Garfield United Methodist Church closed Sunday May 28, 2018: Opened in 1881

Garfield (Whitman County), Washington

Story from 5/23/2017 Whitman County (Colfax) Gazette. Photos from 1999 of Garfield UMC provided by Jim Storms. Art work of Garfield UMC provided by Mary Ann Storms.
           
Garfield Methodist Church to close Sunday after 137 years: The last service

By Garth Meyer, Gazette Reporter, May 23, 2018

On Sunday, the Garfield Methodist Church will hold a service for the last time.

Founded in 1881 with a circuit preacher visiting private homes, the Garfield church got its first pastor six years later. The congregation bought land and the current church on Second Street was built in 1906.

Peggy Ray, its 63rd pastor, will lead the final service at 10:30 a.m. May 27.

Afterwards, the church will close with religious items removed and a de-consecration performed. The Town of Garfield has agreed to buy the building for $1 to use it as an auditorium for public events.
 
“I think it’s sad that it’s closing but I’m pleased that the building will be used, and still be an asset to the community,” said Ray.With the closing of the church, she will retire after nine years as pastor.

“I’m 79, it’s time to retire,” Ray said. “I was hopeful they would be able to continue after me. But that didn’t seem so reasonable after the last year. Basically the church is not in a position to replace me.”

The tall, brick Garfield building has a regular capacity of 100 people. Its closing is permitted by the larger United Methodist organization.

“It’s the culmination of a long process,” said Rev. Greg Sealey, supervisor for the United Methodist Church Inland District encompassing the Eastern half of Eastern Washington and part of the Idaho panhandle.

“A church generally decides for themselves, that they don’t have the money or energy to continue. Organizations, like organisms, often have a life cycle.”
The Garfield location is the only church in Sealey’s zone now closing, after two did last year, in White Bird, Idaho, and Wild Rose, an unincorporated area by Deer Park.

“A church closing doesn’t mean a church has failed. They did good work and they lived out their purpose,” Sealey said.

From 2007 to 2009, a drop in congregants in Garfield occurred after the Methodist church’s last full-time pastor left.

“We had about 30 people on Sundays when the Osveds were here,” said Mary Ann Storms, a member since 1970, referring to Pastor Joel Osved and his family. “Then it dwindled to 15 and 10 and five.”
Rev. Ray has served as a quarter-time pastor.

“I didn’t think seriously about closing until about a year ago,” she said.

In January, the church went to an every-other-Sunday format, due to its low numbers and to allow a chance for congregants to visit other churches. The Seedlings Child Care Center, started by the church and Garfield School in 2012, will continue on the church’s lower floor.

Sealey will be on site Sunday to perform the de-consecration rite. As a consecration opened the church 7,100 Sundays ago, this will mark its conclusion.

“We have a service to celebrate all the work the church has done,” Sealey said. He and local church members will also remove hymnals, religious symbols and other imagery, including the cross and flame logos of the Methodist Church, to prepare for the handover to the town.

“The conference doesn’t want the church back, they’ve got other empty churches,” said Storms.

Ray plans for the final service to include a wide selection of favorite hymns from remaining congregation and time for shared memories.

“Just like a lot of churches, the population dwindles and young people are not going to church like they used to,” said Storms, who will now drive to Colfax on Sundays. “This winter it got down to too few of us to make it viable. We’ve got younger people that don’t go to church. My kids don’t go to church.”

Garfield Methodist was known for its large choir in the early- and mid-1900s, with instrumental accompaniments. They lost their last organist/choir director at the end of 2014 when Janet Foley moved to California.

“It’s acoustically perfect,” said Ray of the building. “It’s a good size for the community.”

Garfield will now have two churches remaining in town; Garfield Christian Fellowship and Garfield Community Church.

“It’s never one thing that closes a church,” Sealey said. “There has been a shift in our larger culture. It used to be everyone went to church. Younger people, in the smaller towns, there’s not a lot of jobs for them. That’s a challenging place to have a church.”

