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The fellowship hall of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Chehalis bubbled with conversations as current and former members gathered Sunday morning to celebrate the church’s 170th anniversary.
Jenny Kirk narrated a PowerPoint by Mick Shieffer that showed the 39 pastors who have led the congregation during its first 170 years, and those in attendance shared highlights of their time serving the church, said Jean Bluhm, author of the church’s history.
“I had the best time seeing and visiting with people I had not seen for a time,” Bluhm said. “People filled the tables in the fellowship hall and stayed eating the delicious cake with a picture of the church on it.”
Luellen Charneski began attending Sunday school at the church in about 1944 when she was six, and she officially joined the church a decade later, in the mid-1950s, and remains a member today despite living in Olympia since 1992.
“I was happy to be able to attend the 170-year event and see old friends and former pastors,” Charneski said. “Through the years, many friends and pastors helped shape my life, and I am so thankful to each and every one.”
Below is a look at the 39 pastors who have guided the Westminster Presbyterian Church through 170 years, as recorded by Jean Bluhm in church histories:
1. Rev. George Frederick Whitworth, a lawyer and seminary graduate who traveled from Olympia with a Bible in one hand and a gun in the other, preached at the cabin of Lewis Hawkins and Susan Davis on Oct. 6, 1855. He served the church until March 30, 1856.
2. Rev. Jotham Weeks Goodell, father of Phoebe Goodell Judson, author of “A Pioneer’s Search for the Ideal Home,” preached every other Sunday, initially in the blockhouse at Claquato and then at the Davis cabin until construction of the Claquato Church in 1858. His daughter played the melodeon she purchased at the services. He served until he died at the age of 50 on Nov. 17, 1859. The next 18 years, the church met in the home of Henry Stearns.
3. Rev. J.R. Thompson, who served from Aug. 31, 1877, until June 4, 1880, moved the congregation of about 50 to a Chehalis school on Quincy Avenue.
4. Rev. Telesphore Brouillette who journeyed west from Montreal, Canada, oversaw 14 churches in Washington Territory from October 1880 until 1886. He donated money for construction of a church on a lot on State Street in Chehalis, which cost $2,250 and included the region’s first organ. His wife, Ida, started the region’s first Sunday School.
5. Rev. W. McFarland served in 1886 when the population of Chehalis first topped 1,000, and the church installed red and blue stained glass windows.
6. Rev. William Clyde, who served from Sept. 12, 1886, until his death on Nov. 10, 1887, reorganized the church guild to include both men and women. The guild purchased the bell still in use today on Oct. 3, 1888. Under his tenure, the church formed a missionary society, and Henry Stearns donated a huge family Bible still on display in the history room.
7. Rev. William W. Williams, who arrived two weeks after Rev. Clyde died, served from Nov. 27, 1887, until Oct. 25, 1892. He oversaw purchase of three pulpit chairs, new carpet, hymnals, and dishes in cupboards. By then, the church had a dozen Sunday School teachers serving 75 people and formed the Christian Endeavor Society for young people.
8. Rev. Hugh Lamont served from Nov. 25, 1892, to Nov. 5, 1893, as the congregation grew and looked for a new building site.
9. Rev. J.I. Campbell, who served from July 22, 1894, until April 14, 1896, saw a revival take place and converts enter the fold as the guild installed electric lights. The church paid part of the reverend’s salary in wood, butter, and produce.
10. Rev. Kenneth Brown, who oversaw Presbyterian churches in both Chehalis and Centralia from July 12, 1896, until June 12, 1898, oversaw another revival and the first submersion baptism. William Urquhart bought four lots from Eliza Saunders Barrett for $150, which the guild repaid, for construction of a new church. The congregation incorporated under the name Westminster Presbyterian Church.
11. Rev. L.S. Mochel, who served from March 22, 1899, until March 11, 1900, took over a church without a pastor governed by laypeople as the congregation planned for a church on Market Street and incorporated on May 25, 1899.
12. Rev. Joseph R. Monfort oversaw construction of the manse during his tenure from April 1, 1901, until Sept. 1, 1904, as the guild held rummage sales and sold baked goods to raise $220 to purchase lumber. The board of trustees mortgaged the church’s lots to pay for construction of the manse, which was completed January 7, 1904, and cost $2,007.98. The church ladies bought a new organ, which is in the history room.
