Cheltenham Monthly Meeting Society of Friends in Fox Chase, PA

 This brief historical account of Cheltenham Monthly Meeting was written by my maternal grandfather, William T. Llewellyn. He read it at the dedication of the newly constructed meetinghouse on the grounds of Jeanes Hospital in Fox Chase near Philadelphia in 1956.

Our grandparents Ella H. and William T. Llewellyn were very active and instrumental in this meeting.

Below is a pancake picnic we had at Lorimer Park regularly. My parents are seated at the picnic table. This was 1958

Above is our mealtime after meeting - I am seated in the middle in a dark blue sweater next to my cousin Mark Llewellyn. My Mother Mary L. Sager is standing behind us. 1958

Part I

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF CHELTENHAM MONTHLY MEETING 

Beginnings to 1956 

During the first years of the "Holy Experiment" in Pennsylvania, there was a group called the Cheltenham Friends Meeting, which met in the home of Richard Wall, near Old York Road and Church Road. That meeting, founded in 1683, has only an indirect connection with the present Cheltenham Monthly Meeting. 

The origin of this monthly meeting can be traced to the year 1911 when Francis R. and Elizabeth R. Taylor moved to Cheltenham. For several years, they walked the three miles to Little Abington Meeting in Jenkintown; but, in 1915, after other families of Friends moved into the vicinity, they began to hold meetings for worship in their home on Ryers Avenue. 

When the group which gathered outgrew the living room, the Friends began holding meetings for worship in the second floor of Cheltenham Town Hall, at Central Avenue and Ashbourne Road. The Town Hall was satisfactory in many ways, but one condition caused Friends much distress. The building was used for lodge meetings on Saturday night and always reeked of tobacco smoke on Sunday mornings. Friends did not smell as if they had been to meeting when they returned to their homes. 

When the group decided to build a modest meetinghouse, Francis and Elizabeth Taylor gave a piece of ground at 521 Ryers Avenue for that purpose. The building was completed in 1922 and  was used until October, 1956. The architect was George S. Morris; and the marriage of his daughter, Nancy, to Richard R. Wood was the first in the new building. The building was heated by a wood stove in the early years; and Friends would move back farther and farther from it as meeting progressed, and as the temperature rose. The stove was eventually replaced by a furnace which provided uniform heat. The benches for the new building came from Horsham Meeting.* 

The building was small, with only a meeting room and one classroom. Other classes met in private homes in the beginning; but as more children came to Sunday School, classes were held in the Cheltenham Fire House; and it became obvious that more adequate quarters were necessary. Definite plans for a new building were started in 1952. W. Macey Stanton was selected as architect and arrangements to build on the Jeanes Hospital Grounds grew out of William T.  Llewellyn's conversations with fellow members of the hospital board. The meetinghouse at Fox Chase was dedicated with a meeting for worship on December 16, 1956. 

· Friends in Cheltenham first met under the guidance of Abington Monthly Meeting* and were a part of that monthly meeting after 1917. As the years went by and Cheltenham grew stronger while Little Abington grew smaller, it was decided in December, 1944, to change the name to Cheltenham Monthly Meeting. It continued to be a part of Abington Quarterly Meeting.* 

Over the years a number of persons contributed to the spiritual well being of the meeting. The Taylors have already been mentioned. Francis R. Taylor was a powerful minister in the meeting for worship. He also held a Sunday School class for boys and the meeting assisted a number of them with scholarship help which made it possible for them to attend Westtown School. The meeting has always been deeply interested in encouraging and assisting students to attend Friends schools. Dr. Willard S. and Faith O. Hastings were also stalwart members of the meeting for many years. Phoebe Harvey, who wore the plain dress during her lifetime, was a lovely and Friendly influence on all, young and old alike. Hannah P. Morris was another Friend who was a source of strength in the meeting. She also took it upon herself to lecture unruly children in the meeting for worship when the occasion arose. 

Part II 

1956-1987 

Thirty years after the opening of the meetinghouse on the Jeanes Hospital campus, the hospital found it necessary to relocate the building in order to erect a new surgical/rehabilitation facility. After months of careful discussion, the Meeting and the Hospital agreed to the demolition of the meetinghouse and the construction of a close replication of it on another site. A joint meeting-hospital committee worked out plans for the new building cooperatively and supervised its construction. This occasion marks the end of our temporary accommodation in Stapeley and the formal dedication of our new home. It seems an appropriate time to review our history during the first years of our life as a meeting in Fox Chase.
One member who took an especial interest in the building of the meetinghouse was Catherine S. Ortlip. Her long illness and death from cancer drew the meeting together spiritually and strengthened our feeling that a Friends' meeting is essentially a family.
During the early years in the meetinghouse, a notable feature of our meetings for worship was the ministry of Ella H. Llewellyn, who was the last minister to be recorded by the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.* These years were marked also by the leading part taken by Thomas B. Charles, who was deeply aware of both the physical and spiritual needs of the meeting. In his last years, his energies were directed largely to working with the guests at Friends' Hall, at that time a nursing and convalescent home, where he arranged worship services twice a week for patients and staff. He was responsible for initiating Cheltenham Meeting's practice of contributing food and money regularly to Holy Cross Lutheran Church in North Philadelphia.
For many years we kept the meeting room open during daylight hours as a place of meditation, until increasing vandalism obliged us to discontinue the practice. Many people visited this quiet spot. We plan to resume this practice in our new building.
Members of the meeting have for a long time constituted a unit of the Jeanes Hospital Auxiliary. Among other activities we have undertaken an annual sale of geraniums as a contribution to the hospital.
As a meeting we have, since 1956, felt an obligation to make our facilities available to outside groups. Among those who have used our meetinghouse, for varying lengths of time, are the following: various groups from Jeanes Hospital Health Systems, the Raymond R. Reiff Great Books discussion group, Pennypack Valley Bird Club, Philadelphia Inter-High German Club, Vital Age program, Latin-American Parents Group, George Washington Home and School Board, a chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous (Impaired Professionals Recovering), Fox Chase Methodist Church for Easter sunrise services, the Fox Chase Jewish Community group pending completion of their new building, and a chapter of B'nai B'rith Women. For many years we hosted groups of children and adults from Mantua for all-day outings which featured sports, crafts and lunch.
In addition to Sunday School classes for both children and adults, the meeting has maintained a reasonably full social schedule, the chief features of which have been monthly covered-dish suppers and lunches after meeting, and semi-annual pancake cook-outs in Lorimer Park. We have often invited speakers to these functions from Yearly Meeting committees and staff, as well as from other organizations and meetings. At one such gathering we were addressed by Dorothy Day, co-founder of "The Catholic Worker" Movement, who inspired the U.S. bishops to accept pacifism as a legitimate Catholic response. For about ten years, the meeting provided a speaker on some aspect of the Peace Testimony for a joint service at the Cheltenham Methodist Church on a Sunday near Veterans' Day.
Over the years the meeting has accumulated funds which have been set aside for scholarship aid to Friends' schools. We attempt to be generous in allocating these funds to children of the meeting.
Perhaps, at the opening of this new chapter in our life as a meeting, we might repeat the words which closed the sketch of our history before 1956: "As we begin a new period in the history of Cheltenham Monthly Meeting, it is well to stop for a moment to remember those who have gone before us and to look forward to the opportunities and obligations of the future."
*Arch Street Yearly Meeting

Friends Journal, January 26, 1957

Cheltenham Meeting House 

CHELTENHAM Monthly Meeting, Pa., dedicated the new meeting house, located on the grounds of Jeanes Hospital in Fox Chase, Philadelphia, on Sunday afternoon, December 16, 1956. Approximately 100 persons were present. During the service Dorothy Hutchinson, a member of Abington Meeting, Pa., explained the Quaker meeting for worship to visitors unaccustomed to the practices of Friends. At the close William T. Llewellyn, who has been a part of the Meeting for more than 40 years, presented a brief outline of the history of Cheltenham Friends, which is summarized below. Many years ago, during the first years of the "Holy Experiment" in Pennsylvania, there was a group called the Cheltenham Friends Meeting, which met in the home of Richard Wall, a house which still stands near Old York Road and Church Road. That meeting, founded in 1683, has no direct connection with the present Cheltenham Monthly Meeting. The origin of this Monthly Meeting can be traced to the year 19ll, when Francis R. and Elizabeth R. Taylor moved to Cheltenham shortly after their marriage. For several years they walked the three miles to Little Abington Meeting, but in 1915, after other families of Friends moved into the vicinity, they began to hold a meeting for worship in their home at 215 Ryers Avenue, and later at 525 Ryers Avenue. When the group outgrew the living room, Friends began holding meeting for worship in the Cheltenham Town Hall. Later the group decided to build a modest meeting place, and Francis and Elizabeth Taylor gave a lot at 521 Ryers A venue for the purpose. The building was completed in 1922 and was used until October of this year. The architect was George S. Morris, and the marriage of his daughter Nancy to Richard R. Wood was the first in the new building. The wood stove and benches came from the Horsham Meeting House. These benches have been refinished and are being used in the new meeting house. The 1922 building had only a meeting room and one classroom. Other classes met in private homes from the beginning, but as more children came to Sunday school, classes were held in the Cheltenham Fire House, and more adequate quarters were necessary. Plans for a new building were started in 1952, and we now see the culmination of four years of effort in the new stone structure. The meeting first met under the guidance of Abington Monthly Meeting (Arch Street), Pa., and was a part of that Monthly Meeting after 1917. As the years went by and Cheltenham became stronger while Little Abington grew smaller, it was decided in December 1944 to change the name to Cheltenham Monthly Meeting. Over the years a number of persons contributed to the spiritual well-being of the Meeting. The Taylors have already been mentioned. Francis R. Taylor was a powerful minister in the meeting for worship until his death in 1947. He also held a Sunday school class for boys which contributed a great deal to the Meeting. Each summer he took the boys on a camping trip in Sullivan County, north of the Eagles Mere region. A number of these boys were assisted by the Meeting with scholarship help to attend Westtown School.

Dr. Willard S. and Faith 0. Hastings were also stalwart members of the Meeting for many years. Phoebe Harvey, who wore the plain dress during her lifetime, was a lovely and Friendly influence on all, young and old alike. Hannah P. Morris was another Friend who was a source of strength in the Meeting. Alfred C. and Eleanor G. Garrett visited the Meeting frequently and made a valuable contribution. William C. and Caroline C. Warren also made a deep impression on the Meeting. · EDWIN B. BRONNER





In the archives of Quaker Meeting Records at Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections and Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College I found the following brief description of the entire history of this meeting. The meeting no longer exists after it was officially laid down in 2007 which must have been about the time Uncle Bob (Robert H. Llewellyn) died.




Abington Monthly Meeting was established in 1683 by Philadelphia Quarterly Meeting as a monthly meeting for the meetings for worship at Tacony [Frankford] and Poetquesink [Byberry]. From 1687 to 1710, Abington Monthly Meeting was known as "Dublin". It was transferred to Abington Quarterly Meeting in 1786.




The Orthodox branch of this monthly meeting removed to Cheltenham in 1920; in 1944, it was renamed as "Cheltenham Monthly Meeting". A new Meetinghouse was built on the grounds of the Anna T. Jeanes Foundation with approval of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and with cash from scholarship and other funds. The Meetinghouse and other physical assets were later transferred to the Jeanes Foundation. Cheltenham Monthly Meeting was laid down in 2007 and members transferred to various meetings.




The former Hicksite monthly meeting is the forerunner of the current Abington Monthly Meeting.



https://archives.tricolib.brynmawr.edu/resources/phcheltmm

Friends Journal, May 19, 1956

Cheltenham, Pa., Monthly Meeting has announced plans to erect a new meeting house on the grounds of Jeanes Hospital in Fox Chase. An historical search indicates that this is only the second meeting house to be erected within the city limits within the last I 00 years. The ground for this building has been made available by the trustees of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of Friends, who hold title to all of the ground occupied by the hospital. All funds for this program have been provided by the Cheltenham Monthly Meeting or through their efforts, and this project has no relationship whatever to the Building Expansion Program of Jeanes Hospital. The present meeting house occupied by this group is located a't 521 Ryers Avenue, Cheltenham, Pa. The new building will include the large room for religious meetings and areas to be used for Sunday school classes and other purposes. It is planned that these facilities will also be made available to the hospital for Board meetings and other occasions. Plans were to break ground by May 1, and it is hoped that the first meeting for worship may be held in the new building before the end of 1956. Those who have been most active in working out the details of the project have been members of the Building and Finance Committees of the Meeting. Included on the Building Committee are Thomas B. Charles, chairman, William T. Llewellyn, Charles R. Krewson, Fred Petri, Louise H. Stone, and Samuel T. Brinton, clerk of the Meeting. The Finance Committee is composed of William T. Llewellyn, chairman, Jane 0. Krewson, Howard W. Ortlip, William H. Sager, Jr., treasurer of the Meeting, and Hubert R. Taylor, who is also official counsel for the group. Jeanes Hospital has welcomed and helped Cheltenham Friends in this move, believing that more people will be made aware of the fact that the hospital is administered by a volunteer Board of Trustees, all of whom are Friends.

Hall Family Bible Records

 HALL FAMILY BIBLE RECORDS

Me with my grandmother, Ella Hall Llewellyn at their Indian Lake cottage in the Pocono Mountains about 1955.

Family Bibles can be good sources of information about family history. My maternal grandmother, Ella Hall Llewellyn, had her Hall family Bible. Among my mother’s personal effects were copies of the family record pages from it. You can see my grandmother’s handwriting on the most recent entries with her four children and her marriage. This takes the Hall family line back to 1780 at the birth of what appears to be Jesse Williams, son of Richard and Sarah Williams on the last page. So this document should be shared with us descendants who are interested to know our roots and for anyone else who has an interest in discovering the members of our family history. Of course the best part is beyond these pages, the Bible text itself! I have no idea who presently has this old family Bible. Nor am I aware of what happened to the Llewellyn family Bible. 

William T. and Ella Hall Llewellyn family minus Walter with her mother, Phebe Hatton Hall about 1942. Mary, Bob and Ellen standing in back. In their living room at 229 E. Moreland Ave., Hatboro, PA. At this time William T. was the town Burgess for Hatboro after serving as a councilman, and Ella H. was president of the local chapter of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, a member of the Council of Defense of Hatboro, and Vice President of the local branch of the Needlework Guild of America.

 

1965, 50th wedding anniversary family portrait: seated William T. and Ella H. Llewellyn; standing Mary Sager, Walter E., Robert H., and Ellen Shoun standing. This was at their home 229 E. Moreland Ave. in Hatboro, PA. 

Unforgetable Portrait - Helen Sager

 Helen Sager's story from her childhood. This one is quite emotional. Again the italicized portion is Dad's note. I left the typo's alone as they were.

Unforgetable Portrait. 

Again this was your mother on the  mission trip in 1993 when she was sixty nine years old. 

Photo of 16 year old Helen she gave her father

H. Sager 

Unforgetable Portrait 

 

August 1993 -- Russia. I still can't believe that 

after 50 years of not knowing anything about my (nine years) 

younger sister, Svetlana, we are sitting in her modest cabin 

in the village of Semitino, 250 miles east of St Petersberg, 

looking at the old photographs of our family members. We had 

only 30 hours together to catch up on what we have missed and 

what happened to all of our family members. Suddenly one of 

the photos almost jumped out at me: at me: it was the 4x6 photo of 

me at the age of 16! The same one that I sent, with a note of 

love on the back of it, to my dear "Papa" in the hard labor 

camp in the Ural Mountains. Svetlana handed it to me and 

asked me to read what was written on the back of the photo. 

I remembered the words of love and longing to see my dad that 

I had written, but there was something else written on the 

edge of the back in my father's handwriting. I read it and 

tears filled my eyes and I could hardly see the words. My 

father wrote, "According to reliable sources, my daughter 

Lena was hung by German's during the occupation of Kiev". It

broke my heart to see these words! It meant that for 50 plus 

years he thought I was dead! My sister gently put her arm. 

around my shoulders and said, "This belongs to you: it is 

yours." We cried together, cheek to cheek tasting each 

others tears. 

 

May 1946 coming to America

Helen’s Aunt Shoora that helped raise her as a little girl.

Helen with sister Svetlana and her family in small village of Semitino, 250 miles east of St. Petersburg, Russia 2002

HELEN SAGER CHILDHOOD STORIES

 HELEN SAGER STORY

Our step-mother, Helen Sager, Elena Woskoboinik, was from Ukraine originally and escaped during WW2. She wrote stories of her childhood memories and my father wrote little introductory comments that I italicized.

 

Shortly after moving here we found young Harris College was 

starting a group of courses for "Continuing Education" and we went to several of them. Your mother attended one of them that I recently came across a notebook I 

think you would be interested so I have enclosed the notes from "How to write your life History." I have included a few notes for you also. 

H. Sager 

Cod-Liver Oil 

It was customary, in our family, to give young 

children one tablespoon of cod-liver oil every day. 

Since both parents were working, it was the job of may Aunt Shoora 

to administer it. My younger brother and I hated it. 

We would hide and do everything possible to avoid it. Aunt 

Shoora knew that we liked pickles and came up with a 

solution. "Take a deep breath, hold it, swallow the cod- 

liver oil quickly and chase it down with a pickle, she would 

instruct us. We followed her instructions and from then on 

it was a lot easier to accept that smelly big tablespoon of 

cod liver oil coming toward you. 

 

The paper speaks for itself. Your mother was eight years 

old when the 1932 - 33 famine took place. She never mentions, school or if she even went to school during this part of her life. 

 

H. Sager 

Dvedooshka (Grandfather) 

Today I read in the paper that "A monument in memory 

of the more than seven million victims of the Great Famine of 

1932-33 in Ukraine was dedicated on Saturday, December 4, 

1993, in Bloomingdale, IL., at St. Andrew's Ukrainian 

Orthodox Church"," 

This statement brought memories flooding to my mind 

… Ukraine. 

For some reason, that I didn't understand, in late 

summer, my parents brought my younger brother and me from 

Charkov, where we lived, to a small village, Slovyanka, to 

visit our paternal grandparents. We stayed (my parents had 

to return to their jobs in the city) with our grand parents 

almost a year and it was very enjoyable. The adobe house was 

white washed with lime, had a thatched yellow straw roof, 

green shutters decorated with painted flowers and dirt floors 

indoors. It sat on the side of a dusty dirt road with cherry 

trees behind it and farm buildings around it. There were 

cows, pigs, chickens and pigeons. A slow moving river, 

caught between lush green banks, was flowing nearby. There 

was a lot to do here and much to see. 

I would wake up in the mornings to the smell of bread 

baking and food cooking in the kitchen and come running out 

to see what grandma was preparing and to greet my grandpa, 

who was bed ridden most of the time. He was usually resting 

stove where it was always warm. He greeted me 

with a smile and a kiss. 

"Grandpa, grandpa, I would shout excitedly, "what 

surprise do you have for me today?" 

"Well, here it is, but you have to come closer to get 

it. Guess which hand I have it in?" grandpa would say. 

"This one!" I would point to one of his hands. 

"Here you are, " and grandpa would give me a small 

brown paper bag with several pieces of hard candy in it. I 

would taste one and save the rest for later. It tasted sweet 

and fruity and felt hard against the roof of my mouth. 