Rex & Alice Davis of Pullman 5/27/2018

::: Pat-Topics: Story about Pullman's Pat Caraher, WSU grad, longtime HillTopics editor :::

Many know Pullman’s Pat Caraher, but don’t know details of his life. Pat started at WSC as a student in 1957. He earned degrees from WSU in 1962 and 1966. For 31 years Pat was the exceptional editor of an amazing publication, HillTopics of the WSU Alumni Association.

Dave Nordquist’s wonderfully-written story about Pat appears in the Spring 2018 WSU Retirees Association Newsletter. Thanks Pat and Dave for jobs well done! 

Read the story below:

:::Pat-Topics: Story about Pat Caraher:::

By Dave Nordquist

Spring 2019 WSU Retirees Association Newsletter

I asked some of Pat Caraher’s friends and family to describe him in two words or less.

The responses were interesting, yet not surprising to someone who knows Pat.

His coffee klatch buddies said: “Kind Hearted,” “Mr. Sincere,” “Unassuming,” “True Gentleman.”

Given the regard in which he is held by others, as evidenced by the two word descriptors, his work ethic and personality, it isn’t surprising that he was able to get his dream job at WSU. In a bit of a twist on the old cliché, “It isn’t what you know, but who you know”, it’s fair to say that Pat got his dream job at WSU both because of “what he knew” and “who he knew.”

What he knew was journalism. Degree from WSU in Communications with journalism emphasis, chosen outstanding graduate in journalism upon his graduation, three semesters working on the Daily Evergreen staff while at WSU, stringer for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper while still a student and intern in the Sports Information Office while at WSU. And then, after graduation, three and one half years working for the Eugene, Oregon Register-Guard. Oh, “Humble Pat” (my 2 word descriptor) would be the first to say he had much more to learn about his profession but he was well on his way.

So he’s 3 ½ years in Eugene and he said that he began pondering what’s more important in life: Location or Job. He likes where he lives – easy access to the ocean, about the right distance from Portland, all the amenities of a large university near at hand and he likes the job pretty well but there are some drawbacks. Working schedule for one. Working in the office during the day and then having to cover nighttime sporting events. He wonders how all that might shake out if and when he gets married and has a family. As he ponders this, he gets a phone call from another Pat, the “Who you know” part of the equation.

But before you learn about this other Pat who called, you need to know more about the Pat who got the call, Pat Caraher. He was born and grew up in Seattle. His Dad, Joe Caraher, was a Cougar, having graduated from then WSC in 1935 and then served as the WSC Alumni Director prior to WWII. 

After the war Joe was twice President of the WSU Alumni Association so Pat had Cougar influence in his life from the git-go. Pat had a normal growing-up time in Seattle. One thing he really enjoyed from a young age was baseball. He played in some of the very first Little League games in the Seattle area and later first base and outfield for his high school team. He graduated from Seattle Prep in 1957 and then had to decide where to attend college. Two things swayed him towards Pullman and WSU. One, he wanted to go somewhere away from Seattle and two, his father influenced him to a great extent.

So he enrolled at WSU in the fall of 1957 not knowing anyone there and not knowing what he wanted to study. He solved the “not knowing anyone bit” by going through rush and joining the Phi Kappa Theta Fraternity. As to the “what to study” he took general courses and got a degree in Social Science in 1962. He noted that famous WSU Alum Edward R. Murrow was the commencement speaker that year. 

Upon his graduation, Uncle Sam was waiting for him and he was drafted into the army and spent his next two years at Fort Richardson in Alaska. Pat relates that two notable events occurred while he was at Fort Richardson. First was the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963 and the second was the massive 9.2 Good Friday Alaska earthquake in 1964. The buildings shook and the ground trembled for several minutes, “seemingly an eternity,” Pat said. “In a flash my life passed before my eyes.”

After discharge from the army he went back to Seattle and looked for work. He said the job market was tough. He worked a couple of months in construction and then three months as a railroad switchman. These five months of manual labor plus some thinking about his future, convinced him he needed to go back to school and get more of a specialty degree and he settled on journalism. His father was a journalist and Pat saw that his father liked what he was doing so Pat re-enrolled at WSU in January 1965 majoring in Communications. He graduated in 1966 and armed with that degree and the work experiences noted earlier, got the job with the Eugene Register-Guard.

