Our History, as told by parishoner Annette Hollis
Annette Hollis (1920-2022) was a beloved matriarch of St. Mark's. In 2008, she recorded her treasured memories of St. Mark's.
What I Know of the Early Years of Our Church by Annette Hollis
Lent 2008
I was born and reared on Hollis Hill, 2 miles from Banks, 12 miles from Troy. My mother, Lucy Darby, came from Troy; my father's family had come from Georgia in 1880. My father was a Dairy Farmer. I attended public schools in Troy, commuting each day. My best friend in first grade was Kathryn Mundy. Her father was rector of St. Mark's Church, and I attended Kathryn's birthday party at the rectory in 1926.
St. Mark's was a dark reddish brown frame structure which stood on the Southwest Corner of College and North Three Notch Streets near First Baptist Church. It was distinctive in appearance, more forbidding than attracting. Troy was mainly a Baptist and Methodist town, but the Episcopal Church was highly respected and the rector well liked. We all recognized Reverend Mundy for his distinctive dress, smile, and dignity.
My mother's Darby family had lived for generations in Alabama and for a long period in Troy. They were Methodist. My mother gave me introduction to Episcopalianism. As a child my mother often attended St. Mark's with neighbors and family. She spent summers as a child and teenager at the Shackleford Plantation in Montgomery County. Miss Annie Shackleford Rogers (our Archer Rogers's ancestor) took her to the Episcopal Church there. In Troy, she was neighbor to people of English birth, Angelican orientated - Mincheners and others, Rosenscrofts, Colliers, Tenilles, Leslies, Marshall Smiths, and in Troy this little pact of people of England or of near English birth planted the seed of Anglicanism at St. Mark's. They must ever be remembered.
A significant date in our history was the arrival in Troy of Mr. Henry D. Green in the 1870's.
At the request of Mr. Ezra Wilkerson (father-in-law to Fox Henderson, Sr. and ancestor to Linda Dykes' children), Mr. Green came to Troy to establish the first bank. It was named Pike County Bank, later F & M Bank. My grandfather, John Randolph Darby, was the first cashier. Mr. Green and Grandpa Darby had mutual interest and became friends. They both were educated in Tennessee. Mr. Green attended Swannee, and my grandfather went to Webb School and on to Cumberland University Law School, Lebanon, Tennessee.
Mr. Green lived in a small frame house where the Bashinsky Mansion nowstands. My grandfather lived in the first block west side of South Three Notch Street, neighbor to members of Collier and Marshall Smith families who were Episcopalians.Henry D. Green was a dedicated Episcopalian. He worked hard for the Church and was one of the first vestrymen.
At about the same time we are talking about, Father J. J. D. Hall came from Geneva, Alabama to be the first priest at St. Mark' s. Daddy Hall, as he was known, was an ardent Church minister. He made many friends in Troy (and in after years when he returned for visit s). He baptized the first baby of his ministry here (Mrs. Sadie Whetstone Nix). She was a lifelong member. Her mother was of the Robinson family.
Sadly, Henry D. Green left Troy after a few years. In time, Daddy Hall went on to New York City where he developed a street preaching ministry and founded St. Paul' s House in Hell's Kitchen. He became known worldwide as the "Bishop of Wall Street". His disciple, Creighton Dunlap, visited a week at St. Mark' s in about 1965.
St. Mark's grew " all over old Troy". The Zimmermans on East Madison were German watch makers. Miss Lizzie Love Jones, the Sanders, Mathews
Owens, the Cunninghams of Brundidge Street as was the Victor Bolako family, the Mincheners, Adams, Miss Rozella Peake, the George Mayers family, the Reginald Capers and Laney families, the McQuagges, the Leslie s. All were members of St. Mark's. There were others of course. I cannot remember all.
