A decades-long tradition continued at Pleasant Hill Church in Grant Township with the Memorial Service last Sunday and a meeting of the board of directors of the Pleasant Hill Memorial Chapel Corporation. The service, as in more years than most people can remember, featured Wallace Teagarden reciting Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.
The wood frame church was built in 1881 and was home for a Methodist congregation until 1952. The membership voted not to abandon the church, but to keep it intact and available for community functions.
The Pleasant Hill Memorial Chapel Corporation, a nonprofit organization, was formed in 1966 by attorneys Gene Blackburn and Teagarden. Membership is open to anyone interested in the historic building.
The traditional Memorial Service, the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, includes a sermon, a congregational rendition of “Church in the Wildwood,” and a potluck lunch. The group then moves to the Pleasant Hill Cemetery where the Rippey American Legion provides military rites.