13. Rev. Donald McKenzie, who served from April 7, 1905, until Sept. 27, 1908, helped the congregation plan and build the new 48- by 30-foot church, which opened Feb. 16, 1908, cost $9,042.57 and seated 300. The guild gave money to purchase the first pipe organ between Tacoma and Portland.
14. Rev. A.H. Chittenden served nearly a decade, from Sept. 10, 1908, until Jan. 28, 1917, during tense years in the nation leading to U.S. involvement in World War I.
15. Rev. Thomas Davis Acheson served from Jan. 26, 1917, until Aug. 10, 1921. His daughter, Lila, married DeWitt Wallace, and they founded Reader’s Digest in 1922. Dr. Robert Kennicott, a church member, treated victims of the Spanish influenza. The church paid off its debt.
16. Rev. Sullivan S. Healy, pastor from Oct. 11, 1921, until April 24, 1926, oversaw installation of a drinking fountain, saw paving of the Pringle Street sidewalk, and sent clothing to China where the Kennicotts’ daughter taught.
17. Rev. Roderick C. Jackson oversaw growth of the church, addition of evening prayer meetings, and remodeling of the kitchen while serving from Aug. 16, 1926, to June 27, 1928.
18. Rev. John M. Paxton served from July 26, 1928, to May 5, 1930, during the early years of the Great Depression when, despite tough financial times, the church managed to repair the furnace and organ but refused to hold card parties to raise money. The church couldn’t afford to pay a minister from 1930 to 1931 and relied on preaching and teaching by lay ministers.
19. Rev. John C. Tourtellot, who served from Feb. 1, 1931, to July 1, 1934, hosted an evangelist for two weeks while the church’s circles raised money to put shingles on the church roof.
20. Rev. D.W. McQuiston, a large man with a loud voice and ruddy face, preached fire and brimstone to prepare the congregation for the end times while serving from Sept. 16, 1934, to April 1937, and attendance dropped from 203 to 124. The presbytery met in Chehalis in 1937.
21. Dr. Herbert E. Gordon, a short, slender, and quiet man, saw attendance bounce back to 248 during his time in charge from May 2, 1937, until Aug. 7, 1942. The church hosted four guilds, started an orchestra, and marked its 85th anniversary in 1940. Florence Kennicott directed a play for the occasion, and a history book was compiled. When Mrs. St. John died, pallbearers had difficulty carrying the casket up the church’s narrow stairs, so her husband later donated money to expand the entry and install two doors.
22. Rev. Paul L. Crooks started a flourishing youth group and creation of the Clipper Club for young couples and the Navigator for older couples during his decade as pastor from Sept. 1, 1942, until Oct. 1, 1952. Construction began on an education wing, which was dedicated on Dec. 3, 1950. The pastor also hosted a radio program, and church attendance increased by a third.
23. Rev. George M. Shuman, who served from June 14, 1953, until June 30, 1961, started Operation Goodwill in 1952, where the congregation hosted foreign students from the University of Washington for Thanksgiving, and it continued for two decades. Church membership reached 406.
24. Rev. James F. Scott sold the old manse and constructed a new one on Eighth and Adams that was dedicated Oct. 11, 1964. He focused on creation of a junior choir, family dinners, and world missions during his tenure from Nov. 3, 1961, until Aug. 31, 1972. The church enlarged the choir loft, updated the brick annex, painted the sanctuary, added a silver cross to the front of the building, remodeled the kitchen, and installed a dishwasher. In 1966, Lois Scott started the first preschool in the county, and in 1971, she began the bell choir. The church dedicated a new piano to Sara Urquhart Murry who sang in the choir for 50 years. Stained-glass windows were added, and women spoke from the pulpit for the first time. Church attendance was 384.
25. Rev. Theodore Koopmans, who served from Oct. 15, 1972, until Aug. 31, 1973, a time when the congregation dissolved the board of trustees.