In the late 1880's or early 1890's, a date to remember in the annals of our Church, was the arrival in Troy of Miss Laura Parker Montgomery. Miss Laura came from Raleigh, N.C. (probably from our school - St. Mary' s for Girl ' s). She came to teach at "the Troy Normal" . A youn g lady of remarkable beauty, talent, and refinement of taste, Miss Laura took board with my cousin (pronounced in the South as "Cud ' n"), Kannie Key Murphree on College Street. (Cud ' n Kannie is great grandmother to Eloise Murphree.)
"C ud ' n Kannie ' s" house stood next to the last old house on the north side of College Street going towards North Three Notch. Miss Laura' s new home was diagonally across the street from the Episcopal rectory and church and two blocks, thereabout, to Troy Normal School. Miss Laura was a devoted Episcopalian. As she started her teaching career, she became a communicant at St. Mark's.
Next door to Cud'n Kannie's house on College Street was the home of Jeremiah Augustees Henderson. One day, as Cud'n Kannie was walking in her yard, the young Henderson son, Charles, stopped at the gate, and Cud'n Kannie spoke, "Charles, I have the prettiest little lady you ever saw who has come to board with me. She' s from Raleigh North Carolina, and she' s co me to teach at " the Normal" . I want you to come over and meet her." Years or months , perhaps later, Miss Laura and Charlie Henderson were married.
Many years later as she reminisced Mrs. Henderson said , "I tried to go to Charlie ' s church, and I did go, but I always longed for my own church services ." Charlie's church was First Baptist. Charlie became an Episcopalian.
Governor and Mrs. Henderson meant much in many ways in the life of St. Mark's. Mrs. Henderson gave of herself and her talent, not just to the Church but to the community. I remember as a teenager, a group of us were sent to the Charity Benefit of the Season. We went to the Music rooms in the Masonic Hall (above Synco Drugs) where Mrs. Henderson was to read "St. Joan" by Bernard Shaw. Miss Laura appeared in the full dress of a Knight in Armor, and she kept us interested and amused for the entire afternoon.
The last time I saw Miss Laura was about 1938-1939. I was home from Birmingham and as I left McLeod's Drug Store, I looked up to see Miss Laura step onto the sidewalk. She was dressed in a wonderful shade of green and held a parasol atop her lovely white hair as she made ready to enter the TB&T (Governor Henderson's bank).
Governor and Mrs. Henderson had no children, but they brought many relatives into St. Mark's. Sometime in the 1890's, Miss Ida Montgomery, Miss Laura's sister, came to Troy to teach third grade. My mother spoke of her lovingly. Miss Ida became a communicant of our church.
Governor Henderson had many relatives come to St. Mark's. Descendants of his sister, Mrs. Ella Henderson Brock, and of his brother, Fox Henderson, Sr., as well as descendants of many aunts and uncles came to worship at St. Mark's. All gave of time, talent and money and we today are indebted.
St. Mark's grew because (1) people moved into Troy, (2) natives transferred church membership, (3) Troy Normal grew and brought so many teachers, especially in later years. They so enriched us in many ways.
Troy in the I920's and 1930's was rich and vibrant. A sign on Highway 29N proclaimed the town as the fifth richest in U. S. for size (Brewton was 3rd!).
Banks, the nearest community to my home, was a bustling village in 1920. It had a drugstore, a hotel, a depot, a cotton gin, two churches, three mercantile stores, and a school. But just before the outbreak of the First World War, a great fire broke out in Banks and, among other things, burned down the Banks school. It was a terrible loss. May parents had two children, 11 and 6 years, and no school for them.
The decision to send the boys to Troy to live with our grandmother Darby during school weeks solved the problem. At the beginning my mother would stay with them in town while the first grader adjusted, then come home weekends. Not long after the move was decided upon and made, the great epidemic of flu struck Troy with all its wrath. The Hollis family was spared, but Troy was a place of real suffering. (Mary Harmon Bryant's father was first to die here.)
