~ WALLOON LAKE COMMUNITY CHURCHES ~
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Please do not copy the photos on this site, many of which have been submitted by private individuals...
just come back and visit the site often to view the photos.
The design and compilation of the text and photos on this site are copyrighted 2014.
just come back and visit the site often to view the photos.
The design and compilation of the text and photos on this site are copyrighted 2014.
Obituary Below: Charles E. North brought his family to Walloon Lake 39 years ago [1887] and operated a truck farm and dairy. He also handled lumbering operations about that region for many years… During the early days at Walloon Lake Mr. North helped erect United Brethren churches at both Clarion and the Lake, donating his labor, and he was active in the church organization. He helped to obtain for Walloon Lake its railroad branch line and also helped erect the FIRST hotel there.”
Most of the photos on this separate "Youth Groups" webpage came from an album put together by Walloon Lake resident,
youngster at the time, Cathy Stevens.
youngster at the time, Cathy Stevens.
1873 ~ FIRST Sermon Ever Delivered to White People in the city of Petoskey
neighboring city to Clarion and Talcott (Walloon Lake)
neighboring city to Clarion and Talcott (Walloon Lake)
Methodist Church and United Brethren Church in Clarion Nearby to Walloon Lake
"In 1895 the United Brethren Church welcomed a new minister. Miss Maude Teachout preached their Sunday services, held services for the dead, and called on the folk." ~ Mildred Burns, longtime Walloon Lake resident
"The United Brethren Church members were having trouble about the church discipline which banned secret societies. This prevented the Civil War veterans from belonging to organizations. When it was brought to the Supreme Court, the churches in Michigan lost the case. The church in Clarion had their services in the Bear Lake school until they could get their own church built. Since there were so few members and they were so far away from the church, it was sold to the Oddfellow Lodge and they in turn later sold it to the township for a town hall at a later date.
The United Brethren Church of Tolcott was built with most of the materials being donated. Allen Sherk and Charles Camburn supplied the timber. The lumber was sawed at the Sheatsley mill. The wall built by Wm. Bauffman and Del Kitts. Most of the labor was donated, but under the supervision of Wm. Niles the head carpenter. They had a bee to clear the brush and break the ground. They brought the organ from the Clarion church. On the 2nd of October 1898 they had their dedication ceremony with the District Supt. R.H. Turner presiding. Maude Tachout was still the minster as she had presided over the Clarion church during this time. This same year she became Mrs. Roy Brown. She had services of some kind five times a Sunday. They had their church suppers in their homes and everything was donated. They were real proud of themselves if they cleared $12.00 or $15.00." ~ Mildred Burns, longtime Walloon Lake resident
The United Brethren Church of Tolcott was built with most of the materials being donated. Allen Sherk and Charles Camburn supplied the timber. The lumber was sawed at the Sheatsley mill. The wall built by Wm. Bauffman and Del Kitts. Most of the labor was donated, but under the supervision of Wm. Niles the head carpenter. They had a bee to clear the brush and break the ground. They brought the organ from the Clarion church. On the 2nd of October 1898 they had their dedication ceremony with the District Supt. R.H. Turner presiding. Maude Tachout was still the minster as she had presided over the Clarion church during this time. This same year she became Mrs. Roy Brown. She had services of some kind five times a Sunday. They had their church suppers in their homes and everything was donated. They were real proud of themselves if they cleared $12.00 or $15.00." ~ Mildred Burns, longtime Walloon Lake resident
The Village of Talcott (later the Village of Walloon Lake) originally did not have a church. The closest church, The United Brethren Church in the photo above, was located in Clarion a couple of miles from Talcott. Miss Maude Teachout (later married Roy Brown) was the minister for the United Brethren Church. The United Brethren Church moved to Talcott and was dedicated 2 October 1898. The photo below shows the building which eventually housed the Walloon Lake Non-denominational Church.
