The October 11, 1967, first Methodist Men’s Fall Rally was a huge success. Attendance at [what would become an annual] spring rally held each April in Lewistown had increased to the point where men where “standing three-deep around the wall, sitting on the floor in the aisles, crowding the stairways, and filling the fellowship hall in the basement.” It was felt that more men could be reached by holding two annual rallies.
The fall rally filled Williamsport’s Pine Street Methodist Church and featured internationally known singer and recording artist Bill Mann. That gathering was held in the imposing Pine Street cathedral-like structure that was destroyed by fire in 1977, the congregation worshiping in the Calvary building on Fourth Street until the present, modern Pine Street building was erected in 1980. While there is no longer an annual conference-wide fall rally, the spring event continues – and the 62nd annual Men’s Rally was held this past April in Lewistown.
November – 100 years ago
The November 1917 volume of Woman’s Evangel, the monthly magazine of the Woman’s Missionary Association of the United Brethren Church, carried the following article about Lohr Memorial Church: “The chapter at Hanover, Pa., which is only seven months old, reports much enthusiasm in the work. At their picnic, they provided supper for seventeen soldier boys camping near the town, which induced quite a number of them to visit the Sunday School and church services, and several have joined a young men’s Bible class. Their president, Kathleen Kohr, has resigned to take up the missionary course at Bonebrake [United] Seminary in Dayton.”
As it turns out, Miss Kathleen Rebecca Kohr (1898-1958) left Dayton with more [than] a completed missionary course. She graduated from seminary in 1920, became the first woman ordained in the Virginia Conference of United Brethren Church, and served in that state for 35 years with her husband, Rev. E.B. Caplinger.