People buried their dead every day, every cemetery. Nursing facilities and doctors were in short supply, and neighbors helped neighbors wherever they could.
At this time, my mother found herself going often to give "break" to some neighbor overwhelmed by caregiving. The heroic figure of the time was Valentine Lowery, rector of St. Mark's. My mother got to know him at this time, and she often told of his loving care to all, regardless of denomination; his fearless attendance to the sick, his willingness to be wherever needed for comfort and help.
When I was a preschooler, College Street ended where the concrete " Gate" now stands. No house stood save the unusual-styled McCartha- Knox house which still stands. Everywhere on our church area, extending the length of College Extension, was only wild growth - trees, bushes, trash, weeds, tangled vines - a forest of growth, to the Murphree Street exit down hill. In the center of the wild growth was the ruins of a once beautiful raised cottage - exquisitely beautiful in decay and a setting for a Gothic novel. When I visited cousins on Walnut Street as a child and when we children went out to play, our elders sternly ordered " Don' t go near ' the old College " ' , which was the name given to the ruined building of which I speak. Our elders feared the very tall remaining walls would "fall in on us" . Once " the old College" as it was called had been Troy Female College and perhaps theHurley Home. " The old College" had given College Street its name.
College Park Extension was cleared in the late 20 ' s or early 30 ' s, and Governor Charles Henderson gave the land for our church and rectory. Our church records certainly must show more than I know, but I pay respects to Frank Lockwood, architect, Dolph Owens, contractor, Jean Orendorf' s "Smith"
grandfather, George Mayer' s (grandfather of Jean Lake) for fine ironwork, and Standard Chemical for bricks. Governor Henderson and Mrs. Henderson gave us our church, any many of the furnishings were placed by the different members of Henderson family. I
believe the members of the Fred Henderson and Fox Henderson family gave the Rectory, but this needs checking.
My piano teacher in Ozark, Alabama died in 1938 and as Troy State Teacher' s College had no music degree program at that time, I transferred to
Birmingham Conservatory and Birmingham Southern College. Except for visits home, I was away 17 years and did not lie in Banks again until 1955.
On one visit I made to home in 1941, I called d upon Mrs. Clyde Minchener Adams and Miss Martha Jane Ballard (later Co dy). I had been confirmed at the
Church of Advent in Birmingham by Bishop Carpenter, and I was paying a call at home of Episcopalians I'd lo ng known. The two friends took me to St. Mark's on an afternoon. As we stepped onto the sidewalk, Martha Jane slipped her Chapel Cap onto her head and said, "I never go into Church with my head uncovered." I, soon after, started collecting my Chapel Caps.
1954, our Conservatory in Birmingham was taken over and made a department at Birmingham Southern College. I taught until 1955 and came home. It was best I now be nearer my aging parents and from time to time I took self employed teaching jobs (never paid by a school system). I took jobs in places less far from Banks . I always attended the Episcopal Church closest to my teaching job but occasionally was able to come to St. Mark' s. I became a regular communicant in the 1980's. However, I had sung in the choir during Mr. Sutor's tenure, and I had known Rev. Ward and Rev. Bell.
The End--AH
Add On I
This add on is at the request that I list more people whom I knew once to be members or regularly in attendance at St. Mark's either before or after 1950.
Josh Couch family - Relatives of the Hyde White family
Henry Leslie - Member of the Minchener-Leslie family - President, Union Bank in Montgomery at one time.
Dorothy Helms Laney and Bill Laney & family - Brundidge & Troy residents.
The Reginald Capers family - deceased.
The Charles & Isabel Capers Lovey family - deceased.
Thomas Arrington - Choir Director in the 1960's on loan from First Baptist. Now lives in Piedmont, Alabama.
A couple from TSU from Pennsylvania. I have no name but he was choir director at our church. They were charming people.
Mr. Rosa Powell - Teacher - deceased.
Ms. Susan (Allie) Hughes - Nutritionist and Home Demonstration Representative - deceased.
