Published Monday, November 18, 2002
Herald Staff Writer
Back in the days of the frontier, after trouble befell the community, the church served as the gathering place for town hall meetings, such as in Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House on The Prairie."
Sunday morning service at Clark Trinity United Methodist Church, 96 Charles St., was no different as members gathered not only for worship but also to seek comfort and sanctuary a week after an F-2 tornado struck the community.
Former pastor the Rev. Fay Barca, who retired from the church on June 30, said she agreed back in August to return to preach on Sunday. She had also agreed to care for the congregation the entire week leading up to yesterday's service.
Neither Rev. Barca nor Rev. Larry Rowe, the current pastor, knew that a tornado would touch down in areas of Clark and South Pymatuning Township that same week, leaving the community in need of spiritual support.
Rev. Barca, who led the church in prayer and song, later recalled her experience the night the tornado hit. She had taken a hot bath, settled on her sofa with her puppy in her lap and was ready to enjoy the evening. She remembered seeing tornado warnings for Youngstown and figured the storm would head to Meadville. Seconds later, she said, she heard the roar of a freight train.
"I didn't see it, but I saw it in my mind," she remembered.
The lights went out and she went screaming to her cellar door. The next thing she heard were windows breaking and trees crashing.
As she sat in her basement waiting for the next onslaught, an eerie quiet settled over her home. Through it all she said she kept on praying and in the quiet she heard "Rev. Fay, I am with you always."
"God is saying the same thing to us and the Clark community. 'There is one thing that will never change and that is (God's) love for you.' That's the only thing we can count on. Nothing else," she told the congregation.
The Rev. James Tubbs, district superintendent, also attended the service and gave several words of encouragement. He said the tornado has definitely brought the community closer together.
"What a glorious thing it has been for you as a community. Soon you will gather together to celebrate...," he said.
Several residents affected by the tornado were present at the service, including Mildred Mattocks and her daughter Clara Murchek of Lake Road, whose roof was destroyed, and Wilda Bresnahan of Nora Street, whose house was damaged, and her son, Jonathan, of Big Bear Lake, Calif.
He said some people have questioned why the tornado left Clark Trinity untouched, though several homes on the other side of the church were hit.
"We have no answer for that, but we know it's not because those people are bad and these people are good," he said. "It reminds me of the biblical passages when Jesus says 'be ready.' "
The church plans to respond to the situation financially as well as spiritually.
You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Larissa Theodore at ltheodore@sharonherald.com