Westminster Presbyterian Church Centennial Book

Chapter Three

In our first two chapters of Centennial History, perhaps we ’ ve introduced you to a pair of names that you may not have been familiar with – Westminster ’ s first pastor, Dr. Warner DuBose, and Westminster ’ s second pastor, Dr. Charles Gunn. And perhaps, there ’ s a date or two that will be stuck in your mind, like 1923. This week I was reminded of an insightful story. Back for the 80 th anniversary, we did a series of interviews with some of our “ senior ” members. Charter member, Mary Wheeler shared that she grew up on North Street, and before Westminster was built, and when most families did not own a vehicle, that she, and her mother, and four young siblings would walk all the way from North Street to the downtown Bluefield Presbyterian Church -- every Sunday morning. You know, I wish we had drawers full of documents and photographs in a church archive that would further illustrate those wonderful early chapters of our church ’ s history. Sadly, we really do not have much.

If we know that God loves us and we trust that he has our best interest in mind, we won ’ t need to compare what others have with what we have or worry about what others think of us.

Roger Gulick

You may be in the midst of very difficult times right now. You might be facing troubles or temptations (from the world, the flesh or the devil) that are subtle and strong. But know that God is not so busy wherever the latest earthquake or famine hit that he has forgotten about you.

But oh, the photographs we do have are a wonderful treasure, like this Vacation Bible School group shot. The man standing on the far left is Dr. Gunn, and the lady standing next to him is his mother, who lived with his family. I ’ m going to assume that this was another combined VBS with College Avenue and Trinity, and that those three men there with suits may have been the other ministers.

One of the most valuable documents we ’ ve had to work with is this – the publication that was printed for Westminster ’ s 25 th Anniversary in 1948. Bless you, Charlie and Pat Hoge for loaning this to me.

Joy Gulick

Sometimes it ’ s fun to look at the numbers. From the Silver Anniversary edition of Westminster ’ s history, we learn that in 1948 -- in the growing city of Bluefield, West Virginia, Westminster had 633 active members on the church roll, 208 on non - resident inactive roll. Our Sunday School had an enrollment of 325.

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