Centralia church parishioners reunited with history

Oct. 23—CENTRALIA — Parishioners who belonged to a church that is now demolished were reunited Saturday with Bibles and other relics.

"The history is there," said Meagan Ackerman, pastor of Exton United Methodist Church, Chester County.

About 40 people attended a special program about the Centralia United Methodist Church, which was demolished in September 1985, held at Zion United Methodist Church in Aristes, Columbia County.

Along with Ackerman, speakers included Pastor Rose Marquardt, of Zion United Methodist, and David DeKok, an author and expert on the Centralia mine fire, which started May 27, 1962.

The 24 Bibles were the only links to the past available for people to take home. A cross from the altar of the church and offering plates were among the relics on display.

Marquardt said the bishop of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference of United Methodist Church and the board of trustees of the church decided the items would go to a new church, now known as the Exton United Methodist Church, Chester County, when the Centralia church was demolished.

Deidre Hughes, who previously lived in Centralia, received one of the Bibles that her grandparents, Bessie and George Getty, sponsored for the Centralia church.

"It's wonderful to be able to have something from the church," said Hughes, of Den-mar Gardens in Northumberland County.

Hughes attended the Centralia church before moving to Northumberland.

Hughes and her parents, Pauline Getty and Gerald Getty, previously attended the church.

"To me, Centralia lives on through that," Pauline Getty said of the memorabilia.

Getty, who was a member of the administrative board of the Centralia church, was glad to relive some memories. She attended the church from 1960 to 1986 before moving from Centralia. They were relocated because of the mine fire.

DeKok said he was 23 years old when he wrote the first of hundreds of articles about the fire. He talked about a 14-year-old boy who fell in a hole. He held on to a tree root before being rescued by another resident. The teenager told government officials about the ordeal.

"That was really the turning point," DeKok said of efforts to address the fire.

Congress allocated $42 million in 1983 to relocate residents living in Centralia.

"The relocation began in the beginning of 1984," DeKok said.

In 1962, about 1,400 people lived in Centralia. Only a few remain today.

"It's a unique kind of place," DeKok said.

Contact the writer: amarchiano@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6023