Richsquare Reverie
Lois (Harned Jordan) asks me to write about my memories of Richsquare. Scary assignment!! What can I say about that place that shaped the very core of my being, that is the epicenter of what i am today??!!?
Richsquare
means love, home, parents, security, family, solid values, community,
caring neighbors almost as close as family, peaceful countryside, the
brick church in the wildwood that formed the center of our community
life........ Sunlight filtering through the big window behind the
pulpit, falling on the little wooden church that always received our
birthday pennies each year -- unfailingly ringing as each coin dropped
in.
Weekly
Sunday School! All the big people and the little people got to go!!
Teachers such as Milly Gaddis and Lucille Gaddis for the children;
Raymond Johnson for the young adults and Mabel S. Johnson and then
Frances Harned for the adults. The little bell signaling the end of
classes and time to reassemble. Superintendents such as Clyde Harned, my
Dad (Myrton Johnson), Raymond Johnson and Ed Noble. Twice-a-month
ministers like Truman Kentworthy and Murvel Garner. Lois's Aunt Mildred
(White) teaching at Friends School in Ramallah, Palestine.
Adults
and children all in church........ trying hard to behave! Lois and I
sometimes being overcome with uncontrollable giggles just when we knew
we shouldn't!! Meaningful messages. Meaningful prayers. Meaningful
silences. Wonderful hymn-singing with Mabel S. Johnson at the piano,
later Frances White Harned. Strong social message....... be of service
to others....... church isn't just on Sunday, but is everyday. William
Penn's teachings were well taught. Each person has his or her role in
carrying out God's message.
Christmas
treat bags for the children..... always filled by my Mom and Dad on our
kitchen table and cabinet ------ hard candies, nuts, and oranges ------
to be passed out at church by Santa Claus Clyde Harned!
Fellowship before Sunday School and after services were over. Neighbors caring and sharing and supporting each other through work, birth, life, and death.
Dad
reading the Penn Quarterly daily Bible reading each morning to us after
breakfast. Mom ordering all the Sunday School supplies year after year
from David C. Cook Publishing Company and probably other places I didn't
know about.
Merton
Grills from Hagerstown tore down the old Richsquare Academy sometime
around the late 30's. Interesting man for little girls to talk to as he
was working on the bricks and mortar. He knew lots about birds and
shared that knowledge with me..... gave me a North American Bird Book
and stimulated what turned out to be a life-long interest for me.
Unhurried
rural life for me with lots of time to enjoy the farm, its animals, the
sky, the clouds, lying in the grass, watching birds and insects,
fireflies on warm summer evenings, June bugs, locusts, cherry trees in
the front yard, apples, plums, pears and peaches in the orchard,
wondering about God, brothers and families home for visits, tennis on
the court, croquet on the front lawn, neighbors that were a real part of
my life...
Lois,
Dorothy (White McConnell), Wilfred (White), and Milly (Johnson Gaddis),
it's been over thirty years and you are all still there and now I'm
over half a continent away, but we share that Richsquare of the past
that binds us together into Eternity along with all those others who
passed that way and carry Richsquare's message and impact on their
hearts today.
Janet Johnson RobertsAttended Richsquare 1927-1949Daughter of Myrton and Bessie JohnsonSister of Wilmer, Orville and RalphWritten April 15, 1984
