Historical Corner

A Reflective Look at Youth Groups in the Brown Church

         
It is a certain fact that youth groups were an integral part of our church since 1960. They may have been in existence before that, but our oldest church members: Roger Berry, Frank Hackett and Mary (McClellan) Chesley do not recall them during the 1940’s with Reverend Morehouse. Charlyne Gray doesn’t recall any involvement in the 1950’s although we will check with Duddie Andrews to see if Reverend Chase formulated any.
Reverend William E. Mack came to the Second Congregational in 1960 and was right at the top of the list of the most beloved pastors ever. A retired military chaplain, it was during his pastorate that we reached an all-time high of 150 students registered in Sunday School – and Conway then had less than half of the people then than the present census. Reverend Mack decided to reinvigor-ate the teenage population which we called Pilgrim Fellowships before we joined the United Church of Christ, belatedly in 1963. The Junior High group met on Sunday afternoons and the Senior Fel-lowship met at night. There was always a biblical lesson and discussion combined with a fun activi-ty. There was a ping pong table used extensively in Fellowship Hall and plenty of games. It was not a long session – usually only an hour or so. Back then, there were many outside activities and the older youth frequently went to the Bushee Thorn Retreat up in Jackson, owned by the four local Congregational Churches. All of the ministers of the respective churches were heavily involved and there was hiking, skiing, and frequent picnics where the youth of the different churches got to know one another. There was also a beautiful camp in Pembroke, New Hampshire, and each church had scholarships to help us attend during the summer. It was owned by the State Conference.
I became President of both Youth Groups at one time which was quite an honor. Marion Brown, Leon Carpenter and Althea Sheaff also became presidents. We helped to clean up the back yard of the church which was in deplorable condition. However, we also experienced fun times such as ski-ing at the Edge Farm in Eaton with the beloved George T. Davidson accompanying us. Mr. Mack was helping Mr. Davidson get his ministerial accreditation. The slope had just one rope tow but times were simpler then and we were so happy for the occasion as most of us could not afford ski passes. Times were simpler then! A memorable moment was when we all attended a movie with Reverend Mack at the Majestic Theatre. The movie was quite risqué (for the times) and we didn’t know quite how to react with the minister sitting with us. Apparently it was a good lesson for the minister as well because we limited our choice of movies thereafter to ones with religious themes.
Naturally we lose track of church activities once we go to college and move away. However, I know folks such as Jill (Vierus), my two younger brothers, Craig and Errol, the Merrill and Chase girls, and scores more continued to be involved in youth groups in succeeding pastorates of Dr. Downes and Reverend Stineford, Horvath, MacDuffie and others. By the time we came back to Conway Village in 1985, the youth groups were pretty much depleted. Nancy and I decided to change that. My teaching career helped in this regard as did Reverend Wilcox who was most supportive. We eventu-ally had fifty registered, but generally twenty or so came to the meetings, which we held at midweek, right after school. We eventually had two students be in charge of our weekly suppers, although Nancy most always brought a dessert. Food talks! There were several students who attended, whose churches had no youth group – including the Catholic and Methodist. Members brought their friends and we had several from Fryeburg and elsewhere who had no church attachment. One memorable Sunday afternoon, in 1986, we had a softball game against the North Conway Church on the occasion of our Church Centennial. Dale Hamilton and Paul Weld played for First Church at that time.
They were surprised at all of our youth playing – and we consequently beat them handily. We also had great athletes such as Sut Marshall, Bill Kane, the MacDonald Brothers and Andy Trimble play-ing for us. The moment we will never forget was when a Fryeburg fella was running from third to home plate and he obviously was going to be tagged out at home plate. He did a huge somersault flip over the crouched catcher and put his hand on the plate. We were all aghast when the ump hol-lered, “SAFE!”. Now that was a miracle from above.
We also had fundraisers which included book and food sales. We raised enough money to buy a complete set of Bibles for the sanctuary which lacked them or were so old that they came over on the Mayflower. The youth also collated the Centennial Church Cookbook supervised by Nancy and my mother (another story). The kids were also in charge of the early Easter sunrise services under the direction of Dr. Wilcox. This even made the front page of the local paper with a full photo-graph. We went to Old Orchard Beach with Reverend Fred (Pojen) Lee and laughed endlessly on the rides, especially the roller coaster. Some of the Fryeburg students had never been to the ocean which to us was unbelievable. We got lost on the way back and ended up in a hen yard. Several eventually joined the church.
Eventually our three sons were getting to the age where they would be in youth groups. It was time for us to end our directing. Folk such as Stephanie and Dan Franz, Jill and Todd Barber, and Ned Baldwin came forth to lead the youth. These lasted at least until the turn-of-the-century. May we see them again at some point.

Respectfully submitted,
Brian P. Wiggin