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Memorial United Church
Memorial United Church is located on Church Road in Grand Falls-Windsor. At present there are approximately five hundred families in our town that call this church their home congregation. Memorial United Church was officially opened on November 11, 1990. Although this building is only seventeen years old, the history of its congregation dates back to the beginning of this town. Memorial United Church recently celebrated its one hundredth anniversary. This church, like its predecessor built in 1922, got its name from being erected to honour the memory of those who died in the First World War 1914-1918, and the Second World War 1939-1945. Two members of the congregation at that time, Louisa and Josiah Goodyear, had three sons killed in the First World War. Mr. H. B. Parnaby held the first Methodist church service in Grand Falls in 1906 in the school house that was situated at the site which is now number 43 Carmelite Road. The first resident minister was Rev. W. Muir. The first church building was completed on High Street in 1911 and could seat 300 people. The cornerstone of the second church was laid September 14, 1922 by Mrs. Louisa Goodyear. It was completed and opened November 11, 1924. It stood mostly unchanged for decades until a new brick church was opened in 1990 to replace the aging church.
My class and I visited Memorial United Church in December. Reverend Howard Crooks and my dad, who is also a minister, gave us a tour of the building. One of the things that I really liked was the white marble plaque in the front of the church that lists the names of the people who died in the First and Second World Wars. It was fascinating to learn that the names on this plaque have been read aloud during worship on every Remembrance Day since the end of the wars. My class really liked the thirteen stained glass windows. Four of them came from the old church. The one with the Nativity Scene is really beautiful. Another thing I really liked was the organ and the pipes. My dad told me that our church bought the pipes and the previous organ from Gower Street United Church in 1930. This pipe organ was built by the Conacher firm in England in 1896. The pipes no longer work, but they sure are beautiful. In 1953 they bought a Cassavant organ from Quebec with 994 pipes. So the front exterior of the Conacher that they kept is over 100 years old. I was happy that some of my classmates and I got to sit at the organ, down in “the pit”, and play some music. We also got an opportunity to sit in the balcony and see the whole sanctuary. It was fun to be up so high looking down.
Mark Janes (2006-2007) |
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