By: Ronald A. McCreery
The Story
The first Episcopal church in Southeastern Arizona was St. Paul's in
Tombstone. It also has the distinction of being the first Protestant
church in Arizona. St. Paul's, like the community it serves, was
too tough to die and still has regular Sunday services. The second
Episcopal Church was St. John's Sweet Memorial church in Bisbee which
was a copper mining camp. It was followed by St. Stephen's in Douglas.
Given the distance of over 50 miles one way, St. Stephen's, Douglas had
little effect on the growth of the Episcopal Church in the greater
Huachuca area. The church that most influenced that growth was
St. Paul's. Entries in the first parish register of St. Paul's
show that Episcopal services, baptisms, etc. took place on Fort
Huachuca before the turn of the century.
The Missionary Diocese of Arizona was also involved. Fifty years after
Captain Whitside founded Camp Huachuca, the Arizona Church Record had
the following to say in 1927: "Progress has been made in the past few
months. Our indefatigable Archdeacon has been scouring part of the
southeastern portion of the Diocese. Informal services have been held
on Sunday evenings at Fort Huachuca for the officers and their families
of the Tenth Cavalry. This is a Negro regiment and the troops have
their own chaplain and services. The services of the Archdeacon
have had the cordial support of the commanding officer, Colonel
Scherer, and have been well attended. An occasional communion service
has been celebrated for the few Episcopalians. The ladies have
organized an excellent Sunday School. The Archdeacon has visited nearly
every ranch within ten or fifteen miles and given them an invitation to
attend services and send their children to the school. This work will
gradually form into something worthwhile.”
The last sentence was truly prophetic in more ways than one!
Reading between the lines of the article puts us into the Episcopal
church of the 1920s. Here are some things to ponder.
“Informal services have been held on Sunday evenings” means
that the Archdeacon conducted a “General Protestant” type
service based on Evening Prayer. “This is a Negro
regiment... troops have their own chaplain and services.”
The reader must remember that this was before President Harry S Truman
integrated the armed forces. In a “Negro regiment,” the
officers were white with the exception of the chaplain who was
usually African-American because it was felt that he would
understand the needs of his own people better than a white chaplain.
The chaplain's race, however, kept him from being integrated into the
general camaraderie and confidence of the rest of the regimental
officers. The Episcopal church of those days was, for the most part, a
white church. Therefore, the ministrations of the Archdeacon were
welcomed by the white regimental officers and their families. “An
occasional communion service has been celebrated for the few
Episcopalians.” This was an era when the principal Sunday
Service was Morning Prayer with Holy Communion being celebrated once a
month. Only in large urban churches with more than one Sunday service
might you find a regular early communion service. Even then, the
rector ran the risk of being a suspected “Anglo-catholic.”
The definition of, tolerance in those days may have been the same
as today's, but the application was quite different.
World War II brought an expansion of Fort Huachuca when it served as
the training site for two African-American divisions, the 92nd and 93rd
Infantry Divisions. The fort's distance from population centers was one
of the prime reasons it was selected for this training function plus
the fact that two African-American regiments, the 10th Cavalry and the
25th Infantry, had been stationed there. It took the better part of a
day to drive to Tucson by way of Sonoita. AZ90 wasn't there and neither
was 1-10. The wide place in the road outside the main gate was called
“Fry,” and it was the successor to "Garden.” Sierra
Vista is not on the mural map of Cochise County in the County
Courthouse in Bisbee. The Courthouse was built in 1930 after the county
seat was moved from Tombstone, and Sierra Vista wasn't incorporated
until 1956. When the war was over, Fort Huachuca was declared excess
and closed in 1 947. It was reopened in 1 951 to support th e Korean
Conflict and closed again in 1953. In 1954, it was opened once again to
become the home of the U. S. Army's Electronic Proving Ground.
Needless to say the local area roller-coastered with the closings and
openings so area Episcopalians continued to be served by St. Paul's and
St. John's. After the last reopening of the fort, a small group of
Episcopalians banded together. Following are notes made by the
unknown recorder of that group. What follows includes many names from
that group. To include so many names may not be good history writing,
but they should not suffer the fate described in Ecclesiasticus
44:9-10:
But of others there is no memory; they have perished as though they
never existed; they have become as though they had never been born,
they and their children after them. But these also were godly
men, whose righteous deeds have not been forgotten;
Now the voice from the past
Since the latest reopening of Fort Huachuca, Arizona, activities of the
Episcopal church assumed aspects of individual participation and active
contribution each according to his initiatives. Lay Readers contributed
greatly to church life of surrounding communities particularly St.
Paul's church, Tombstone, Arizona and St. John's church, Bisbee,
Arizona. These two churches were served by Lay Readers for over a year
and the church interest and activity maintained until the Bishop of
Arizona could furnish priests for these churches. In connection with
these activities, prominent are:
1 . SFC David Meder
2. Lt. Co/. Leslie L. Motz
Stirrings among personnel stationed or working at Fort Huachuca began
to explore the idea and possibility of having regular services of the
Episcopal church on Fort Huachuca. In connection herewith interested
Episcopalians gathered in the Chaplain's Center (Building #13097) at
1100 hours 3 November 1956 for a reception for the Rt. Rev. Arthur B.
Kinsolving II, Bishop of the Missionary District of Arizona; the Rev.
Arthur Lewis, Vicar of St. Paul's church, Tombstone, Arizona; and the
Rev. John Hughes, Rector, St. John's Church, Bisbee, Arizona.
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