I first heard about the stained glass windows (frost white pixil) over at the Methodist Church in Stonewall when I was a little boy. A good friend of mine, Glenn Elkins, would walk to the First Baptist Church in Stonewall to attend Sunday School with me and the other boys in our class. Our Sunday School class was fairly active, made trips, had a softball team of dubious skill and the Methodist church, up the street -- didn’t. It wasn’t that the Methodist over there weren’t trying to serve their kids, it was just that Glenn liked our Sunday School better. His church did host the Boy Scout meetings and once in a while I would walkover with him and attend preaching at the Methodist. His mom Maudie was very pleased that I did.

The Methodists over at Stonewall had this beautiful red brick church, well-furnished inside and out. It was prettier than my Baptist Church down the street. Their windows were made of stained glass. Ours looked cheap with white paint smeared over regular windowpanes. I thought little of it at the time, but I also noted that those Methodist were dressed up nicer than my Baptist, so I figured the Methodist were “richer” than Baptists.

A few years later I was working in my dad’s hardware store there in Stonewall and this very sophisticated lady, Ms. McCoy, worked there too. She and her family were all “old time” members of the Stonewall Methodist Church. Their Methodist roots stretched back to their Mississippi days. That was before the “Trail of Tears when all the members of the five civilized tribes were forced by the US government to move to the frontier and vacate their own homelands in the old South. The removal was harsh and difficult for all of them. Most drove their wagons and hauled their belongings and kids to Oklahoma on wagons. Many walked that long trail of tears. Some died during the long walk.

A few of the wellto- do rode trains or stagecoaches and hired movers to take their furniture and belongings to this wild new land. Many had colored slaves. And as I mentioned earlier, many were long time Methodist, and one particular group (Ms. McCoy’s family) were founders and members of a Methodist Church. When this move was ordered and “for sure” the church members were unhappy to leave their new church house. A church which had special stainedglass windows. They couldn’t take the building, but they did take their windows. They packed them up on wagons.

Yes, this bunch built their new church house in Stonewall and you can be sure the windows were installed forthwith. After eons of time, this church like many others lost many members and they combined with the Methodist Church over in Ada. They donated their red brick church to the town of Stonewall who made it into their city hall and promised the dwindling Methodist to care for it in perpetuity. That went well I suppose but the city hall with stained glass windows didn’t last too long. Perpetuity must have meant something else to the city fathers.

Nowadays, the church stands bravely in the middle of town, empty. The city received a grant which allowed them to move back downtown. City Hall is now found in the renovated building that housed the Case State Bank for so many years. A new elevator allows the citizens easy access to its spacious upstairs rooms for offices and meetings. Funny how things work out, isn’t it?

Be sure and go to church on Sunday. Stained glass windows or not. Your attendance is important to your church. It may not want to become an empty building or something. And yes, I’ve enjoyed hearing from you, my readers.

Wayne Bullard, DPh

cwaynebullard@gmail.com