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LENT AND EASTER OPPORTUNITIES

40 days - Complaint Free

March 6 at 7:00 p.m. - Ash Wednesday

Service, Communion and the Imposition

of Ashes

April 14 - Palm Sunday

April 18 at 7:00 p.m. - Maundy Thursday

Communion

April 19 at 7:00 p.m. - Good Friday

April 21 - Easter Sunday

6:30 a.m. - Sunrise Service

Breakfast

9:30 a.m. - Contemporary Worship

10:30 a.m. Easter Egg Hunt

11:00 a.m. - Traditional Worship

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James G. Simmons: First Pastor of Willoughby Hills UMC

Passing along the beach of Lake Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew net-fishing. Fishing was their regular work. Jesus said to them, “Come with me. I’ll make a new kind of

fisherman out of you. I’ll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass.” They didn’t ask questions. They dropped their nets and followed.

Mark 1:16-20 The Message (MSG)

How would you have responded to Jesus’ invitation? Perhaps you’re not a fisherman or woman, or have nets or a boat… but what if Jesus called to you? What if the church called to you? Or what if you were called to a church?

James George Simmons, the first pastor of the fledgling congregation that eventually would become Willoughby Hills United Methodist Church, responded to just that sort of call. Would he travel from Oberlin to the new village of Willoughby Hills to become a part-time student pastor for a congregation emerging from Sunday School classes organized by three women from Mayfield Methodist Church? We all know that Rev. Simmons responded affirmatively, but would you? There was no guarantee that this small group of worshipers in an emerging Cleveland suburb could develop into a church congregation. They had no building of their own and borrowed worship materials. But what they did have is faith. As much as James Simmons must have relied on faith as he traveled to Willoughby Hills, those residents wanting to form a Methodist congregation had faith that God would provide what they needed as they responded to His call on them. James Simmons dropped his net. Those early Willoughby Hills congregants dropped theirs as well.

But who was James Simmons? And how had he gotten to Oberlin and then Willoughby Hills? And where did he go from there? Just how and where did he continue to “fish” for women and men during his lifetime of ministry?

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James George Simmons, the son of George James Simmons and Florence Ella McPhear-son, was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan on 28 March 1928… a month and day that would be significant in the years to come. He, and his brother, Wayne, grew up in that town, and at-tended West Side Methodist Church…. a church that would be significant in his life for several reasons.

As a young man, James enlisted in the US Navy, serving from 1946 through 1948 as an aerographer (a weather bureau position) on a ship based at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Upon discharge, the 6’1” brown-haired, blue-eyed young man obtained his GED and then became a student at Adrian College, a United Methodist affiliated college in Adrian, Michigan, a city about 30 miles southwest of Ann Arbor. On a ministerial biographical form from 1976, Rev. Simmons shared that he received his call to ministry at a Youth Conference at that college. From 1948 to 1953 he continued in the US Naval Reserves, while at the same time becoming licensed to preach as a student pastor at Ann Arbor West Side Methodist from 1949 to 1952!

If his life was not full enough, Rev. Simmons married his wife, Charlotte Graves Wint on 2 September 1949 at West Side Methodist in Ann Arbor, just before the beginning of his sophomore year at Adrian! He and Charlotte had known each other since junior high through their participation in the Methodist Youth Fellowship at West Side Methodist. Both eventually graduated from Adrian College and with his BA in hand in 1952 James Simmons was accepted on trial in the Detroit Annual Conference. From 1952 through 1956, Rev. Simmons was “left without appointment to attend school.” Their first child, Mary Elizabeth, was born on 19 October 1952 and now, as a father and husband, he attended Iliff Graduate School of Theology in 1953. But amidst all of the joy and activity, there was also sorrow during those years, as his only brother, Wayne, passed away on 7 October 1949.

