The Concordia Story: A Fifty-Year History of Concordia Lutheran Church 1951-2001

they kept in mind Merkens’ comment that he
wanted a bell tower topped with the church symbols
of the gospel writers (Matthew, ox; Mark,
lion; Luke, man, and John, eagle) atop which
would be a cross that could be seen from I-10.
Consequently, a bell tower was part of the architectural
drawings. Composed of just-starting-out
young married couples, there wasn’t enough
affluence in the congregation to quite meet the
cost of the entire project. It was proposed that the
bell tower be dropped to meet construction costs.
A young couple, Walter and Annette Beran,
prayed about it and borrowed the money to pay
for the bell tower. The tower was built, a tribute
to the faith, enthusiasm and love for the Lord that
was held by so many of these young couples who
became the core of this congregation.”
The earliest organization formed at Concordia
was the LWML (Lutheran Women’s Missionary
League). It was chartered in 1952. According to
Mrs. Lavern Dirks, the only original member still
active in the congregation, “We met in different
women’s homes. And one of our first projects was
to prepare the altar linens. We made those all by
hand. They were made by special specifications
as to the number of stitches per inch. We also had
a dinner that next fall. You wouldn’t believe it.
The spaghetti and the sauce and the salads were
all prepared across the street in Barbara’s
(Merkens) house and in the Anderson’s and
across the next block on Laurelwood at the
Spencer home. We all carried them over and had
them in roasters, and we borrowed dishes from
Redeemer (Lutheran Church). We served our first
dinner. And after that who did the dishwashing?
They were all carried to the Doepner home in big
wash tubs, and we all scrubbed away.
“We also sponsored fall dinners, with no presold
tickets, just free will offering from those
attending. When we’d have a turkey dinner, Mr.
Henry Pester would roast and slice all the
turkeys while the ladies prepared, served and
cleaned up. Eventually the attendance became
so large we had to discontinue this project.”
Other activities engaged in by the LWML
later became separate functions in the church.
Mrs. Dirks says these include the nursery committee,
which operated the nursery during services;
the altar committee, which cared for pastoral
robes, communion ware, and the altar
paraments; the committee for the sick; the
bookstore committee, which started with a
small glass chest in the narthex; the guest book
greeters; and the funeral committee.
✦
Above: The gymnasium, opened in
1960, was Concordia’s pride and joy
and was the first air-conditioned
gymnasium in South Texas.
Left: Dr. John Behnken, president of
the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
brought the dedication message for the
new gymnasium and sanctuary
expansion in 1960, as noted in this
newspaper article.
Chapter I ✦ 17