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‘Feels like family’ — Carrboro United Methodist turns 100

Posted on July 1, 2010 by Staff

By Valarie Schwartz
Columnist

Perhaps during the first century of Carrboro United Methodist Church, the greatest evidential change has been in the women. Gone are the bonnets, hats, gloves and clothing covering them from neck to ankle; gone also are the binds that kept their contributions limited to what they could cook, teach, sing or play (organ or piano). A woman’s voice was heard in the sanctuary only while singing, or perhaps shushing a child; certainly not in offering a prayer or preaching.

Today women serve as deacons, and for the past three years the pastor has been a woman – Claire McKeown, who on Sunday led her congregation of about 150 in its centennial celebration from both the pulpit and the choir loft, where she was one of a dozen voices led by Dale Bailey, director of music.

Singing has long been a staple of church worship, and at Carrboro Methodist the membership was asked to supply a list of their favorites, and the top choices – “well-loved and oft-sung,” as McKeown called them – were part of the service on Sunday that began with Mayor Pro Tem Randee Haven-O’Donnell reading a proclamation naming June 27, 2010 as Carrboro United Methodist Church Day, and some 90 minutes later ended with everyone receiving a white stole, bestowed by McKeown as a symbol of this church being the guiding yoke in a parishioner’s life.

Then everyone went outside for a photo.

And there, captured for generations hence to see, are many women dressed like the men, many of the elderly dressed like the children

– all skin colors, body types and abilities – dressed in the church T-shirt, sky blue (a shade brighter than Carolina blue) in color, looking cool as could be under tree-dappled shade outside the sanctuary completed in 1953 by Ed Mann, the construction boss.

“My dad built the church and my first cousin, W.R. Campbell, was the architect,” said Eddie Mann Jr., who, with his wife, Jean Mann, attended the centennial celebration, though they are members elsewhere.
No matter what kind of changes the church and its membership have known, one thing remains unchanged – the women of the church know how to throw a potluck lunch.

There were more kinds of salad than a thick cookbook could supply, followed by equally satisfying desserts. After those filling the fellowship hall finished their meals, they walked around to the different tables passing around their stoles for fellow members to sign as a permanent memory of their special day together.

Joyce Boone Ward grew up in the church, which during her childhood was on Main Street near the Inter-Faith Council offices. She lived with her grandparents on Main Street across from where Balloons & Tunes is and walked to school in the building that now houses Town Hall. Her maternal grandfather was the Gibbs part of the Gibbs and Bradshaw Garage, formerly located across the street from where The ArtsCenter is today.

“There’ve been a lot of changes since it was on Main Street,” Ward said of the church. “I never gave any thought to women” being deacons or pastor while growing up. “Everything changed, but I’m OK with it.”

After all, as much as anything else they offer, churches provide a place to grow, a shelter within community, an extended network of friends.
“This church feels like family,” Ward said.

Contact Valarie Schwartz at 923-3746 or valariekays (at) mac.com

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