Systems that worked well for small groups were just not going to be productive as the church membership approached 1,000. The neighborhood potlucks had served their purpose, and there was need for another form to help members become better acquainted, to have a social outlet, and to have a service function for the church. Out of these needs was born the Voyagers in 1960. Ralph and Irene Hickcox were the first Admirals who piped aboard four additional Captains at a nautical fleet banquet in January of that year and started a tradition of creative annual banquets that continues to this day. There was the year of the Mardi Gras theme, complete with dancers and appropriately painted backdrop. That evening actually included a New Orleans style funeral, complete with casket and jazz band. Another year the motif of a county fair was used. Others remember best the Old San Francisco theme party. One of the banquets actually took place at San Quentin. Carl Ferguson and Roger Blue took turns at providing the creative energy for these rollicking events.
The service function is also an important part of Voyagers. They started the annual workday custom and even now provide the major energy and man/woman power for it. One of the ships takes responsibility for serving the coffee and those great cookies on the patio each Sunday.
Wilderness Park
New members now will be hard put to visualize the charisma, enthusiasm, and drive that surrounded Wilderness Park. They are poorer for never having known the source for all of this, our "Miss Wilderness Park," Jeanne Christie. She was a retired National Girl Scout Executive who quickly saw the potential in the eight acre site that had been set aside from those original forty-five acres with the idea that it be used for summer camp programs. Jeanne infused her spirit into the whole membership to clear underbrush and kill poison oak, while building trails, a huge fireplace, and a welcoming amphitheatre. Architect Don Rogers brought needed expertise to the project that eventually produced six campsites. But then Jeanne really went to work to produce the program, energize the leaders and attract the campers. The first summer Day Camp took place in 1960.
In 1969, the program was expanded to become a multi-community, bi-racial event. Young people and counselors from Presbyterian churches in Oakland and East Contra Costa County shared in the joy. One of the big thrills for the campers each year was the appearance of Yogi Bear in full costume. The rumor still persists that Fred George was the most frequent actor to appear in that role. Unfortunately, the huge torrential rains of the early 1980s produced slides of such a nature that the area was no longer useable for the camp. In its twenty years of life, it was one of LOPC's more useful and meaningful programs. Its impact extended across age brackets to include children, teenagers, and any adults who could hike the hills.
Important Changes
In early 1961, Leonard Weeks felt the urgent call to seminary, and he left for Fuller Seminary in Pasadena to be quickly replaced by the Rev. W. Benson Mack. Meanwhile, the church continued to prosper, growing to 1200 members by 1963. Early in that year, the Rev. Robert Merritt came to share the load.
The need for new, enlarged facilities was pressing hard on the congregation, but most of all on Pastor Carl. Counseling, teaching and committee meetings also heavily burdened him. So it was that in the spring of 1963, Carl resigned to move to the San Mateo Presbyterian Church, taking with him Ben Mack. This milestone was commemorated with fitting tributes and with sad hearts, as LOPC said farewell to this inspirational leader who had brought the church so far in such a short time.
The aid of the Presbytery was called on to provide an interim pastor, who appeared in the form of Dr. Henry Schneider, a gifted scholar and leader. Bob Merrit ably assisted him in the preaching and teaching roles. This was the organizational structure for the next fourteen months while a Pastor Search Committee, under the leadership of Ralph Hickcox, took on the job of finding the second Senior Pastor.
This thirteen-member group drew up a profile of the church and then a profile of the man they were seeking. He was to possess strong preaching skills and administrative abilities. During the process, they gained much insight from meeting and interviewing a man who was not available, but who fit their profile well. He was the Rev. Louis Evans, new pastor in La Jolla. Several attempts did not bear fruit, but at last John Clark returned from Idaho Falls to report that he was sure he had seen the right person. He was the Rev. James Staples Little, a native of Pennsylvania, who had been at Idaho Falls for five years. It did not take many visits for the committee to be convinced that Jim was the right man. But there were other people to be convinced. The San Francisco Presbytery was afraid he was too controversial; the Idaho church did not want to give him up; and Jim wasn't quite sure this was a fit. Time and a persistent committee finally wore down all of the doubts.
On October 25, 1964, Jim Little was installed as our second Senior Pastor. Coming with him to join the church family was Margaret "Mugs" Little and three young sons. A comfortable home in Orinda was purchased, and the second major phase in the development of LOPC had begun. What was to be experienced over the next twenty-two years was unbelievable even for those who lived it.
Jim first made a strong effort to know and be known. Women arranged morning coffee meetings where he could begin the process and let some of his ideas be broadcast. This was continued through sermons, public appearances, and evening lecture series. One of the most popular and effective was one using Lewis Sherrill's book "The Gift of Power," the main thrust of which related to the dynamics of human personality.
Some structural changes in the church organization followed quickly. The Session re-established the committees on Church and Society as well as Evangelism. It was about then that Jim instituted the principle of the Executive Committee of Session. Three members were chosen by secret ballot from the Session to be a sounding board, to do staff evaluation, and provide feedback to staff on how the lay members were responding to actions and plans.
Jim was also unafraid of a bit of controversy. He brought onto the staff for six months, Dr. Paul Morentz, a theologian and psychiatrist. His main function was to help the various committees and boards to discover the church's mission in a suburban setting, as well as ways to accomplish it. He also did some preaching, was a resource at the Annual Fall Conference, and taught a series of evening classes. It was a most fruitful six months in the history of LOPC. It helped set the stage for the next bold moves.
