This is the Reedley First Mennonite Church my family attended when I was a girl. My Grandparents. Rudolf and Elsa Laemmlen, attended church after coming to America and moving to Reedley. When their little 2-year-old daughter, Ruth died of pneumonia in 1937, the pastor from this church performed the funeral. They liked what he said, and attended here for the rest of their lives.
When I was little, in the summers we went to Vacation Bible School here. The photo below is one of my Bible School classes. I’m the little girl in the front row, far right, with the blue sweater on. I wore that sweater for my kindergarten school picture.
I remember singing Bible songs like “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world.”
We also sang “Jesus loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong; they are weak, but he is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me, the Bible tells me so.”
Another memory I have of Bible School is that we would go outside for walks in the neighborhood (probably to get our wiggles out). Whenever we crossed a street, instead of walking in the crosswalk, we were instructed to walk on the white lines of the crosswalk. I grew up thinking that was the correct way to cross a street.
[get kindergarten picture]
From the Reedley Museum Facebook page where the church photo above was posted: Reedley’s First Mennonite congregation was organized in 1906. The group built their church on the southeast corner of L and 12th Streets in 1908. The George Besaw photo post card likely dates from about 1911. The church building was reconstructed and enlarged in 1914 and enlarged again in the 1940s with additional improvements made in the years since.
Below are a couple of photos I took of the church about 10 years ago while visiting Reedley:
