Crystal City Baptist Church Last Service

The last service of the First Baptist church was held October 5th and I was so thrilled to be able to be there and have all my family with me and to see so many familiar faces.

When we arrived we were greeted by Ruth Walker who then directed us on to the Fellowship Hall. The Fellowship Hall itself brought back so many memories and as the crowd started to gather I saw more and more familiar faces. My intent was to take tons of pictures but I found myself so busy talking that I wouldnt remember about getting a picture until the person had already walked away!

I had my family follow me through each and every hallway and room that served as both church events and as school classrooms for me and it was strange to see how it looks now and at the same time see how everything looked in my mind from back in the day.

As you can guess the service itself was packed. Larry Stewart led a choir made up of former church members and they all did an amazing job.

Since the church was being given to the Assembly of God, Pastor Dino Espinoza was there to speak and to thank the members for the gift of the church.

The entire service was video taped. I am planning to call this week to get a couple of copies of the service. As soon as I am sure I wrote down the number correctly I will post it here in case others are interested.

After the church service there was a catered meal in the gym. The gym, though it still has lots of potential was in need of some TLC. It was a little sad to see the way it is now and remember what it was like when we played our basketball and volleyball games there. I also remember doing tumbling during PE in that gym. Mr. Mogford was big on calisthenics and tumbling and we would form "pyramids" etc. on that gym floor.

Below I am posting some pictures that I did manage to take and I apologize for having to reduce them to fit the page. I know it would be better if they were in larger format but hopefully they will still serve the purpose. I have listed the names of the people I can remember.




Larrisa Poindexter (right)


Howard and Angeline Stovall

Nancy Dennis Chisum, Wayne Dennis, Emily Stuessy

Joy Lane Nakanishi (in black top, black hair)

Janet Payne Raybin, Rosemary Stewart behind her
and Janet's son to the right

Upcoming Anniversary

In just 9 days, it will be the first anniversary of the yahoo group, The Crystal City Bulletin.

I think on the whole it has been a success. We now have 86 members and even though some days conversations in the group are slow, that is just a reflection of how busy our lives are, but we are still a group and still staying in touch.

Recently some classmates found themselves in the path of hurricane Ike and though we didnt hear from them for a couple of days, they got word to us as soon as they could, that they were okay.

In the upcoming year we hope to locate many more classmates and former Crystal Citians and hopefully have them join the group. If you have been reading this and you are a Crystal Citian and have not joined we would love to have you in the group!

Don't forget there are three big events coming up in Crystal City:

October 4th CCHS Reunion
October 5th First Baptist Church 100th Anniversary/Last Service
First weekend in November - Spinach Festival

I have posted details on these events in an earlier August post, but will repost them again soon.

Crystal City Reunion and Baptist Church Closing

The months of October and November 2008 are going to be big months, wait, make that HUGE months, in Crystal City, TX.

On October 4th is CCHS Reunion headed up Mason Williams. Here is the information for the CCHS reunion:

Location: The Crystal Ballroom which is located about 1 mile southeast of Crystal City on State Hwy 16—the road to Brundage.

Ricardo’s Restaurant of Crystal City will provide a brisket plate with all the trimmings.

The doors will open at 2:00 p.m., and the meal will be served at 6:00 p.m. A DJ will provide music for dancing beginning at 7:30 p.m.

The visiting and dancing will go on until the last person tires out and goes home.

Everyone is invited—ex students, parents, friends, anyone who ever had an interest in the Crystal City School System.

Admission charge is $15 per person.

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On October 5th is the 100th anniversary of the First Baptist Church in Crystal City.

It is also the church's last service due to declining membership.

It's official now I guess (that the church is closing), I have received my invitation. I am looking forward to seeing people I have not seen in years there but I am sad that it is because it is the end of the era of the First Baptist Church of Crystal City, TX.

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The second weekend of November is the annual Spinach Festival and though I have not yet received the entry form, our group, the Crystal City Bulletin, is planning to have a float entry in the parade. More information to follow on this.

For additional information on any of the events above, you can email me at the address below. Please note that you will need to put the appropriate symbols in the address where I have written them out. I did this to discourage junk emails.

Email me at - lilbeth511-blogger (at) yahoo dot com