Facing Tomorrow, Understanding Yesterday, A History of Orange ...

While wedding decorations and attire in the 1930s may have been
differentfrom those of the 1990s, other things took on an increasingly
familiarair. About 1933, for instance, the Woman's Missionary Society
dividedinto two circles, the Mary Burch and the Fannie Brockwell, which
laterbecame the Catherine Ford Circle after Ford's death. Mrs. Ford lived
withthe Hutchins family and contributed much to the life of the church
andthe mission of the circle even though she remained an Episcopalian.
Thecircles began projects oftheir own but continued to meet jointly; they
workedtogether on other special projects and missions as they do today.
The Church Cemetery
The church continued to grow both in membership and in land. On
February25, 1932, for example, J,E. Clark and Esther Hopkins Clark
deeded.88 acres of land to the Orange Church trustees to enlarge the
cemetery.The church had had a cemetery for a long time. In fact,
AlexanderGattis, Ir., the first man who went out from the congregation
intothe ministry, was the first to be buried in it in 1859.Records about the
cemetery,like those about the church in general, are often more in
individualmemories rather than on paper. Preston Hogan, who assumed
responsibilityfor the cemetery from Lonnie Hogan in 1958, for example,
recallshearing that the Orange Church plot was the final resting place for
someuniversity students who died during the 1918 influenza epidemic.
Theseyoung people apparently rest in unmarked graves. Early memories
alsotell of mowing the lawn with a sickle mower drawn by two horses.
Latera power sickle mower was used. A church committee takes care of
mowingand cleaning up the cemetery.
More contemporaneously, in 1950,church officials had the cemetery
leveledand the tombstones lined up. In the 1970s, a flag pole was placed
inthecemetery. It was given by Wayne Hutchins in honor and in memory
ofOrangeChurch veterans. The flag was donated by Wayne Noblitt. Until
1955, the cemetery was a free burying ground. Then in 1956-57,a $1,600
fundwasset aside for perpetual care ofthe grounds. Thereafter, fees were
chargedfor burial. At that time, the tolls were set at $25 for a member and
$50 fora non-member, which is now $75. Interest on the fund was used to
payfor mowing the cemetery grounds at one time; however, this is no
longertrue. In 1991, the Cemetery Committee again cleared and leveled
thegrave stones.
Music continued to be important in the life of the church. Annie
HoganCollier played the piano during the years 1935-37.Annie played for
the1936Homecoming when J.H. McCracken, who served the church as
pastorfrom December 1897 to December 1901, delivered the sermon.
MalcolmBlackwood directed the choir. The special anthem was the
hymn"Awakening Chorus."
FACING TOMORROW, UNDERSTANDING YESTERDAY 29