Mrs. Sybil Brantley Windham family - deceased.
Mrs. Benny Pinckard (Benny's first wife)- California.
Windley Tatom - Son of Rora McQuagg T.
Bob Dietz (the younger) and family
Lizzie Jones - Life member and organist or pianist of church - deceased.
Rozella Peake - Traveling nurse for Pike County Health Department - deceased.
Mrs. Emily Colcott-TSU English Department 1930's.
Dr. Jeannette Rosenberg_ TSU English Department, 1950's.
Martha Jane Ballard (Cody) - Art Department, Troy State Teacher's College - deceased.
Rubye Tyler - Legal secretary - Long-time member of St. Mark's - deceased 2007.
Bill and Pat Porter and three girls.
John and Charlotte Perkins -deceased.
Conrad and Brenda (Dykes) di Michelle - Brenda was organist during Mr. Sutor's tenure as rector. The di Michelles had distinguished careers in teaching and are now retired to Delaware, his birth place. Life-long Episcopalians after conversion to our church.
A Malone family, believed to have been the Arthur Y. Malone family of Dothan. She is the sister to Mr. James Leslie (Mr. Jim of F&M Bank).
This list is "out of my head" and certainly not all that I have known.
AH
Add On II
Dr. William Henry Minchener (Wall plague) was of original family of church. He was my baby doctor and father of Grace Lee Minchener.
Dr. Lancelot Sanders (Wall plaque) was also surgeon. His untimely death at 31 years was a great loss. He was of the Sanders-Owens-Matthews family on Church Street. His father also a doctor (Shelby).
Admiral Francis Adams of the Minchener and Adams family was an historical figure of WWII. He lived here briefly after that war.
Henry D. Green and J. J. D. Hall, of our early church history may well have been related. Less than five years ago two ladies of Harris County, Georgia, contacted Marty Conner for information on Green and Hall. "Daddy" Hall (J.J.D. Hall) was from Geneva, Alabama and related closely to the well known Boozer family of Dothan. (A landmark, private bookstore was owned by Miss Boozer for many years.) In New York, "Daddy" Hall had also published "The Church Militant" at his St. Paul's House. His designated disciple was Creighton Dunlop. The title of "Bishop of Wall Street" is given as Bishop of Walnut Street" in Margaret Pace Farmer's History. I've always heard the former. He kept his "soap box" at the door to a bank and used it noon hours when streets were most crowded. Traditional Episcopalianism was not readily receptive to J. J. D. Hall's version. J. J. D. Hall ("Daddy") came often to Alabama. In my years at Church of Advent, Birmingham, "Daddy" Hall's booming AMEN could bring the congregation to a joyful smile - usually at Lent. He also visited the Bashinsky family in Troy.
Creighton Dunlap, Daddy Hall's disciple in N.Y.C., was a communicant of either St. Thomas or St. Bartholomew, N.Y.C. He was confidante of Tullulah Bankhead who was often ill in her last years.
The Kneeling Bench in our church was the loan (or gift) of the Collier family (of Orion, owner of a pharmaceutical supply house in Troy). The Collier family included Margaret Pace Farmer and Kate Marshall Smith's families.
It should be noted that the Methodist Episcopal Church, located in downtown Troy, always held a close relationship with St. Mark's inasmuch as during St. Mark's construction periods, Troy Methodists were so generous to offer use of their sanctuary and facilities.
Although of no interest to us, as Episcopalians, the very old and interesting house opposite our church, known as the McCartha-Knox house, was originally the property of Professor McCartha of Troy Normal.
A few years ago, during Father Charles Womelsdorf' s tenure, I believe, one of Reverend Mundy's children came to Sunday service at St. Mark's. He and his sister, Kathryn, at the time he spoke to me, were Iiving in small towns in West (I think) Georgia. She in Camilla, and I don't recall his residence (nor his first name). He had been in confirmation class years earlier with Ellen Spangler (Lawrence).