When the United Brethren Church moved to Talcott, the labor and lumber for the building was donated by Allan Sherk and Charles Camburn with the lumber having been cut at the nearby Sheatsley Saw Mill. Kenny Starr's mother Goldie was the daughter of Johann "John" Frederick Sheatsley. Kenny told the story that "John's sons never had anything to do with the Planing and Saw Mill. By the time Johann was older he would move around and stay with his daughters and was with his daughter Dora Birk in Indiana when he died. He did not have either arm as he had lost one of his arms when he was working in his saw mill. He was walking between machines and his arm became caught in a belt of a wheel and became mangled. It then became gangrenous and had to be removed. The other hand he lost parts of the fingers from a saw. He loved working with wood, and when he lived with his daughter Daisy in Petoskey on the corner of Howard and Pearl Streets, he had a work shop set up in the garage. With just a stub, and a hand with missing fingers, he used to build bump jumpers [type of sled common to the Petoskey area] for Kenny and his brother Miles Starr." William Niles was the head carpenter when the church was being built in Walloon Lake. Maude Teachout presided over the new Walloon Lake church. In 1898 she married Roy Brown who became a property owner at "The Foot".
"The United Brethren church people sometimes asked Dr. Ford to preach a sermon at the church to which we’d all go. They were wonderful sermons as Dr. Ford was a well-known preacher and had a large congregation in his Englewood Church. Dr. King was also asked to give sermons at the Methodist Church and we always went to that, too. He was a very capable man and had a large, important church in Kansas City. I sometimes was invited up to the King cottage to spend the night as Wirt and I were quite close. There never was a tease as bad as Wirt. He would get you talking and meantime he would begin untying your shoe laces and if you could not get him to stop he would unlace them from your shoes. He about drove me to distraction that night and when I made out to chase him he ran down their hill. I picked up a small pebble and made out to throw it at him, but instead it hit Dr. King on the lip. I was mortified to think that I had been so foolish as to do such a thing. He hollered something which I couldn’t make out as by that time I was on my way running toward home and crying my eyes out. I had never thought I really was in such respect of Dr. King. He was a rather gruff and thoughtful individual and was greatly respected by all...
...Wirt King was a member of our group [of friends], a couple of years my senior and lived in a cottage on the highest hill of any around the lake. Dr. and Mrs. King were fine people and I admired them greatly. Wirt was their only child and had been raised quite strictly as a minister’s son. He was a very smart character, but did not inherit his father’s love of tools. He became a trial lawyer later. He joined a firm of lawyers upon graduating from the University of Michigan and worked on some very tricky insurance cases for them.... While regaining his health, he came up to Walloon one winter and he, Mom and I whiled away many an evening playing pinochle. In the spring he got a job with the Sinclair Oil Company in Chicago and lived at the Union League Club. One night after Mom and I had gone to bed we heard King’s ring on our party line phone and as it rang and rang for several minutes. I knew that Dr. and Mrs. King, being elderly couldn’t hear it, so I answered it and explained their situation. The caller turned out to be the manager of the Union League Club who said he had been trying to reach Wirt’s room but got no answer, so had gone up to the room where he had found Wirt dead in bed. I offered to go up to the King cottage and tell them, so Mom and I got dressed and went up to King’s where we had difficulty in rousing them, and then had that terrible news to tell them. It was the most trying occasion for them and for us to to have to tell them their only son was dead. Wirt was a fun-loving character and we certainly have missed him." [William Wirt King, Jr. died at Chicago 17 July 1947.]
~ James C. Whitfield, Sr.
...Wirt King was a member of our group [of friends], a couple of years my senior and lived in a cottage on the highest hill of any around the lake. Dr. and Mrs. King were fine people and I admired them greatly. Wirt was their only child and had been raised quite strictly as a minister’s son. He was a very smart character, but did not inherit his father’s love of tools. He became a trial lawyer later. He joined a firm of lawyers upon graduating from the University of Michigan and worked on some very tricky insurance cases for them.... While regaining his health, he came up to Walloon one winter and he, Mom and I whiled away many an evening playing pinochle. In the spring he got a job with the Sinclair Oil Company in Chicago and lived at the Union League Club. One night after Mom and I had gone to bed we heard King’s ring on our party line phone and as it rang and rang for several minutes. I knew that Dr. and Mrs. King, being elderly couldn’t hear it, so I answered it and explained their situation. The caller turned out to be the manager of the Union League Club who said he had been trying to reach Wirt’s room but got no answer, so had gone up to the room where he had found Wirt dead in bed. I offered to go up to the King cottage and tell them, so Mom and I got dressed and went up to King’s where we had difficulty in rousing them, and then had that terrible news to tell them. It was the most trying occasion for them and for us to to have to tell them their only son was dead. Wirt was a fun-loving character and we certainly have missed him." [William Wirt King, Jr. died at Chicago 17 July 1947.]
~ James C. Whitfield, Sr.
History of the Walloon Lake Community Church
by
James C. Whitfield, Sr.
(Three Pages Shown Below posted with permission from James C. Whitfield, Sr.'s, daughter Mary Whitfield Erb)
Mary Whitfield Erb remembers that this church building was originally built without a basement. In later years, members of the community, including Harry Griffin and Bob Yaich, helped to dig out a basement under the church building. The new basement had a small kitchen area and was used for dinners. Mary says that the windows that her grandmother, Mrs. George W. Whitfield, donated to this original church building, have been moved, and in 2014, the windows are inside the new church building which is in the previous Melrose School.
~ 1950s ~
Photo Below: Donald Holbrook was the pastor of Walloon Lake's Community Church in the 1950s.
~ 1967 ~
Rhea Grubaugh of Walloon Lake married Charles Blumke of Brutus on 2 December 1967 in the Walloon Lake Community Church. Charles was a partner with Blumke Brothers Redi-Mix and Excavation, Inc. in Alanson, while Rhea was self-employed as a seamstress.
~ 1986 ~
Obituary Below: Russell Aseltine was the pastor of the Walloon Lake Community Church in 1986.
He passed away in Petoskey in 1990.
He passed away in Petoskey in 1990.
The second church in the Village of Walloon Lake was the Methodist Episcopal Church of Walloon as seen in the photos below. It was built in 1905 in the Village of Walloon Lake on the property which houses, in 2013, the Melrose Township Fire Department and Walloon Lake Community Hall. The original Methodist Church building burned down as The Community Hall in September of 1948.
From the 8 May 1913 issue of The Petoskey Record:
"Mr. Wheeler will preach his first sermon at Walloon and Clarion churches on Sunday, May 6."
On 29 May 1940 Ross Renwick and Lucile Spalding were married in the Walloon Lake Community Church.
February 1941 Lester and Eva May Hall Stevens were married in the Walloon Lake Community Church.
23 June 1947 Robert and Rolene Zacharda were married at Walloon Lake.
Bettie and Russell Stevens (photo above left) were married in 1947 when she was 18 and he was 23,
at the Community Church of Walloon Lake.
Four couples in the family had been married for 50 years at the time of this 1997 news article,
including Art and Louise Gruler Stevens in the photo above.
at the Community Church of Walloon Lake.
Four couples in the family had been married for 50 years at the time of this 1997 news article,
including Art and Louise Gruler Stevens in the photo above.
The Walloon Lake Community Hall was used for various functions and by various organizations.
Leo and Betty Goldsmith held their wedding reception at the community hall.
"$30,000 Fire at Walloon Community Center" was the headline for the Thursday, 23 September 1948 Northern Michigan Review newspaper, and included the photo below right. The original newspaper is now rather tattered but the following is transcribed: "Village Plans To Rebuild Lost Center ~ The village of Walloon Lake is without a community center but plans to rebuild the one destroyed by fire Tuesday will be discussed shortly.
The building was a remodeled church used by the Dean S. Scroggie Post of the American Legion, the Ladies Guild of Walloon Lake, Legion Auxiliary, Farmers Union, Boy Scouts and other organizations of the village.
Fire destroyed a complete dining room service (chairs, tables, eating equipment), a piano, snack bar in the basement, dance floor, American Legion rifles, some uniforms and equipment and part of their records.
Fire was discovered shortly after 4:30 p.m. by a truck driver passing through who started tooting his horn. Mrs. Lester Stevens saw the smoke and called Walter Masters, of Master' Boat Works, who started telephoning the volunteer firemen.
According to A.F. Starr, Legion Commander, the building had not been used since Saturday.
Petoskey and Boyne City fire departments were called to assist. They pumped... from the lake, and the thr... Departments put hoses on the... but with flames ... the roof... back... 200 feet away.
When it was found the... building was lost, adjoining homes were watered to prevent the flames from spreading.
The building was built in 1907 as a church and remodeled about three years ago as a community center."
The building was a remodeled church used by the Dean S. Scroggie Post of the American Legion, the Ladies Guild of Walloon Lake, Legion Auxiliary, Farmers Union, Boy Scouts and other organizations of the village.