This was a daily ritual that we went through and to 

this day I do not know where or how he got that candy for me 

every day, but I still recall the joy of it. 

My favorite place was the pigeon house and its loft. 

Upon entering it, I could hear the gentle cooing of the 

pigeons. Climbing into the loft, I could see some pigeons 

sitting on their eggs in their straw nests. A very sharp 

odor permeated the loft to the point of burning my nose and 

throat. But here I was high about the ground and looking 

through the pigeon holes I could see almost the entire 

village, the blue river flowing slowly and the homespun linen 

stark white against the green of the banks drying in the sun. 

The swoosh of the wings of the returning pigeons would 

disturb my daydreaming and I would reluctantly climb down 

the rough hewn ladder, that often left painful splinters in 

my fingers. 

Not till many, many years later in the United States 

of America did I learn about the Great Famine of 1932-33, 

created by Stalin. Only then did I realize why my parents 

left us that long with our grandparents. 

I heard this story many times. Again, Helen was about eight years old

at this time.

H. Sager

Grandpa's Preference

When staying with my paternal grandparents, as

child, it was always fun to watch my grandma preparing the

meal and setting up the dinner table. The table was covered

with a white linen tablecloth embroidered with traditional

Ukrainian red roses with black stems and leaves. There would

be 2-3 different kinds of steaming vegetables, some kind of

meat, bread, butter and dessert. Grandma would bake sweet

breads and pirogi, which would be filled with seasonal fruit,

jam, sweetened and flavored creamed cottage cheese, Or

steamed, sweetened mashed poppy seeds. Dessert was my

favorite course, We would all start Our dinner with meat ཝཱ

vegetables, bread and milk. But Grandpa would start with a

dessert. I asked him why he was eating his dessert first and

he responded by saying that once foods reach your stomach

they all get mixed together and he wanted to make sure he had

room for his favorite food. That was his preference and I

never forgot it.

:

Sweet Sixteen

When your mother was just fourteen years old her father was arrested and sent to the Hard Labor lamp in Siberia..

Before his arrest they had a nice three bedroom apartment but after his arrest they had to move into a one room apartment and share kitchen privileges and a bathroom. There were I, believe, five living there: Your mother's mother,, your mother and your mother's brother and young sister..

H. Sager

Sweet Sixteen

It was a sunny warm early spring day in Kiev after a

long cold winter. People were rushing down the hilly streets

leading to the main street, Christshatic. I felt wonderful

strolling leisurely down the street periodically stopping to

dreamily gaze into the shop windows. I just turned 16 and

felt very grown up and ready for an adventure. I briefly

stopped at the photographer's window looking at his display.

Suddenly the proprietor came out and asked me if I would pose

for a portrait it would be at no cost to my family and he

would give us pictures and display a very large framed

for the rest of the year! I was startled and

could feel my face getting red as he was complimenting my

long chestnut colored hair and my appearance.

would ask my mother and come back the next day at the

appointed time. My mother not only agreed to his proposal,

but even lent me her best dress to wear. The photos turned

out well and my portrait was displayed in the shop's window

for the rest of the year. Because of this incident I was

able to send a copy (of the free photos) to my father, who

was sent to hard labor camp in the Ural mountains.

German Invasion

Your mother was seventeen years old at this time and they were finally able to get permission to go to your mothers maternal home in Parlohrad.

This was probably in 1941.

H. Sager

GERMAN INVASION

Kiev, the beautiful historical capital city of

Ukraine, was basking in the warmth of a perfect early sumner

day. The chestnut trees lining sidewalks were proudly

sporting the white candelabras of their blooms and sidewalks

were full of people rushing here and there.

School was out and I was watching the people in the

street from the balcony of our only room. I Was seventeen

years old and my thoughts were with my summer plans. My aunt

Shoora who lived with us and took care of us was inside

altering my mother’s dress. My mother was at work and my

younger brother and sister were somewhere outside playing.

