Heirloom #26
by Will Frank
With the formal organization of the Unitarian Church of Norfolk on May 6, 1930, the Rev. Arthur Winn continued to hold weekly services in the Monticello Hotel, while awaiting the final decision of the Lutherans on the sale of the 15th Street and Moran church to the Unitarians. The spirit was so high in the congregation that the idea of closing for the summer, then normal in Unitarian churches, was met with a strong desire to continue worship services throughout the summer, a desire that mostly was not fulfilled, for in those days congregations expected only ministers in the pulpit, and none were available.
Winn had scheduled to depart in June, and presented his last service in the Jefferson Hall of the Monticello Hotel on June 8th. Afterward he spoke to the group about the journey the new congregation was now undertaking. “With a great deal of feeling he spoke of his work here,” recorded the clerk, “of how he had met the members of our little group in their homes and how greatly he had become attached to them. How proud he felt that the had assisted us in organizing our church and that, although he would not be with us, he would watch with loving eyes the progress that he felt sure we would make.”
“He then told us that Rev. Harry Lutz had been appointed to serve as our minister for the coming year, that he would arrive here early in September and would begin the services the second Sunday in September. The little congregation was very quiet for a few minutes. They seemed to fully realize how close a friend and adviser Rev. Winn had become to them and that he was leaving. However they had heard Rev. Lutz and were favorably impressed with him.” The congregation passed a motion of “respect and gratitude” for Winn, and one member even wrote to the American Unitarian Association that she wanted Winn to stay in Norfolk as the settled minister. Yet, most accepted the change in ministers with appreciation and positive anticipation.
In any case, there was the new building to make their own. The Lutherans had agreed on May 20th on the sale of their old building, and on June 19th, the AUA sent the First Lutheran Church a check for $10,000 to complete the deal, wishing the Norfolk Unitarians “a happy and successful new year in the new surroundings.” So, throughout the summer, members of the congregation worked to get the building ready for the new church year. They took up the old carpeting and replaced it with good pine flooring. They repaired leaks in the roof, replaced much of the plumbing, repaired windows and doors, installed new kitchen appliances, moved and repaired the pews, and painted the interior throughout. Worship services were interrupted for two summer months, but service continued with hammers and paint brushes. The church treasurer hoped the AUA would pay some of these expenses, which totaled $376, but the AUA, having extended itself by purchasing the building and presenting it debt-free to the congregation and paying the full salary of the minister, expected the church to fund all such repairs and upkeep itself. A serious canvass of the congregation therefore had to be undertaken for the first time. The fiscal responsibilities of an autonomous church with property to manage and bills to pay began to sink in. But the church was theirs, and by September was clean and spruced up inside and the grass and hedges trimmed outside.
So, it was a joyous occasion on September 14th, when the Rev. Harry Lutz preached his first sermon to the 45 congregants gathered in the Unitarian Church of Norfolk’s new building. “It seemed wonderful to be in our own church, and to have our own minister,” was the general sentiment recorded by the clerk. On that Sunday morning, Six new members joined the church, including Queenie M. Darden, who presented a basket of flowers in loving remembrance of her father, the late Eugene M. Darden, charter member of the First Unitarian Church of Norfolk in 1912 and its last president, who had recently died. Now in 1930 Eugene Darden’s son Robert M. Darden was first president of the recovenanted church. The former First Unitarian Church had become inactive in 1917, but like the phoenix had risen again as the Unitarian Church of Norfolk. The seeming dead church had come back to life, a church that continues its uninterrupted life today.