AH
What I Know of the Early Years of Our Church by Annette Hollis
Lent 2008
I was born and reared on Hollis Hill, 2 miles from Banks, 12 miles from Troy. My mother, Lucy Darby, came from Troy; my father's family had come from Georgia in 1880. My father was a Dairy Farmer. I attended public schools in Troy, commuting each day. My best friend in first grade was Kathryn Mundy. Her father was rector of St. Mark's Church, and I attended Kathryn's birthday party at the rectory in 1926.
St. Mark's was a dark reddish brown frame structure which stood on the Southwest Corner of College and North Three Notch Streets near First Baptist Church. It was distinctive in appearance, more forbidding than attracting. Troy was mainly a Baptist and Methodist town, but the Episcopal Church was highly respected and the rector well liked. We all recognized Reverend Mundy for his distinctive dress, smile, and dignity.
My mother's Darby family had lived for generations in Alabama and for a long period in Troy. They were Methodist. My mother gave me introduction to Episcopalianism. As a child my mother often attended St. Mark's with neighbors and family. She spent summers as a child and teenager at the Shackleford Plantation in Montgomery County. Miss Annie Shackleford Rogers (our Archer Rogers's ancestor) took her to the Episcopal Church there. In Troy, she was neighbor to people of English birth, Angelican orientated - Mincheners and others, Rosenscrofts, Colliers, Tenilles, Leslies, Marshall Smiths, and in Troy this little pact of people of England or of near English birth planted the seed of Anglicanism at St. Mark's. They must ever be remembered.
A significant date in our history was the arrival in Troy of Mr. Henry D. Green in the 1870's.
At the request of Mr. Ezra Wilkerson (father-in-law to Fox Henderson, Sr. and ancestor to Linda Dykes' children), Mr. Green came to Troy to establish the first bank. It was named Pike County Bank, later F & M Bank. My grandfather, John Randolph Darby, was the first cashier. Mr. Green and Grandpa Darby had mutual interest and became friends. They both were educated in Tennessee. Mr. Green attended Swannee, and my grandfather went to Webb School and on to Cumberland University Law School, Lebanon, Tennessee.
Mr. Green lived in a small frame house where the Bashinsky Mansion nowstands. My grandfather lived in the first block west side of South Three Notch Street, neighbor to members of Collier and Marshall Smith families who were Episcopalians.Henry D. Green was a dedicated Episcopalian. He worked hard for the Church and was one of the first vestrymen.
At about the same time we are talking about, Father J. J. D. Hall came from Geneva, Alabama to be the first priest at St. Mark' s. Daddy Hall, as he was known, was an ardent Church minister. He made many friends in Troy (and in after years when he returned for visit s). He baptized the first baby of his ministry here (Mrs. Sadie Whetstone Nix). She was a lifelong member. Her mother was of the Robinson family.
Sadly, Henry D. Green left Troy after a few years. In time, Daddy Hall went on to New York City where he developed a street preaching ministry and founded St. Paul' s House in Hell's Kitchen. He became known worldwide as the "Bishop of Wall Street". His disciple, Creighton Dunlap, visited a week at St. Mark' s in about 1965.
St. Mark's grew " all over old Troy". The Zimmermans on East Madison were German watch makers. Miss Lizzie Love Jones, the Sanders, Mathews
Owens, the Cunninghams of Brundidge Street as was the Victor Bolako family, the Mincheners, Adams, Miss Rozella Peake, the George Mayers family, the Reginald Capers and Laney families, the McQuagges, the Leslie s. All were members of St. Mark's. There were others of course. I cannot remember all.
