Gary and Mary Nelson recall that in the early 60's much of Huntington Beach consisted of tomato fields and the major exit on the freeway was in Long Beach. Noble Waite was the first bishop of the ward, and Gary's father, Max Nelson, was the the second bishop. In the beginning, the ward met at the HB Parks and Recreation facility. A tin shed was rented for Sunday meetings. Members would arrive to the shed early Sunday morning to clean out beer cans and set up chairs. They fondly remember that the bishop's office was literally a broom closet, and that during the week, Bishop Max Nelson's garage was used to conduct ward business. He had a chair and a desk in a small partition of his garage where many members were called to serve.The first meeting house was built in 1968 and was dedicated in 1969. In that time, the members were asked to pay all the funds for the building of the chapel. "Sacrifice Dinners" were held in order to raise money for this purpose. Members were not allowed to leave the dinner until the goals were reached. In one night $20,000 was raised. The members gave up vacations, new cars, and going out to dinner among other things to further the building of the kingdom. Our current stake center was erected in 1979, and was also financed by "Sacrifice Dinners."
At one point in the HB 1st history, there were 310 children in the primary before they split. Sister Nelson relates that the biggest problem they encountered was the pre primary meeting during the week. Handling that many children became a challenge for the primary organization. Often times when the parents came to pick-up the kids, it was after dark. The parents would line up their cars around the building to pick up their children. As each car drove to the back door, they would announce "I'll take two Braithewaites" or "I'll take two Wakehams." Due to the sheer number of children, they had kids stashed in classrooms everywhere. Classes met in the kitchen, in the baptismal font waiting area etc. This was the Church organization at it's best.
Bishop Nelson expresses fondness over the evolution of reverence by the Aaronic Priesthood. The young men used to wear aloha shirts to prepare and pass the Sacrament. Bishop Nelson sent a letter to the parents asking for their help in dressing the young men in shirts and ties. From that point on, the young men of the Aaronic Priesthood have carried on this tradition.
Sister Nelson remembers well the Relief Society Ward Bizarre Bazars Activities. During this time, the sisters would make things out of old margarine containers, crocheted dolls and other house hold items and sell these things to each other in order to raise money for the Relief Society Budget.
The Nelson joke that they have many found memories of current ward members when they were unruly children (Jimmy Wakeham). They have many more entertaining stories that "will have to go to the grave with them."
I remember meeting at the Huntington Beach Recreation center... one time in particular that I remember...It had rained the night before, and the ground outside was all muddy, and we held alot of classes outside, so as not to have people walking in the mud and getting their Sunday shoes dirty...they put down 2X4's for us to walk on, where the mud was. I had just learned how to walk, and I remember carefully placing my feet on the boards, and they were almost too far apart for my little legs to reach ! I also remember being in a larger room; for nursery, or primary or something, that had things from a carnival inside: something with a big clowns head on it, and maybe a pop corn machine, and some other random carnival paraphernalia. I remember being scared of something in there...maybe the clowns head, I don't recall!Another thing I don't remember is, how long we met in that recreation shack!Oh and another thing I wanted to say was that, that house that the 2nd bishop had meetings and interviews,in...my parents bought that house in 1971 from them when I was 7yrs old, and we lived in it til January of 1989,when I was 25, just about a year after my mom died! And somewhere in between us moving out of that house and my mom dying, that had a 25yr reunion for the HB 1st ward. It was great to see old faces. I saw some of those faces at my dads funeral in January of 2010. Thanks to everyone who showed up to pay their last respects!!!
ReplyDelete