January – 100 years ago.
Epworth Manor in Tyrone opened January 1, 1920, as the first Home for Aged of the Central Pennsylvania Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. This was the culmination of the work of the Commission on a Home for the Aged that had been formed at the direction of the 1913 annual conference. Eight hundred Methodists from across the conference gathered to inspect the former S.S. Blair home – which immediately filled to its capacity of 15 residents.The Commission became the United Methodist Homes for the Aging [UMHA] Inc. and operated Epworth Manor and its daughter facility, Bethany Village in Mechanicsburg. In 1996 UMHA changed its name to Wesley Affiliated Services [WAS] Inc. and continued to function as an arm of the conference until 2003, when a Covenant of Relationship defined a legal and financial separation. Asbury Communities Inc., a multi-state, multi-conference provider with whom WAS affiliated in 2000 continues to operate Bethany Village, but Epworth Manor has since been privatized and is now one of 60+ healthcare communities (including the former LaPorte United Methodist Home) operated by Guardian Elder Care in PA, OH and WV.
February – 50 years ago
The February 1970 issue of the Conference’s newspaper was Volume 1, Number 1, of THE LINK – a new publication for a new conference. Although the Methodist-EUB denominational merger took place in 1968, January 1, 1970, marked the official beginning of the Central Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church – formed by bringing together parts of 5 conferences – 3 former EUB (Eastern, Susquehanna, Western Pennsylvania), and 2 former Methodist (Central Pennsylvania, Philadelphia).Associate conference council on ministries director Arthur W. Stambach edited the first five years of THE LINK until becoming a district superintendent in 1975. Featured in that first issue were descriptions of and summer schedules for the new conference’s eight camp properties: Bethlehem Farm, Camp Penn, Camp Loyalsock, Central Oak Heights, Greene Hills, Mount Asbury, Wesley Forest, and an undeveloped Perry County site off PA route 850 between Drumgold and Alinda.
