by Sister Jeanne Peugh
On November 13, the Akron Ward celebrated their 100th anniversary with a potluck breakfast.
It was well attended and a delightful experience. Bonnie Perkins shares her story:
After recently discovering that the Akron branch was established November 13, 1921, current ward leaders decided that a 100th-year anniversary celebration would be a great activity.
So this November 13, current and former members enjoyed a pancake-and-potluck breakfast. A display of historical documents, newsletters, records, photos, and bulletins encouraged reminiscing and connecting with old and new friends. Attendees tried out the ward Relative Finder group and Relatives in the Room. We wrote some cards to former members. We also chose names of deceased ward members and are now serving them by attaching sources, photos, and memories to their FamilySearch accounts.
Many of us left the celebration with a sense of gratitude for the brothers and sisters who came before us and, through their faith and service, built a strong foundation for our current ward, allowing us to better serve the Lord in the Akron area.
Bishop Lee, Bishop Davis and Bishop Jindra, and Melody Matney spoke about ward memories/development. There are several projects in process, and they were explained by Beth Jindra, Jeremy Eskelsen, and Bonnie Perkins. John Rumel has been a member in the Akron Ward the longest – for 58 years.
My grandmother joined the church in the early 1920s. Several of my mother’s siblings also joined the church in 1924/1925 because my grandfather decided to join the church way back in 1896, and when they moved to Akron from West Virginia in 1914 or 1915, they became involved in the Akron Ward. I am grateful for that day they made that decision and how it has changed my life.
I am sure many of us are grateful for all the missionaries who were willing to sacrifice their time to teach the gospel to those of us who have a desire to know the truth. I am especially grateful for the two missionaries that taught my grandfather as a single man and those that taught my grandmother and my mother and her siblings. My mother would talk about the church to us, but until missionaries came to the country (Brimfield), we only knew the things she would tell us. It was then I was taught by missionaries at the age of 12 with my older sister and brother. So November 19 was my baptismal date with my sister. We were baptized in Cleveland, Ohio. I just celebrated many years in the gospel. It is a date I will always remember.
This is a picture of the Akron Branch about 1924. My mother is in the front row with her hands over her eyes. Behind her is her mother, and behind her are some of her brothers. Also in the picture are a couple of my cousins.
Through the years, many things have changed, and the Akron Branch grew into a ward and was split many times to make other wards and branches. We have gone from the Cleveland Stake to the Akron Ohio Stake.
Almost 100 years ago, we were the Ohio Columbus Mission. This picture was taken in 1925. In the second row, the missionary in the middle is the one that confirmed my mother a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We were part of the Cleveland Ohio Mission for a long time until the last few years when it again became the Columbus Ohio Mission. We need to ponder how missionaries changed our lives.
This is to help us reflect on how important missionary work is to each and every one of us. This is the Lord’s work, and they are following the counsel of our leaders to hasten the work. New converts, do you see the missionary that brought you the restored gospel in the picture below of the 2021 Columbus Ohio Mission?
We are so blessed by being members of Christ’s church here upon the earth.
This article appeared in the Akron Beacon Journal on September 14, 1941. It was given to me at our ward conference on October 24, 2021 from Brother Trevor Most from the Canton Ward.
This is Trevor’s story as to how he received this article: “I served my mission in Parowan, Utah. I was asked to speak in one of the wards at the close of my mission and afterwards a nice man named John had come up to me talking about Akron, Ohio. He told me about how 80 years ago his father had lived in Akron for just a few years and while he was here they opened the first LDS Branch. His father wasn’t a member but for some reason felt impressed to keep this newspaper clipping. So this nice man from Parowan, Utah, decided to give it to me since I was from the Akron Ohio Stake.”
Akron Ohio Stake News 