26. Rev. Ralph Carr, the church’s longest-serving pastor, assumed the leadership on Sept. 1, 1973, and led the congregation until retiring on Feb. 8, 2004. Children attended the services, the men’s Sunday breakfast resumed, Suzi Vander Stoep started a Bible study in 1974, Bread Breakers formed, and a prayer chain was organized. The church invited former ministers to help celebrate the church’s 120th anniversary. The Witness began publishing. Joyce Carr took over directing the preschool. Donors paid for restoring the organ, enlarged the choir loft, and added to the church, purchasing the annex and relocating offices and the preschool there. The church installed an elevator in 1986 and created the pioneer window, using the stained-glass windows that the Kennicotts had stored, and dedicated a playground in 1995. Henry and Jenny Kirk donated a piano to the church, which sent its first group of missionaries to Malawi.
27. Rev. Amanda Petersen served for a year after Pastor Carr’s retirement, leading the congregation from Feb. 9, 2004, to Feb. 8, 2005.
28. Rev. Barbara Schacht, who served from February 2005 to Dec. 10, 2006, oversaw the church’s 150th anniversary celebration, a two-day celebration that featured a play. Young people took a mission trip to San Francisco, the church installed a new heating system in the annex.
29. Rev. Brian North, who led from Jan. 8, 2007, until October 2012, began holding two services, one at 8:30 and another at 11 a.m., initiated a snack program for hungry people, and took items to the food bank. The youth program increased, the preschool moved to the annex, and the old offices became the history room. During heavy local flooding, the church housed displaced people in the basement. The Bluhms remodeled the Giffey Room, a grief class formed, and talent shows drew crowds. The church, which served about 200 at Sunday services, removed elm trees in front of the church in May 2012.
30. Rev. Melody Young served as temporary pastor from Oct. 6, 2012, until Jan. 1, 2013, when the church distributed 224 gas vouchers, provided 39 individuals and families with food snacks, and distributed five large baskets of food, clothes, and toys at Thanksgiving and Christmas.
31. Rev. Joyce Emery served from February 2013 until July that year and oversaw a large Blanket Sunday offering. Pastor Nkhoma visited from Malawi and preached.
32. Rev. Shari Jackson Monson served the church from August 2013 until August 2014, and the church held two Sunday services, one at 9 and another at 10:30. The church held a bazaar, organized Operation Christmas Child Shoe Boxes, hosted bells concerts, held candlelight services, gave cocoa to people on Market Boulevard watching the Santa Parade, and prepared a Taste of the Holy Land dinner after a trip to the Middle East.
33. Rev. Ed Wegele, who served from September 2014 until Nov. 15, 2020, immersed himself in the congregation after it had hosted three bridge pastors. He gave out cocoa at the parade, visited the sick, welcomed children during sermons and as head of the preschool, and oversaw dedication of the Carr Community Center in the annex, which was named in honor of Ralph and Joyce Carr. The congregation stabilized the northwest corner of the church, restored the fellowship hall, and renovated the prayer garden.
34. Pastor Tony Reynolds served from Nov. 20, 2020, until April 11, 2021, after COVID-19 pandemic restrictions were lifted. He played guitar, led singing, renovated the history room, and shared messages from his heart.
35. Rev. Debbie Garber served from April 11, 2021, until May 2022 and continued efforts to clean all rooms in the annex and the church. The church also started Sunday evening mealtime sharing.
36. Rev. Robin Crawford served from Sept. 22, 2022, until Oct. 5, 2023, at a time when transitional pastors oversaw the church, serving short periods of time. The bells, organ, piano, and singing choirs continued.
37. Rev. Tom Paine, who served from Oct. 5, 2023, until Sept. 22, 2024, split his time with a church in Tenino. Bible studies continued as repairs were made to the sound system and other parts of the buildings and grounds.
38. Rev. Carol McLaughlin served from Sept. 29, 2024, until June 2, 2025, overseeing the congregation, its learning environment, and the praise band, which increased in number.
39. Rev. Thomas Walters, who began serving on June 2, 2024, is remodeling a home in Chehalis while overseeing the church.
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Julie McDonald, a personal historian from Toledo, may be reached at memoirs@chaptersoflife.com.
