especially critical period when financing was so difficult to obtain. The gift was through a foundation in the northeast and a member of a prominent family who knew Fr. Rogers personally made it possible. No substantial documentation has been found as to the source or the amount, but the gift was of significant value to enable the work of building to proceed.
Facing approximately $35,000 of debt, the formal Vestry motion stated, "Present the actual status of affairs to the parish for consideration and possible sacrifices." And the sacrifices were many in time, labor, and money.
Primarily, Fr. Rogers, Bill Bard, and Dud Lester exercised leadership in the building. A former member of the parish, Tom Dean, was an architect who had operated professionally in the Northwest Dallas area building largely contemporary-style structures before moving to Oklahoma, where he served on the faculty of the School of Architecture at Oklahoma State University. With Fr. Rogers as consultant, he furnished the plan for the original Nave, the present A-frame structure, and attached Administrative Wing, with Sacristy, Office, Nursery, and Classrooms.
Bill Bard was an Auditor for the State of Texas, who had developed building skills as a young man growing up and working to obtain an education. He was a graduate of SMU. His circumstances during the building period, 1959-60, enabled him to devote a considerable amount of time to the church. Dud Lester, as an off-duty fireman, worked very closely with Bill. Shelton Murphy, a landscape contractor, did the stone work behind the altar and in the back of the Nave, around the baptistry, Some other professional labor was donated by members, such as plumbing, tile laying, etc.. Many members contributed volunteer unskilled labor. Bill Bard told of an agonizing effort to roof the East Wing. Seasoned oak beams from an old hangar at Love Field had been donated. The seasoned wood was so hard that it took a tremendous effort to drive nails into it. The most notable effort that became symbolic was the laying of the brick floor in the church. The entire congregation, men, women, and children, joined in. Fr. Rogers referred to the event in sermons, at a later date. He said that he "loved every irregularity in it for what it represented."
First services were held in the partially completed church. There was no driveway, no landscaping. A temporary boardwalk from the parking area on Walnut Hill Lane to the church had to be laid across "a sea of mud" in order to reach the Nave. The situation was so unsightly that neighbors threatened to sue.
Initial landscaping was supervised by John Hill and Shelton Murphy. The cedar-elm trees on the east and west sides were donated, but had to be moved from the site at I-35, just north of Royal Lane. The James Bailey family owned property there. The oak tree that grew to be huge, which was located just outside the east door to the Narthex, was planted as part of this work party. It later became known as William's (William Thornton's) tree because he watered it diligently. The tree had to be removed in 1993, because its roots threatened the Parish Hall foundation.
Dee Brown, of St. John's Episcopal Church in Dallas, donated the Church School Building. Initially built as a small house, it was semi-mobile and had been used as temporary construction-site office space. It was moved to the church property and placed on a permanent foundation. Volunteer labor was supervised by Bill Bard to remodel it for church-school use. A new room was added on the northwest corner and the building was connected by walkway to the main building. This structure was used on occasion for parish get-togethers.
In the mid-60s, Trammel Crow made an unusual gift to St. Francis of an oil pipeline with an option to sell for $100,000 at the end of ten years. The option was exercised in 1975 and the money was the primary enabler for the Parish Hall, completed in 1976.
The initial phase of the present Parish Hall was completed in 1970. Again, Fr. Rogers called on Tom Dean at Oklahoma State University for a plan. Primary inspiration for the theme came from Fr. Rogers. The modified-Spanish theme, with exposed beams and a comfortable fireplace seating area, relected an intention to have a warm family atmosphere for teaching and for parish gatherings. The work was done by professional contractors and supervised by Bill Bard.
An extension was added to the east side of the Parish Hall to include additional space, seating area, and a large Kitchen. These met a great need in the parish for space for fellowship, dinners, parties, wedding receptions, etc.. Again, Bill Bard supervised the work. Bob Herring, then a member, was the contractor.
John Hill recommended what is now the present landscape plan. -- Ralph Crocker