May 26 Today in OPC History

On May 26, 1994, Hermina Davies was the guest speaker at a dinner for mothers and daughters at Old Stockbridge OPC in Morgan Siding, Wisconsin, and Menominee OPC in Zoar, Wisconsin. Fifty-eight years earlier, Mrs. Davies and her husband, the Rev. John Davies, arrived in nearby Neopit to spread the good news of Jesus Christ. Mrs. Davies was six months pregnant, and their living quarters the first two weeks there was in a tent, but the Lord blessed the Davies' ministry in the region for the next eighteen years.

Mrs. Davies recounted to those present that the congregation worshiped in a converted saloon, a town hall, and schoolhouse, before being able to purchase their first building in 1948. She said that on countless occasions the choir would drive to churches where a special offering would be held to help with the cost.

She also recalled fondly the special activity that would take place on Saturdays. Rev. Davies would drive their family over to the Menominee reservation for Bible school. He would drop them off and then would make multiple trips to gather the children. Mrs. Davies would lead the singing of hymns while he was making the trips. She told those gathered that it was quite something to see their Model A Ford pull in with kids hanging on to the hood and the running boards on both sides. Now, decades later, some of those same individuals were attending the mother and daughter banquet.

Picture: Hermina Davies in 1994 and 1936 in Zoar, Wisconsin.