At this point, as a student at Oberlin Graduate School of Theology, James Simmons’ life I ntersected with that of an emerging congregation in the soon-to-be village of Willoughby Hills. Considered a supply student probationer on trial from the Detroit Conference, then Cleveland District Superintendent Dr. Clarence LaRue requested that James attend a meeting with Rev. Howard Brown, pastor of Mayfield Methodist Church, interested potential congregational members, and himself. In a 17 April 1958 letter, Rev. Brown recalled that event:

“A meeting of those interested [in forming a Methodist congregation in Willoughby Hills] was scheduled for that [November] evening at the Mayfield Methodist Church. The weather was terrible. It had rained and snowed so hard that it was almost impossible to drive an automobile over our roads, and there were just three ladies who showed up for this congregational meeting. Dr. Clarence LaRue [then District Superintendent] was there, and he had with him Mr. James Simmons, then a student at Oberlin Theological School. We waited a while for others to come, and finally decided that the three ladies, Mrs. Rattray, Mrs. Jamison, and Mrs. Garbo, were the congregation. And so we went ahead with the meeting. These three ladies were most enthusiastic, and were quite sure that many others were interested, although they had been unable to attend the meeting.

“I can remember that Dr. LaRue asked the ladies this question: ‘Do you think that if the Methodist Church pays the salary of a minister for six months, that at the end of that time the church will be ready to assume one-half of that salary?’ The ladies were brave enough to say that they thought this might be possible. And so a Sunday morning Worship Service was scheduled for November 15

th, the following Sunday morning, in this loft room, where

Reverend Ury now has his office and study [the second floor of Heimerdinger Hall]. Rev. Simmons and I were on hand to lead this first Service [at 9:30 am]. There were about twenty-five children, and nearly as many adults present. The loft room was very crowded, and it was decided to move the following Sunday to the Garfield School.”

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Rev. Simmons led the next service on 22 November 1953 in the James A. Garfield School auditorium. He gave a sermon entitled “Community Thanks” in which he acknowledged the many people and organizations that had helped start the congregation, including Willoughby Township, The News-Herald, the Willoughby-Eastlake School Board, Rev. Howard Brown and Mayfield Methodist Church, Mr. Heimerdinger and “countless others.” He noted in his sermon, “What kind of thanks would we be giving Thanksgiving Day? – just mere words spoken without any meaning or would it be a sincere thanks for our many blessings spoken from our heart?” Undoubtedly, those thirty persons attending that service were sincerely thankful for Rev. Sim-mons himself! For the moment, the congregation used the name “James A. Garfield Methodist Society” as they were not yet officially a Methodist congregation.

On 28 March 1954, only four months after his first service, Rev. Simmons was the pastor when the congregation obtained its charter as Willoughby Hills Methodist Church. The congregation was the forty-ninth Methodist Church in the greater Cleveland area. Two of the women who had started the first Sunday school classes, Mrs. Denis T. Davies and Mrs. John Garbo, presented Rev. Simmons with a volume of the Interpreter’s Bible in appreciation of his leadership. Charter Sunday was also Easter Sunday as well as Rev. Simmons’ 26th birthday! On a 1976 Ministerial

Biographical Form for the Detroit Conference Historical Society File, Rev. Simmons later noted that one of the outstanding events during his ministerial life was being the “organizing minister of the Willoughby Hills Methodist Church.”

Not only had the congregation obtained a charter, but also their financial situation was better than Cleveland District Superintendent Dr. Clarence LaRue had antici-pated. As Rev. Brown of Mayfield Methodist Church recalled, “You all know what happened. The Methodist Church put in $600.00, so that Rev. Simmons would have $100.00 a month for six months. At the end of six months, you had paid Rev. Simmons $185.00 a month each month, and you had in your treasury $673.00.”

That same year, Rev. Simmons, now ordained as a Deacon, and his wife Charlotte, along with 16-month-old Mary Elizabeth, moved to Willoughby Hills. An undated newspaper clipping noted that over 100 people turned out for a surprise housewarming party for the Simmons family. Their home was at 2896 Bishop Road, with the gathering held next door, at the home of member William McNeill at 2904 Bishop Road. Rev. Simmons was presented with a gift certificate as part of the welcome. Along with a large group from the congregation, Cliffton Turner, Council President of Willoughby Hills, and Rev. Harold Brown, pastor of Mayfield Methodist Church, attended.