In the late 1880's or early 1890's, a date to remember in the annals of our Church, was the arrival in Troy of Miss Laura Parker Montgomery. Miss Laura came from Raleigh, N.C. (probably from our school - St. Mary' s for Girl ' s). She came to teach at "the Troy Normal" . A youn g lady of remarkable beauty, talent, and refinement of taste, Miss Laura took board with my cousin (pronounced in the South as "Cud ' n"), Kannie Key Murphree on College Street. (Cud ' n Kannie is great grandmother to Eloise Murphree.)
"C ud ' n Kannie ' s" house stood next to the last old house on the north side of College Street going towards North Three Notch. Miss Laura' s new home was diagonally across the street from the Episcopal rectory and church and two blocks, thereabout, to Troy Normal School. Miss Laura was a devoted Episcopalian. As she started her teaching career, she became a communicant at St. Mark's.
Next door to Cud'n Kannie's house on College Street was the home of Jeremiah Augustees Henderson. One day, as Cud'n Kannie was walking in her yard, the young Henderson son, Charles, stopped at the gate, and Cud'n Kannie spoke, "Charles, I have the prettiest little lady you ever saw who has come to board with me. She' s from Raleigh North Carolina, and she' s co me to teach at " the Normal" . I want you to come over and meet her." Years or months , perhaps later, Miss Laura and Charlie Henderson were married.
Many years later as she reminisced Mrs. Henderson said , "I tried to go to Charlie ' s church, and I did go, but I always longed for my own church services ." Charlie's church was First Baptist. Charlie became an Episcopalian.
Governor and Mrs. Henderson meant much in many ways in the life of St. Mark's. Mrs. Henderson gave of herself and her talent, not just to the Church but to the community. I remember as a teenager, a group of us were sent to the Charity Benefit of the Season. We went to the Music rooms in the Masonic Hall (above Synco Drugs) where Mrs. Henderson was to read "St. Joan" by Bernard Shaw. Miss Laura appeared in the full dress of a Knight in Armor, and she kept us interested and amused for the entire afternoon.
The last time I saw Miss Laura was about 1938-1939. I was home from Birmingham and as I left McLeod's Drug Store, I looked up to see Miss Laura step onto the sidewalk. She was dressed in a wonderful shade of green and held a parasol atop her lovely white hair as she made ready to enter the TB&T (Governor Henderson's bank).
Governor and Mrs. Henderson had no children, but they brought many relatives into St. Mark's. Sometime in the 1890's, Miss Ida Montgomery, Miss Laura's sister, came to Troy to teach third grade. My mother spoke of her lovingly. Miss Ida became a communicant of our church.
Governor Henderson had many relatives come to St. Mark's. Descendants of his sister, Mrs. Ella Henderson Brock, and of his brother, Fox Henderson, Sr., as well as descendants of many aunts and uncles came to worship at St. Mark's. All gave of time, talent and money and we today are indebted.
St. Mark's grew because (1) people moved into Troy, (2) natives transferred church membership, (3) Troy Normal grew and brought so many teachers, especially in later years. They so enriched us in many ways.
Troy in the I920's and 1930's was rich and vibrant. A sign on Highway 29N proclaimed the town as the fifth richest in U. S. for size (Brewton was 3rd!).
Banks, the nearest community to my home, was a bustling village in 1920. It had a drugstore, a hotel, a depot, a cotton gin, two churches, three mercantile stores, and a school. But just before the outbreak of the First World War, a great fire broke out in Banks and, among other things, burned down the Banks school. It was a terrible loss. May parents had two children, 11 and 6 years, and no school for them.
The decision to send the boys to Troy to live with our grandmother Darby during school weeks solved the problem. At the beginning my mother would stay with them in town while the first grader adjusted, then come home weekends. Not long after the move was decided upon and made, the great epidemic of flu struck Troy with all its wrath. The Hollis family was spared, but Troy was a place of real suffering. (Mary Harmon Bryant's father was first to die here.)
People buried their dead every day, every cemetery. Nursing facilities and doctors were in short supply, and neighbors helped neighbors wherever they could.
