Church of God In Christ – Part 1

My grandmother, Alice McNair Robinson, used to go to church quite regularly and was a long-time member of the Church of God In Christ in Brooklyn, New York.  Among the things my mother gave me after we moved grandma into her nursing home was this brochure from the church from 1954.

In typical fashion for my grandmother, her handwriting appears all over this brochure. She wrote on everything! On walls in her bedroom even! And, you should see some of the pages my mother scanned for me of her address book. 🙂

But, I am finally getting around to scanning this brochure and taking steps to add the information to my files.  The brochure was for the 12th anniversary service of the church and Rev. Ithiel Clemmons was at this time the youth leader.  Rev. Clemmons died in 1999, but I do remember having met him when I was younger. My mother was a long-time member of Church of God In Christ in Greensboro, NC when we lived there when I was a child. I even have some pictures of me when I was young outside the “old church” and then they built a new church. I have to dig those pictures out.

But, back to the brochure, on the inside is an schedule of services for the week – Monday thru Friday, and many names are mentioned.

• Monday night – Missionary Circle Night: Mrs. B. Fennell, Mr. D. Wiggins, Mrs. DuPree, Speaker was Elder Richard Britten & Prof. F.H. Madison
• Tuesday night –  Nurse Unit Mothers’ Board Night – Mrs. E. Roberson, Miss Faith Carter, Mother Harris, Speaker was Minister Thomas Nealy
• Wednesday night – Purity Class & Teenagers Night – Mrs. V. Carmichael,  Mrs. A. Warner, Mr. Walter Nealy, Speaker was  Elder Mack W. Ritter Jr.
• Thursday night – Senior Choir, Y.W. Group Night – Miss D. Harrell,  Mrs. D. Everett, Miss Carrie Clemmons, and Miss P. Todd.
• Friday night – Serving Circle Junior and Senior – Mrs. M. Norman, Mrs. Fountain, Miss Ida Parson and the Speaker was Rev. J. Clemmons of Zion Tabernacle, Baltimore, Md.

The Board of Elders for the church were C.W. Daniels, J.P. Nealy, J. Haynes, C. Roberson, G. Sutton,  and J. Norman Jr.  The lead reverend was Rev. Frank Clemmons, who was Ithiel’s father.

Again, my grandmother’s handwriting on the program indicates who was still at the church, who had moved to their own church, who had died, etc.  I do not know when she wrote these extra notes, but they are informative in any case.

I have much more to share regarding this church.  I will interview my mother tomorrow and get some more oral history from her so I can capture some of hers and my grandmother’s experiences. More to come…