Besides shepherding this growing congregation, as a pastor, Rev. Simmons needed to prepare

sermons for worship. Unidentified newspaper clippings identify some of the themes: “The Man

Who Made a City Glad,” “And Their Eyes Were Opened,” “Sweet Hour of Prayer,” “Making the

Gospel Understood,” “And They Shall Reign,” “Jesus Meets Apparent

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Defeat,” “Why I am a Christian,” “Objectives of Lent,” “And They Will Heed My Voice,” and “Jesus – Abide with Us.” Although there are no complete texts of these sermons, in a 6 April 1955 newspaper article discussing an upcoming congregational rummage sale to provide Sunday School equipment, Rev. Simmons is quoted as noting in the past Sunday’s sermon: “The often-quoted statement ‘The Christian test of society is what it does for its children’ may also apply as the Christian test of the church and of parents.”

Along with baptisms and receptions of new members, Rev. Simmons conducted the

first wedding of the congregation in October 1954. George Cruickshanks married Milard Gallagher at the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Howard Froehlich. Both George and Milard were from Detroit, Michigan.

In the April 1955 WHMC Newsletter, Rev. Simmons noted a long list of “Achievements made in the first full year of existence” of WHMC. A few of the items mentioned included:

“Voted to purchase Church site”

“Provided a Church School on each Sunday with a staff of 19 teachers and officers having an average attendance of 111 children each Sunday.”

“Have received 26 new members with another 10 who were not able to be present on the last Membership Sunday… This will bring total membership to 194 of which 50 are youths and 122 are between 20 and 50 and 22 over 50 years of age.”

Discussing these and other achievements, Rev. Simmons added, “From the viewpoint of a student… I feel that this year has been a year wherein the foundation has been built and reinforced so that in the future years the expansion of the Church will be assured. I would like to liken the Church a year ago to a green rookie who entered ‘basic training’ and who now will come out as a hardened veteran.” To understand the rapid growth of this congregation, re-member that it was in November 1953 that three women met with Reverends Brown and Simmons. Seventeen months later, the church had 194 members!

The needs of the congregation rapidly were exhausting the abilities of a student pastor. In May 1955, in the WHMC newsletter, Rev. Simmons wrote:

“I am a student at Oberlin Graduate School of Theology. I have 1-1/2 years of work remaining before I am a fully ordained Minister. My study is basic to my future work for Christ and His Church. I deem it essential that I take advantage of it now, because if I do not I may ever have the opportunity again.

“This church needs the services of a full time minister, one who can devote all of his time to the Church… If I were to continue here it would have to be under the split program between Church and School.

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“Last June before we moved here, I knew that this was a job for a full time minister but the Church was young and therefore unable to accept this responsibility… Dr. Clarence LaRue, who is our District Superintendent, is not positive that he will be able to locate a full time minister, yet he is doing all that he can to secure one for us.”

Nonetheless, ministry and outreach continued…. whether or not a new pastor could be found.

Later in May, another memorable occasion was an outdoor worship service at Squire’s Castle. One newspaper reporter, Frank Stewart, was quite taken by the event. As he explained, “The preacher used a picnic table as a pulpit yesterday and the youth choir of little girls sat on top of another one nearby. The congregation was grouped in front of Squire[s] Castle. After the religious service, there was a picnic lunch and recreation program.”

In reminiscences that Rev. Simmons submitted for the WHUMC’s 40th Anniversary Celebra-tion, he wrote: “The 18 months that Charlotte and I were with you were, as you can see, filled with much activity, lots of growth, many committed, courageous and visionary people. Underpinning it all was an abundance of God’s grace, God’s guidance and God’s presence.”