At this time, my mother found herself going often to give "break" to some neighbor overwhelmed by caregiving. The heroic figure of the time was Valentine Lowery, rector of St. Mark's. My mother got to know him at this time, and she often told of his loving care to all, regardless of denomination; his fearless attendance to the sick, his willingness to be wherever needed for comfort and help.
When I was a preschooler, College Street ended where the concrete " Gate" now stands. No house stood save the unusual-styled McCartha- Knox house which still stands. Everywhere on our church area, extending the length of College Extension, was only wild growth - trees, bushes, trash, weeds, tangled vines - a forest of growth, to the Murphree Street exit down hill. In the center of the wild growth was the ruins of a once beautiful raised cottage - exquisitely beautiful in decay and a setting for a Gothic novel. When I visited cousins on Walnut Street as a child and when we children went out to play, our elders sternly ordered " Don' t go near ' the old College " ' , which was the name given to the ruined building of which I speak. Our elders feared the very tall remaining walls would "fall in on us" . Once " the old College" as it was called had been Troy Female College and perhaps theHurley Home. " The old College" had given College Street its name.
College Park Extension was cleared in the late 20 ' s or early 30 ' s, and Governor Charles Henderson gave the land for our church and rectory. Our church records certainly must show more than I know, but I pay respects to Frank Lockwood, architect, Dolph Owens, contractor, Jean Orendorf' s "Smith"
grandfather, George Mayer' s (grandfather of Jean Lake) for fine ironwork, and Standard Chemical for bricks. Governor Henderson and Mrs. Henderson gave us our church, any many of the furnishings were placed by the different members of Henderson family. I
believe the members of the Fred Henderson and Fox Henderson family gave the Rectory, but this needs checking.
My piano teacher in Ozark, Alabama died in 1938 and as Troy State Teacher' s College had no music degree program at that time, I transferred to
Birmingham Conservatory and Birmingham Southern College. Except for visits home, I was away 17 years and did not lie in Banks again until 1955.
On one visit I made to home in 1941, I called d upon Mrs. Clyde Minchener Adams and Miss Martha Jane Ballard (later Co dy). I had been confirmed at the
Church of Advent in Birmingham by Bishop Carpenter, and I was paying a call at home of Episcopalians I'd lo ng known. The two friends took me to St. Mark's on an afternoon. As we stepped onto the sidewalk, Martha Jane slipped her Chapel Cap onto her head and said, "I never go into Church with my head uncovered." I, soon after, started collecting my Chapel Caps.
1954, our Conservatory in Birmingham was taken over and made a department at Birmingham Southern College. I taught until 1955 and came home. It was best I now be nearer my aging parents and from time to time I took self employed teaching jobs (never paid by a school system). I took jobs in places less far from Banks . I always attended the Episcopal Church closest to my teaching job but occasionally was able to come to St. Mark' s. I became a regular communicant in the 1980's. However, I had sung in the choir during Mr. Sutor's tenure, and I had known Rev. Ward and Rev. Bell.
The End--AH
Add On I
This add on is at the request that I list more people whom I knew once to be members or regularly in attendance at St. Mark's either before or after 1950.
Josh Couch family - Relatives of the Hyde White family
Henry Leslie - Member of the Minchener-Leslie family - President, Union Bank in Montgomery at one time.
Dorothy Helms Laney and Bill Laney & family - Brundidge & Troy residents.
The Reginald Capers family - deceased.
The Charles & Isabel Capers Lovey family - deceased.
Thomas Arrington - Choir Director in the 1960's on loan from First Baptist. Now lives in Piedmont, Alabama.
A couple from TSU from Pennsylvania. I have no name but he was choir director at our church. They were charming people.
Mr. Rosa Powell - Teacher - deceased.
Ms. Susan (Allie) Hughes - Nutritionist and Home Demonstration Representative - deceased.
Mrs. Sybil Brantley Windham family - deceased.
