Historical Remembrances
Helen Dennis Stockwell
Daughter of Arbon and Ella Dennis
Member of First Church from 1917 to 1934
On June 15, 1917, I was born to Arbon and Ella Dennis and baptized soon after. I attended Sunday school in the primary department, which was held in the annex connected to the rear of the church and could also be entered from Henrietta Street. Miss Ella Adams was the teacher. My mother tied a penny in the corner of my handkerchief and made sure I took it for the collection box. One of the songs I still remember that Miss Adams taught was "I'll Be a Sunbeam for Jesus."
Later I entered the Junior Department and was given a nickel for the collection. Mrs. Ed Heacock was my teacher. Upper grades held their classes in the pews in the sanctuary.
As a young child, I would sit in church and observe the beautiful stained glass windows with awe. Also, the huge organ with the pipes above it. Mrs. Mildred Green (later Mrs. Ritter) was our organist for several years.
Sunday morning, without fail, we would climb the circular stairway leading to the sanctuary. We were greeted by Mr. Ed Heacock who would usher the five members of our family to the same pew each week. The five of us consisted of Arbon and Ella Dennis and three children: Lloyd, Helen and Ray.
My dad and another member of the church would take a truck down to "Eco City" (south end of Birmingham) and pick up the children and bring them to Sunday school and later take them home.
A really big occasion for me was the summer I won a trip to a Methodist church camp at Lakeside, Ohio, for selling the most Sanders baked goods. It was a fundraiser for the church.
I recall how some of us teenage girls swooned over the new young minister, Rev. James Wright, who later returned as Senior Minister in the new church.
Then there was the time Dorothy DaLee Willison and I played a piano duet for a Sunday school program.
Some meetings were held in the Rectory next door to the church.
When the Birmingham Theater came to town, the Methodists joined some other churches in protest over the theater being open on Sundays.
When leaving my church in 1934 at the age of 18 to enter Mercy College for a nursing career, there is no doubt in my mind that the church had a big influence in shaping my life - for which I am forever grateful.