One hundred-and-twenty-five years ago, when the West was still wild with warring Apaches, hard-riding Buffalo Soldiers, and hard-working, hard-drinking miners and cowboys, a young seminarian from the East set foot in "The Town Too Tough To Die" to tame as much of it as he could. Endicott Peabody, later the founder of the famed Brooks and Groton schools in Massachusetts and heralded teacher of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, arrived to win as many as he could for his fledgling ministry ... toughs or not-so-toughs! With that humble first step, St. Paul's Episcopal Church was founded.
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It may not be the same as the event that brought Queen Elizabeth II to Jamestown for their 400th anniversary this year, but it has the same fervent hospitality as Her Majesty received deeply rooted in the plans.
The church is located at 19 North Third Street at Safford Street - the building dating from June 16, 1882, when the first service was held. A simple Western Gothic structure, it seats 80 worshipers. The pews, Communion rail and chandeliers date from that time. The lights came off a clipper ship, and originally used oil, but since have been electrified. The piano is from 1891, and the stained glass windows, probably imported from Belgium, still gleam as in the 19th century.
After all, St. Paul's is the oldest, continuously ministering Protestant congregation in the state of Arizona, and has a lot to commemorate. And, they have a vision for the future that means re-igniting Endicott Peabody's passion for taming barriers and sharing Good News despite 21st century complexities.
Senior Warden Wilfrid Wiemer and his parish have scheduled activities and events that require a tent for famed guitarist Michael Grande, David Kaemmer and his Cochise County Youth Orchestra and Cowboy Poet Bud Strom to entertain the crowds. In addition to historic displays, and a book-signing for author S.J. Reidhead who wrote "A Church for Helldorado," which tells the story of St. Paul's beginnings, Vicar Jack Smart, the present parish priest, is to offer an "Old Western-style evening prayer service."
Titling Peabody as "an apparent elitist, effete Bostonian," Smart says, "Amazingly he succeeded" in building "a church for Tombstone."
The Rt. Rev. Kirk Smith, Bishop of Arizona, will preside at an 11 a.m. service June 30, "using an 1865 Eucharist text as it would have been preached in 1882," said Wiemer.
Smart, a recently retired cleric, served large parishes in the East and was featured on one of the longest running, congregationally-sponsored radio ministries in the country. "If people could hear Fr. Smart," adds Wiemer, "they would want to return often."
"St. Paul's has known some difficult, certainly problematic times," said Smart. "Currently, the good folk of St. Paul's are engaged in the faithful, pursuit of renewal, believing, trusting that God and His all-sufficient Christ will bless that endeavor."
At their centennial celebration in 1982, 192 people attended, but this event seems to be drawing a much larger crowd. Wiemer is surprised, and pleased, by the great interest being shown in the anniversary. "We may have 500 people. We want everyone to have a good time," he said.
Wiemer, who exmplifies the determined settlers of the West, is now an American citizen, but admits he was once an illegal immigrant. Born in Berlin, his father was a university professor and was imprisoned by the Nazis from 1938 to 1944. The family was deported to Poland, when he was a 7-year old lad. From there, he was sent to Russia and got separated from his family. Although having Canadian citizenship, since his mother was a French-speaking Canadian, it was difficult to get to Canada after the war. At age 14 with $2.15 in his pocket, the "Russian illegal, knowing no English, worked his way across the Atlantic as a galley boy, and then jumped ship," he states.
Later, through the Red Cross, he found his family living in Canada. But the boy had become a man, one that always forged ahead on his own. Without proper elementary and high school education and equipped with a GED, he sought admission to Northwestern University, where he made high marks that took him off probation in no time, and he became an engineer. He designed bottling plants for Coca Cola, and supervised their construction. Wiemer seemed to echo Peabody's efforts to tame the tough times with a persevering faith.
"It was no sacrifice," he says of his ordeal. "It was satisfaction."
It is that kind of spirit that attracted Wiemer to the Episcopal Church - and St. Paul's. It is that spirit that is leading a modest parish to do more than look to the past.
Wiemer hopes people will no longer overlook St. Paul's, but "give it a second look," after the celebration.
"We intend to reach out to all," says Smart, "to hear with compassion the plaintive calls of all 'sorts and conditions' as our Prayer Book says, trusting in the God who makes all things new."
The program for June 30:
11 a.m. to noon: The Rt. Rev. Kirk Smith, Ph.D., Bishop of Arizona to speak
Noon to 2:30 p.m.: Tombstone Trolley to offer historic tours discounted to $3 for adults, $1 for children 12 and under.
12:30 to 1 p.m.: Tombstone Vigilantes to perform Western Comedy skit on Third Street in front of church.
1:15 p.m.: Cowboy Poet Bud Strom shares his view of St. Paul's and Tombstone in a free reading.
2:30 to 4:30 p.m.: Free Michael Grande concert, featuring Western, classical and devotional music
4:45 to 5:30 p.m.: David Kaemmer and the Cochise County Youth Orchestra perform a free concert featuring fiddles, violins and cello.
6 p.m.: St. Paul's Vicar, the Rev. Jack Smart, to offer an Old Western-style evening prayer service.
For information, contact Senior Warden Wil Wiemer at 559-3290.
Dick Andersen is a writer for the Wick News Serviceand a retired minister living in Cochise County.
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