It is here that Rev. Simmons time with Willoughby Hills Methodist Church ends. A new pastor for Willoughby Hills – Rev. William Ury – was found and growth and ministry continued. But where did Rev. Simmons go? Having dropped the net of Willoughby Hills Methodist Church…. what new call did he answer?

Most immediately, Rev. Simmons served for a year at Zion Methodist in Cleveland from 1955 to 1956. He and Charlotte also welcomed their second daughter during this time, Judith Ann, who was born 31 August 1955. Having expressed concerns several years earlier about having the time to complete his Oberlin degree, Rev. Simmons must have been thrilled to receive that longed for diploma in 1957. A news release from 8 June 1957 from the Michigan Area of The Methodist Church noted that Rev. Simmons, then pastor of the Methodist Church in Clinton, Michigan was to “be brought into full membership and ordained an Elder in the Detroit Annual Conference of the Methodist Church, meeting June 5 – 9, 1957 in the Boulevard Temple Methodist Church in Detroit.” Their third daughter Pamela Sue was also born that year, on July 31st.

As his family grew up, Rev. Simmons served a number of Michigan churches as an associate pastor, including Strathmore (1959 – 1961); Ferndale First (1961 – 1964); and Metropolitan (1964 – 1965). He then served at Hartland from 1965 until 1966 when he took a Voluntary Location, earning a Masters of Arts in Library Science from the University of Michigan in 1968.

During these years, the Willoughby Hills congregation did not forget the role that Rev. Simmons played in the establishment of their church. Invited to attend WHUMC’s 15

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Anniversary celebration in 1968, he noted, “I am proud of the physical and spiritual progress that this fellowship has made through the years. It is my sincerest prayer and desire that the fellowship will continue and enlarge its service for God in the community.”

Rev. Simmons continued his education, obtaining his Masters of Divinity from Vanderbilt in 1973. Rev. Simmons then returned to his and Charlotte’s alma mater, Adrian College, where he served as a reference librarian. In 1976 he was readmitted to the Detroit Conference and appointed to the Linden, Hudson and Carleton congregations, finally retiring in 1992.

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But as Rev. Simmons wrote: “The opportunity to retire from active ministry is just another door opening to a different form of Christian service as will now combine my experience as librarian and minister in assuming the duties of Conference Archivist.” Besides serving as archivist for the UMC Detroit Conference, his later years contained many other activities as well. In the Conference he was also Chairman of the Christian Education Fellowship and the Vice Chairman of the Conference Board of Archives and History. He was chaplain for the United Methodist Chelsea Retirement Center from about 1988 to 1997 while his mother was a resident there. He and Charlotte also served the community through Meals on Wheels and Lenawee Emergency and Affordable Housing Corporation (LEAHC) among other causes. Rev. Simmons was active in Rotary, Exchange Club and Friends of the Library in Linden, Michigan. He had also served for several years as a minister of education in the Detroit, Michigan area. As Rev. Simmons concluded, “For forty-three years I have been privileged to serve the Lord in a variety of ways: local church pastor, minister of education, librarian and chaplain. I would like to thank all those people who believed in me, encouraged and helped me along my Christian journey.” And others thanked him and Charlotte as well. Honors received included the Adrian College Alumni Service Award that he was co-awarded with Charlotte and the J. A. Baughman Church History Award.

Rev. Simmons passed away at the age of 90 on 24 April 2018 at the Chelsea Retirement Community, where he had made his home with Charlotte since 2004. He and Charlotte had been married for 68 years and had six grandchildren and eight great grandchildren at that time.

In reminiscences that Rev. Simmons submitted for WHUMC’s 40th Anniversary Celebration, he wrote: “Our prayer for the church family of Willoughby Hills United Methodist church in-cludes a petition that as God has been actively present in the past and the present, He will continue to bless you in the unfolding future.”

… and that blessing will continue…. as long as all of us are willing to listen to Jesus’ call… and respond.

“…They didn’t ask questions. They dropped their nets and followed.” Mark 1:16-20 The Message (MSG)