- 13 October. After its Planning Committee led by Misses E. Louis Seymour and Elsie L. Jones had laid the groundwork, the Business & Professional Women’s Club held its first meeting. Alberta Pond and Adele Herrick became its first president and secretary, respectively. They held monthly suppers after which members worked on projects or enjoyed entertainment.
Monthly Archives: March 2013
1946
- 16 Jan. The Rev. Robert Gifford Metters, who had served as a Navy chaplain during World War II, became our sixth rector.
Pauli Murray became 36 in November, 1946. Photo credit: Library of Congress; Conde Nast Publications
- Mademoiselle awarded Pauli Murray its Merit Award for Signal Achievement in Law.
- Albert W. Rockwood, Chairman of our Property Committee, contracted with Chester A. Brown at the architectural firm of Cram & Ferguson to draw up plans for renovations for our:
- Basement
- A concrete floor was poured.
- Bathrooms were installed.
- Alternating current was installed to control two huge boilers, which were converted from burning coal to oil.
- A boys’ choir room was created.
- Sanctuary
- Carpeting in the nave was replaced with brown, vinyl-asbestos tiles.
- Pews were repaired.
- Brides’ Lobby was redesigned.
- Parish House
- The kitchen was renovated.
- Cold-water service was replaced.
- A separate heating-zone was probably established then.
- Basement
–Thanks to Julian Bullitt for researching these topics in our archives.
1945
- 8 May. Germans surrendered, leading to the end of World War II in Europe.
- 15 July. The Rev. Dr. H. Robert Smith, formerly of Grace Church, Newton MA, accepted the position of Minister-in-Charge and served until a new rector could be called.
- 6 & 9 August. US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, leading to Japanese surrender a week later.
- 28 November. The vestry assigned the church’s reading rights at the Boston Athenæum to rector-elect, The Rev. Robert Gifford Metters.
1944
Pauli Murray Roots & Soul Mural, Durham NC
credit: Brett Cook & Pauli Murray Project
Pauli Murray, first African American woman to attend Howard U. School of Law and later a vestry member of Emmanuel, received her J.D.. For its sesquicentennial Howard is hosting a TEDx conference on 9/15/1917: Singing of a New American”: Pauli Murray’s Legacy and Justice in the 21st Century.
See also:
1943
The Rev. Robert Gifford Metters became rector. For more about the Metters years please see the chapter on him in Emmanuel Church, 1860-1960: The First Hundred Years.
- 17 September. The Rev. Henrietta Rue Goodwin died. She had retired from the faculty of the National Cathedral School to live with her sister Helen Goodwin French, wife of Hollis French, who was warden here from 1914-1940. After her burial from the Cathedral Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem PA, which the Goodwins had helped to found, a memorial was held at Emmanuel. For a discussion of her ministry here, see also: 1897.
1942
10 August. Our benefactor Priscilla Rawson married Henry Melvin Young in Kent CT. They had known each other since he had attended Kent College there before going to Trinity College, Oxford. Known as Dinghy Young, he had been awarded Britain’s Distinguished Flying Cross and Bar. Killed returning from a 1943 RAF bombing raid on dams in the Ruhr Valley, Squadron Leader Young of was played by Richard Leech in the 1955 movie The Dam Busters. For a more technical description of 617 Squadron’s achievement, see this documentary, which mentions him at about 39 minutes. See also 1909, 1939, 1971, 1973, 1994 & 2000.