This text was obtained via automated optical character recognition.
It has not been edited and may therefore contain several errors.


7
Bay St. Louis one until such time as that church reached another expansion program and added seating capacity. They would then be passed on to some other young and developing congregation or be returned to Ocean Springs, or so it was then thought.
The first regular music of the church was begun on April 3,	1955, with Miss Temple Perkins
serving as pianist. She served until September, 1956, at which time Miss Edith Magee became Pi anist. Several months later, Mrs. Whitney L. Pi nell assumed this duty and so served until the organization of the choir on September 19,	1958,
when Mr. Henry Gustine became the organist. The first choir was composed of Mrs. Camille Schaefer, Mrs. Whitney L. Pinell, Dr. Walter A. Russo, Mrs. Muriel B. Fisher, Mr. S.K. Kepner, and Mrs. Henry Gustine.
The	first	family night supper	was held	on
July 20,	1956,	at the home of Mr.	and Mrs.	A1
?oight,	with	approximately fifty	persons	in
attendance. These affairs continued and were held thereafter regularly in the Sunday school room of the church on the second Thursday of each month.
On the other hand, the beginning of the Sunday ?chool was more humble. For one year, starting in January of 1954, there were only three children: Eathleen Schaefer, Richard Schaefer and Alvin Marshall. They met faithfully every Sunday morning at ten o'clock	with their teacher,	Mrs. George
Marshall. The classes grew, enrollment increasing, until another Sunday school room was required, which was completed in the fall of 1958.
The Men of the Church were also organized then: October 27, 1958. Regular meetings were held on the Monday following the third Sunday of each month. Their row would be a rockier one, though, and for many years there would be no organized Men of the Church.
In the meantime, on March 31,	1957, the
Presbyterian Mission reached its full stature and was reorganized as the First Presbyterian Church of Bay St. Louis. The Commission of the Meridian Presbytery, consisting of four ruling elders and four ministers, conducted the service, which was attended by many friends from Gulfport. The


First Presbyterian Church History-of-the-First-Presbyterian-Church-10
© 2008 - 2024
Hancock County Historical Society
All rights reserved