Fire destroyed a complete dining room service (chairs, tables, eating equipment), a piano, snack bar in the basement, dance floor, American Legion rifles, some uniforms and equipment and part of their records.
Fire was discovered shortly after 4:30 p.m. by a truck driver passing through who started tooting his horn. Mrs. Lester Stevens saw the smoke and called Walter Masters, of Master' Boat Works, who started telephoning the volunteer firemen.
According to A.F. Starr, Legion Commander, the building had not been used since Saturday.
Petoskey and Boyne City fire departments were called to assist. They pumped... from the lake, and the thr... Departments put hoses on the... but with flames ... the roof... back... 200 feet away.
When it was found the... building was lost, adjoining homes were watered to prevent the flames from spreading.
The building was built in 1907 as a church and remodeled about three years ago as a community center."
The book Muhqua Nebbis A Compilation of Legends of Walloon tells on page 79 that various other Walloon Lake churches existed, even if only for short periods of time. In 1889 services resulted in the formation of a Presbyterian Church, but only lasted a few years. In 1906 services were held at the Lake Grove Hotel and then in 1920 Sunday School was held at the Lake Grove Hotel, just on the porch and on the lawn. About 1915 a tent was set up near the Echo Beach Inn for the Christian Scientists to meet.
MEMORIES
Cindy Tillotson Reed told her memories of Walloon Lake which include her present day connection to Walloon Lake Community Church as a sponsoring church in her missionary work in Indonesia where she and her husband Carl Reed live.
Rosemary Renwick James remembered that the Walloon Lake Community Church held its Youth Fellowship on Wednesdays and its Vacation Bible School in the summers. At one time, Rosemary's mother Lucille was the pianist for the church. Rosemary's father Ross had started a choir in the church, where Lucille was playing the piano. Ross and Lucille were then married in the Walloon Lake Community Church.
WALLOON LAKE - The Charlevoix County Sheriff's Department is offering a $500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for a break-in at the Walloon Lake Community Church in Melrose Township Sunday.
Charlevoix County Sheriff George T. Lasater said his deputies have secured evidence and are following up on several leads.
Police are asking anyone with information about the break-in to call Lasater or investigator Sherry Sproul at the department at 547-4461.
Charlevoix County Sheriff George T. Lasater said his deputies have secured evidence and are following up on several leads.
Police are asking anyone with information about the break-in to call Lasater or investigator Sherry Sproul at the department at 547-4461.
Below Photo Credit: Odalaigh
CHURCH ~ SIGNS OF THE TIMES
Photo Below from newspaper L>R: Rod Ward, ?, ?.
Charlevoix County News Briefs page 6 on 15 September 2011 announced:
"Walloon Lake Community Church is pleased to announce its expansion into East Jordan. Months of planning and prayer by church members have led to the upcoming opening of the new East Jordan campus..."
"Walloon Lake Community Church is pleased to announce its expansion into East Jordan. Months of planning and prayer by church members have led to the upcoming opening of the new East Jordan campus..."
Walloon Lake Community Church Memorial Services Held
1977
Ruth Ecker Barnes
2002
Paul J. Konecki
2007
Justin Paton
2013
Cleyo Penfold
2014
Thomas "Tiny" Roger Garnsey
Daniel R. "Smitty" Smith
2015
Robert Douglass Fite, Jr.
2016
Robert Charles Ford
David J. Nemec
Carl Vanderwall
2017
Donald Cooper
John H. Lowery II
Dawn Tillotson
Ruth Ecker Barnes
2002
Paul J. Konecki
2007
Justin Paton
2013
Cleyo Penfold
2014
Thomas "Tiny" Roger Garnsey
Daniel R. "Smitty" Smith
2015
Robert Douglass Fite, Jr.
2016
Robert Charles Ford
David J. Nemec
Carl Vanderwall
2017
Donald Cooper
John H. Lowery II
Dawn Tillotson
Walloon Lake Community Church Associated People
Walloon Lake Community Church Celebration Services Held
1967
J. Richard "Rick" Smith and Renate Rexhausen Wed (Reverend Ralph Sterns)
2018
Mia Nellie Matchett and Scott Kenneth Rhudy Wed 12 May 2018
J. Richard "Rick" Smith and Renate Rexhausen Wed (Reverend Ralph Sterns)
2018
Mia Nellie Matchett and Scott Kenneth Rhudy Wed 12 May 2018