The Church and Society Committee brought forward two new ideas to make the church much more involved in the society. The first was an interracial day nursery, which was to mix children of Lamorinda with African-American children from Pittsburg. The second idea was a consumer-guidance project which had a goal of teaching ghetto residents how to obtain more value for their money.
The nursery project, named Friendship Nursery, began first, spearheaded by Grace Hanks and Jeanne Christie. It encompassed twelve pre-school local students and twelve brought from Pittsburg, with the school operating at LOPC. It was one of many successful projects of the 1960s. The second project finally took the form of job training with qualified members of LOPC doing the training in Oakland under the banner of an existing program called Opportunities Industrialization Center.
The Rev. Ralph Wright joined the staff in 1966, with major responsibilities for youth work. Ralph also was known for his strong interest in civil rights. He received approval from the Session to go to Selma, Alabama, as our representative, to participate in that famous civil rights demonstration.
Our first Associate Pastor, the Rev. George Aberle, was called in May, 1966. George had served a pastorate previously and was just completing graduate studies in psychology. He served as a facilitator in small group work and did some pastoral counseling. As with all staff working with Jim Little, he continued to develop by performing all of the other functions of the ministry. George gained instant fame by climbing up on those large beams that can be seen overhead in the sanctuary. It seems the bolts had loosened as the wood dried, so George went up and tightened all of them.
The youth of the church and community were also campaigning for attention. They needed a central point where they could meet after school and evenings. The glimmer of an idea for action came at a Mt. Hermon Fall Conference. Carl and Ann Ferguson led the eventual task force which culminated in a Teen Drop-in Center. This was to be a community project, not a Presbyterian project.
LOPC provided some of the financial support, half of the board members, and selected the Youth Director of the Center. That was the point in our history when the life of Chuck Shields, a student at Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, intersected ours for the beginning of what would be an intense relationship. He became that Youth Director for the Center, which opened in the spring of 1968 in the basement of what is now Coach's Corner Restaurant on Mt. Diablo Boulevard in Lafayette. When the Center had served its useful life, Chuck was hired as Youth Director at the church and subsequently promoted to Associate Pastor after he graduated from seminary.
In the same decade, there was another issue that needed attention. Membership was continuing to grow and the church was running out of meeting rooms, worship space, Sunday School rooms and offices. It was time for the next move, that long-held dream of the sanctuary on the hill. The fund drive, chaired by Rosemarie and Ted Ockels, produced the needed commitments of $660,000 to build the sanctuary, administrative wing, and revise the Christian Education wing. It is important to note that ten percent of the money pledged was sent to the Presbyterian Church's Fifty Million Dollar Fund for world mission.
The San Francisco firm of Rockwell and Banwell provided the award winning design and supervised construction, which was the work of C. Overaa Construction Company of Richmond. During 1967, the sight of the huge construction cranes was a magnet for all eyes as the wooden beams, concrete pillars, and wooden walls took shape. Then came that louvered steeple, followed by the stunning copper roof. A forty-foot cross topped all of this. (Many will note even now that the cross does not really line-up properly. It twisted after installation, causing many to bequeath the tongue-in-cheek name of The Church of the Crooked Cross.) The beautiful interior chandeliers were the inspired design of Richard Banwell.
Although the sanctuary was completed in the fall of 1967, dedication awaited the installation of the Swain and Kates pipe organ that came from Germany. In the meantime, all other work was completed so that the buildings were in use. The great day of the dedication occurred on January 5, 1969. Dr. Arnold B. Come, President of San Francisco Theological Seminary, beautifully articulated the theme of "To the Glory of God and the Service of Man." Ken Mansfield christened the organ; Al Illich directed the choir; and the congregation rejoiced at the fulfillment of this fifteen year dream.
Honored guests at this joyous occasion were representatives from the major mission projects that the church supported. These included Friendship Nursery, Teen Center, Youth Homes, Young Life, and Opportunities Industrialization Center. One other important guest who figured strongly in the church's future ( as Interim Head of Staff in 1986) was J. Davis Illingworth, then a leader of the Synod of the Golden Gate.
Now, thirty-five years later, the importance of this magnificent edifice can be clearly seen. It is the only large religious meeting place in Contra Costa County. It is used for high school baccalaureate services, for other denomination meetings, for the community to meet and respond to important historical events (such as the community worship service commemorating 9/11/01), for non-churched people to celebrate or mourn significant events or people. All of these occurrences are in addition to the great worship events surrounding the life and people of LOPC. As envisioned by our early members, the sanctuary continues to be a symbol to the surrounding community of the presence of Jesus Christ in our lives and His call to each of us.
Women Elders
It may be hard to realize today, but there was a time when women were not allowed to be on the board of elders. The break-through came during Carl Thomas' last year here when Ruth Bernard and Helen Parker joined the Session. Grace Hanks in 1965, Eleanor Hunt in 1967, and Mardy Robinson in 1968 followed them. Jeanne Christie and Bobbie Dodson were included in 1969, while Jackie McKinley and Inez Wright joined the Session in 1970.
In due time, the organizational gifts that women brought began to be recognized even more as they were elected to the Executive Committee. Phyllis Bell-Stover was the first woman to be recognized as Clerk of Session in 1986, to be followed by Betsy Gochnauer in 1990, Fay Schoenberger in 1994, Muriel Fry in 1995 and 1996, Dolly Mack in 2001 and 2002, and Inez Wright in 2003 and 2004.