The room we were living in was one of the seven rooms

on the third floor occupied by six families, we all shared

one bathroom and kitchen. There were six of us since my

father's mother, Agrepina, just arrived for the summer visit

and to help with the children. My father has been arrested

and was in a hard labor camp without any trial -

just on drummed up verbal charges - a victim of Stalin's

paranoia. (He was taker away in the middle of the night in

1938, and we were able o see him once

jail where he reassured us of his innocence and told ub to never feel

ashamed of him.) At that time, we were forced to give up two

other rooms.

Every room in the flat had a speaker wired to s

central radio station which supplied us with government

programs: music, news and propaganda.

I heard a special announcement and listened to hear what it was.

Stalin was speaking. His voice very nervous and at times he was

actually crying. It was 4:00 p.m.; June 22, 1941.

I listened n shock as he was describing how Germans

who signed a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union in

1939, broke the treaty by crossing the western border into

the Soviet Union without hardly any resistance from the army

and were bombing, burning and looting villages and towns,

killing local residents and raping women. The Jews were

being killed and soldiers taken prisoners.

(After the war I learned that Hitler signed the 1939 Pact with Stalin just to

gain time to prepare for War. He made agreements with both.

Finland and Romania to place German troops there to create an

Eastern Front. He wanted to expand the borders of the Reich

to include USSR land from Archangel to Astrakhan, in order to

gain industries and agricultural lands for Germany. Stalin

and Soviet forces were not prepared for the war. The armies

were not ready for Hitler's attack: between 1937-38, 38,000

senior officers had been purged, almost half of the tanks

obsolete and only one fourth in working order. Stalin was

was determined not to provoke the Germans and would not allow

Soviet reconnaissance planes to keep an eye on their

movements. Artillery fire was forbidden even after the

immediate German attack on the entire West Front Soviet

soldiers were fighting valiantly, resisting the Germans,

though it was hopeless. One thing the Germans found out was

patriotism was unbelievably strong.)

Immediately following Stalin's speech, lines began

forming at all stores with people buying and hoarding foods,

shoes and clothing. In spite of all the reassurance from the

government, people were frightened and angry. Many families

were seeking governmental permission to leave Kiev, to move

in with their relatives. residing further East in smaller

towns or villages, My mother attempted to do the same, but

was declined a travel permit, probably because of my father's

Arrest. She was finally able to reach her brother-in-law,

who was a Major in the Soviet Aray, and he was able to obtain

a travel permit for our entire family from Kiev to Pavlohrad,

Ukraine, where my mother's family was living.

While sitting in an overcrowded train, I couldn't help

but think that my summer plans were in limbo and I

frightened of what the future held for me.

First Worship Service

Your mother wrote ".. after the German

Occupation…” But she always told me that

the Italians were there in the town for a

brief time and then the Germans came and the Germans opened the churches that had been closed for so many years. Her grandmother taught her the Lord's Prayer.

How-long after moving here was your

Mother taken by the Germans I don’t know

but your mother told me she was eighteen

years of age when she lift her home in

1942.

H. Sager

First Worship Service

After the German occupation of Pavlohrad, Ukraine, the

churches were allowed to reopen after over 20 years of being

closed, destroyed, or used as warehoused, or museums of

"Religion and Atheism". My grandmother asked me to come with

her to a service. I agreed to come along out of curiosity

(I was raised an atheist). It was a Russian Orthodox Church

just at the end of our street. The floors were all marble.

There were a few benches along the entrance for persons sick,

elderly, or incapacitated. There were many people in the

church, all standing up, listening to the very formal

service. The fragrance of incense was everywhere. Candles

were burning and icons of saints were gleaming. When the

time came to pray, we would drop to our knees and touch the

floor with our foreheads. The floor felt very cold and hard.

The service lasted 2-3 hours and it affected all of your

senses: smelling the fragrance of incense, hearing the bells

ringing periodically, seeing the priests, robed in colorful

attire, and tasting the bread dipped in a huge gleaming silver

communion chalice of wine. It was a memorable experience. I

never forgot.