We’re now back to 3 ½ years in Eugene and his pondering about “Job vs Location” when he gets that call from the other Pat. That “other Pat” is Pat Patterson, WSU’s Alumni Director. The Alumni Office had been one of Pat Caraher’s beats while working on the Evergreen Staff as a student, so he knew Pat Patterson and more importantly, Pat Patterson remembered him and thus the call.

Pat Patterson said the Alumni Office was going to start a new alumni publication and wondered if Pat was interested in interviewing for the editor’s job. The words “Job vs Location” flashed through his mind and he quickly said, “Yes.” He interviewed, got the job and became the Founding, and as it turned out, the only Editor of the new publication, which was given the name HillTopics, for its 31 year run at WSU.

He moved to Pullman in 1969 and began his 35 year career at WSU, for 31 years as Hilltopics editor and four more as Co-Editor of the Washington State University magazine, which was the successor magazine to Hilltopics. Pat said his 31 years as Hilltopics editor were very interesting and satisfying because he got to know people from all aspects of WSU life. His list of friends, acquaintances, and interviewees reads like a Who’s-Who of all the movers and shakers at WSU during those years. The job was also a bit taxing. Ten issues a year (later cut back to 8) with 24 pages each issue. That’s a lot if interviewing.

Pat’s working companions in University Relations had nothing but good to say about him. A few quotes: “I never saw him angry,” “Wow, could that man write,” “He was totally dedicated,” “All Around,” “Always Inquisitive,” “Trusted Friend.”

It was during those early years back at WSU that he met Laurie (Busch) Caraher, his wife also a Cougar (’75 Music Education). They met in church. Laurie was from a Pullman family which was also a golfing family. Pat said their first date was playing golf on the old WSU nine hole golf course. They got married in 1976.  Pat and Laurie have three daughters, Maureen, Kelly and Theresa all of whom graduated from WSU and who have produced four grandchildren for Grandpa Pat to spoil. 

Family members, including a couple of grandkids, described Pat as follows: “People Person,” “Selfless,” “Loyal,”  “Consistent,” “Faithful,” “Lifetime Volunteer,” “Pullman’s Mayor,” “Lots of Friends,” “Likes to Read.” One elaborated on her choices by saying, “Selfless because he always puts others before himself and Loyal because he is loyal to his family, friends, community, faith/church and his beloved Cougs.”

Because of his work on HillTopics and other WSU and community activities, Pat received the WSU Alumni Achievement Award in 1995.

Pat’s hobbies and activities apart from work were and are quite varied: International and domestic travel, reading books, newspapers and obituaries. Obituaries because each one is a vignette of a person’s life, birth to death. He also likes golfing and exercising, particularly walking with Laurie and friends, and all Cougar sports, especially baseball which he calls his “love and vice.” 

He was a Rotary Club member for 42 years. Rotary’s motto of “Service above Self” certainly epitomizes who Pat is. Also, for the last 14 years Pat has served as a Volunteer Chaplain at Pullman Regional Hospital. And he can’t stop writing. In 2016 he started writing random stories of his memories and reflections. The titles of two so far are: “Three Broken Teeth and Two Broken Legs,” and “Flying Kites and Building Sand Castles.” I told Pat he should combine these stories in book form and title it “Pat-Topics.”

So, back in Pullman at WSU, Pat got both “Location” and “Job satisfaction”, a wife and family and many friends. Pat said he loved his job and his wife, “Best thing that ever happened to me,” he said, meaning his wife not the job. But maybe the job was second best.

The story is posted at these blogs:

-News for CougGroup
http://newsforcouggroup.blogspot.com/2018/05/manyknow-pullmans-pat-caraher-but-dont.html

-Pullman :: Cup of the Palouse
https://pullman-cupofpalouse.blogspot.com/2018/05/pat-topics-story-about-pullmans-pat.html

Also, see WSU news release 9/7/2004, 'Long-time Cougar Writer, Editor Patrick Caraher to Retire'

https://news.wsu.edu/2004/09/07/long-time-cougar-writer-editor-patrick-caraher-to-retire