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*	^ FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, BAY ST. LOUIS, MS	2
Program Chairman, Mrs. Camille Schaeffer; Treasurer, Mrs. Chris L. Reab; and Secretary, Miss Barbara Sick. Two of the projects were the purchasing of a piano for Sunday worship, and a communion service. Mrs. Camille Schaefer was elected chairman in 1953. The circle later disbanded until its reorganization in 1956 when the. following were elected officers: President, Mrs. Charlotte Burns; Secretary, Mrs. Camille Schaefer; and Treasursr, Mrs. Norman Renshaw. Mrs. W. P. McCutchon was elected Vice-President at the November meeting. She headed a worship period in which all members united their prayers at eight o'clock each evening.
In May of 1953, a renovated Army barracks building at 138 DeMontluzin Street was purchased from Mrs'. Gladys Bartlett Jones who had used it as a workshop called the "Blue Bottle Art Studio". The purchase price was $4,500 of which $4,000 was borrowed from the Home Mission Board of the Meridian Presbytery Synod. Messrs. Reab, Schaefer and Henry put in a lot of hard work and converted the building into a unique church with a large room for church services, A Sunday School room and an area with a kitchen, storeroom and lava to ry.
A note of sadness came with the death of Mrs. Fred Koeniger and services in her home were suspended from November until December, 1953. She undoubtedly was remembered on December 14, 1953, when the first service was held in the little church for which she had been so responsible.
On June 20,	1953,	Rev. Edward Morren became the regular pastor and services
continued to be held on alternate Sundays. The first regular music of the church was begun on April 3,	1955,	with Miss Temple Perkins servingas pianist
The first family night supper was held on July 20, 1956, at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Al Voight with approximately fifty persons in attendance.
Sunday School began in January of 1954 with Mrs. George Marshall and a class of only three children:	Kathleen	Schaefer, Richard Schaefer and Alvin
Marshall.


First Presbyterian Church 40th-anniversary-1997-03
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