Charlie and Barb Shallberg

Charlie and Barb Shallberg

I, Barbara Smith Shallberg, was born into the old church on November 6, 1927, to Park and Mildred Smith. I might add that Dad was born into the old church on December 9, 1902 and when he died on February 9, 1988, was the longest living member of this church. His parents, W. Eugene and Grace Smith, joined this church sometime after their marriage in November 1897. I became a member in March 1940. This makes me a third generation member of this church.

Sometime around 1945, we got our first Director of Religious Education, Mary Anderson. She was great with the MYF of First Church. At that time, MYF consisted mainly of girls, as the guys were in the service - with the exception of Phil Martz (Charlie's brother) and Ralph Peabody. We made many trips to Detroit by bus with Miss Anderson, having dinner at Stouffer's near the bus station and then going to a show. She also took us to Bob-Lo several times. In 1946, when the guys started returning from the service, they also joined the MYF and the rest is history.

Out of the MYF were formed many marriages, and those still in this church are Phyllis and Mel Allshouse, Betty and Bruce Emmert (Betty joined us a little later), Phyllis and Charlie Martz, Mary and Ray Stevens, and Charlie and I. Charlie returned from the service in July 1946 and joined the church on November 24, 1946. We were married on October 15, 1948 in the old church.

This group of married couples still meets, along with Danny and Donna Vander Broek (Danny is Bruce Emmert's cousin) who were also members of the MYF but have moved to Grand Haven. We still meet a couple times a year and named our group "The Initial Gang." We had badges made with our initials in 1979. We wear them whenever we are together, the last time being the 20th of August when we were in Grand Haven at the Vander Broek's for a couple of days. Isn't it great that we can still be together even after more than 50 years? But we have sadly lost two of our own, Bruce Emmert and Ray Stevens.