Mrs. Benny Pinckard (Benny's first wife)- California.
Windley Tatom - Son of Rora McQuagg T.
Bob Dietz (the younger) and family
Lizzie Jones - Life member and organist or pianist of church - deceased.
Rozella Peake - Traveling nurse for Pike County Health Department - deceased.
Mrs. Emily Colcott-TSU English Department 1930's.
Dr. Jeannette Rosenberg_ TSU English Department, 1950's.
Martha Jane Ballard (Cody) - Art Department, Troy State Teacher's College - deceased.
Rubye Tyler - Legal secretary - Long-time member of St. Mark's - deceased 2007.
Bill and Pat Porter and three girls.
John and Charlotte Perkins -deceased.
Conrad and Brenda (Dykes) di Michelle - Brenda was organist during Mr. Sutor's tenure as rector. The di Michelles had distinguished careers in teaching and are now retired to Delaware, his birth place. Life-long Episcopalians after conversion to our church.
A Malone family, believed to have been the Arthur Y. Malone family of Dothan. She is the sister to Mr. James Leslie (Mr. Jim of F&M Bank).
This list is "out of my head" and certainly not all that I have known.
AH
Add On II
Dr. William Henry Minchener (Wall plague) was of original family of church. He was my baby doctor and father of Grace Lee Minchener.
Dr. Lancelot Sanders (Wall plaque) was also surgeon. His untimely death at 31 years was a great loss. He was of the Sanders-Owens-Matthews family on Church Street. His father also a doctor (Shelby).
Admiral Francis Adams of the Minchener and Adams family was an historical figure of WWII. He lived here briefly after that war.
Henry D. Green and J. J. D. Hall, of our early church history may well have been related. Less than five years ago two ladies of Harris County, Georgia, contacted Marty Conner for information on Green and Hall. "Daddy" Hall (J.J.D. Hall) was from Geneva, Alabama and related closely to the well known Boozer family of Dothan. (A landmark, private bookstore was owned by Miss Boozer for many years.) In New York, "Daddy" Hall had also published "The Church Militant" at his St. Paul's House. His designated disciple was Creighton Dunlop. The title of "Bishop of Wall Street" is given as Bishop of Walnut Street" in Margaret Pace Farmer's History. I've always heard the former. He kept his "soap box" at the door to a bank and used it noon hours when streets were most crowded. Traditional Episcopalianism was not readily receptive to J. J. D. Hall's version. J. J. D. Hall ("Daddy") came often to Alabama. In my years at Church of Advent, Birmingham, "Daddy" Hall's booming AMEN could bring the congregation to a joyful smile - usually at Lent. He also visited the Bashinsky family in Troy.
Creighton Dunlap, Daddy Hall's disciple in N.Y.C., was a communicant of either St. Thomas or St. Bartholomew, N.Y.C. He was confidante of Tullulah Bankhead who was often ill in her last years.
The Kneeling Bench in our church was the loan (or gift) of the Collier family (of Orion, owner of a pharmaceutical supply house in Troy). The Collier family included Margaret Pace Farmer and Kate Marshall Smith's families.
It should be noted that the Methodist Episcopal Church, located in downtown Troy, always held a close relationship with St. Mark's inasmuch as during St. Mark's construction periods, Troy Methodists were so generous to offer use of their sanctuary and facilities.
Although of no interest to us, as Episcopalians, the very old and interesting house opposite our church, known as the McCartha-Knox house, was originally the property of Professor McCartha of Troy Normal.
A few years ago, during Father Charles Womelsdorf' s tenure, I believe, one of Reverend Mundy's children came to Sunday service at St. Mark's. He and his sister, Kathryn, at the time he spoke to me, were Iiving in small towns in West (I think) Georgia. She in Camilla, and I don't recall his residence (nor his first name). He had been in confirmation class years earlier with Ellen Spangler (Lawrence).
AH