When the old 2 churches (Park Street Presbyterian and St John’s Presbyterian) joined, my grandparents were two of the first members of St John’s United. Their names were Lillian and Grant Sweet. They had been going to Park Street Church.
I was born into St John’s United, and baptized here. My family lived on Duncan Street. I was the oldest of five children. On Sunday mornings, my mother would get us all ready and my father took us to church. He used to walk so fast, and we’d all be trailing behind him! I remember my youngest brother Hadley would be tearing around behind trying to keep up with the rest of us. We would each get five cents for our Sunday school collection.
We all liked Sunday school. I can remember sitting in a circle with other children in little chairs down in the big room in the basement. We’d get little cards with a short verse from the bible on them. We’d put on little concerts and plays.
The church was always so crowded then, upstairs and downstairs. During the war when I was a teenager, there were always a lot of servicemen in the church.
I was in CGIT (Canadian Girls in Training) and I really loved it. We played basketball, made crafts and things, and we’d have a devotional prayer at the end of our meetings. Our uniform was a white blouse with a navy stripe around the collar and a tie that came down underneath it, and a navy skirt. We went to summer camp in Hubbards. That’s where I learned to swim! I was at camp during the 2nd World war when there were those huge explosions in Dartmouth. We could actually feel and hear those explosions all the way out in Hubbards.
I remember Reverend J.D. MacLeod very well. He visited us often. One day he came to our house when my mother was washing the kitchen floor. She jumped up to greet him, and she was so embarrassed because of the house. Then my brother Grant came into the kitchen and said “Mom, can I have a drink of beer?” You see, in those days we had ginger ale, but we called it ginger beer. Well my mother was so embarrassed about that, she almost fell through the floor! Then my little brother Hadley came running in and sat down right on Reverend MacLeod’s hat and squished it! My poor mother. I was the only one who didn’t embarrass her that day. I was just sitting at the piano practicing and not getting into any trouble!
At one time my whole family and all my father’s sisters went to St John’s. Now I’m the only one that still comes here. I was a nurse, and for years I had to work on Sundays, so I didn’t come to church as often as I would have liked. I really love St John’s. I’ve attended services in other churches but I always came back to this church. I have a wonderful feeling whenever I’m here. I love our organist- he is just full of music. It’s like his whole body is filled with music! The warmth of the church is special. Some other churches have a cold feeling about them. When I’m in St John’s, I have a feeling that something or someone is there looking over me. It is a warmth that is hard for me to describe.
Our church has changed a lot over the years. The world has changed so much and not as many people go to church now. Many people are not taking their children to church. My nephew has never taken his children to church and I feel bad about that. I remember Sunday school being fun and it was exciting to listen to the minister. Now-a-days, people want to get married in a church and have their children baptized there, but other than that, they don’t want to go. It’s a shame.
There are big changes in store for our church. I know that the bricks used to build that church were from the time of the Halifax Explosion, and now they are very old and crumbling. I know the furnace is very old. It’s just hard to think about St John’s changing in such a big way because I’ve always gone there.
