Calvary in the 1950s

For a span of more than two decades that included the 1950s, two ministers served at Calvary Memorial – Dr. H.A. Kellerman from 1942 to 1953, and Rev. J.H. Getz from 1953 – 1965. For a denomination in which it was customary for clergy to be appointed to serve a congregation for a four-year period, these two long-term ministries provided Calvary with an extra sense of continuity and stability.

Following the Great Depression and the Second World War, the 1950s seemed like a Golden Age when the frugality and sacrifice required during the depression and the war years finally gave way to growth, prosperity, and new opportunities. It was the era of increases in marriage, housing, and the birth rate, creating a generation of Baby Boomers who have influenced society ever since.

Equipment and technology that had been vital for fighting a war was now used to produce new products for homes, industries, businesses and yes, for churches. 

The post-war Boom was felt at Calvary where the membership grew in the decade immediately following the war from approximately 440 to 750 and the cradle roll grew alongside it! The Missions and Benevolence Budget increased from $335.00 to $1,800. with additional support being given to Jean Kellerman who was now serving God in Japan.

Dr. Kellerman came to Calvary from Emmanuel Church in 1942 and provided leadership to the congregation through the last years of the war and the return of Calvary’s young men from their armed forces duties. As the congregation’s young men and women married and began to have families, Dr. Kellerman started a new Sunday School class, the True Friends, which proved to be a lasting gift to both its members and the rest of the church for the next the 60 years.

Can you picture the beautiful memorial window at the landing of the stairs leading from the Gruhn Street foyer to the basement. It depicts Jesus as the Good Shepherd rescuing a sheep that has wandered away. No scene could be a more suitable tribute to Dr. Kellerman. He was persistent in visiting and revisiting persons he hoped to interest in the Christian message and the church. Calvin Brubaker in his History of Calvary Memorial Church reports that Dr. Kellerman in his latter years told his congregation not to expect too much attention from him because he felt his call was to try to win those who were disinterested or careless about the cause of Christ and His church. 

An historic honour was bestowed on Dr. Kellerman when he was chosen in 1948 to be a delegate to the first assembly of the World Council of Churches in Amsterdam, which was the formal beginning of a worldwide ecumenical movement that encouraged churches to work together for good around world. In a report following his return Dr. Kellerman thanked the Calvary community for giving him financial assistance and a six week leave of absence which allowed him to attend the conference and to travel to five capital cities: London, Edinburgh, Brussels, Paris, and Amsterdam.

Although overall membership numbers were increasing, attendance at the evening services was in decline. In one annual report Dr. Kellerman bluntly asked, “What are the Christian people doing on Sunday evening that they can’t come to church?” Could the answer have been they were sitting in their living rooms watching Ed Sullivan? Television, despite snowy reception, had become more and more an influence on people’s lives.

Dr. Kellerman’s request for an Education addition to the church was heard and a reserve fund was started that grew, thanks to individuals and groups giving a little at a time. In 1952 a resolution was presented to the Quarterly Conference asking permission for Calvary to build an addition for the overcrowded Sunday school. Unfortunately, that fall Dr. Kellerman became ill. During his illness the work of the Church Extension Committee stopped, and it wasn’t until February of 1954, eight months after his death, that the planning was restarted by his successor, Reverend Getz.

From then on work on both the addition and the necessary fund-raising campaign progressed rapidly. In September 1954 Mrs. Kellerman turned the first sod. There is a picture of that event in the church. Can you find it? Quickly an architect and contractor were chosen, by January the cornerstone was put in place, and in May 1955 the new Christian Education building was dedicated in honour of a beloved pastor. After a decade, Dr. Kellerman’s dream was a finally a reality. 

A committee was formed to establish rules for the use of Kellerman Hall which were hand printed and framed. The sign in elegant script stated

The following games may be played in the Hall

Volleyball, Badminton, Shuffleboard, PingPong and Group Games.

Dancing, bingo, games of chance, lottery, smoking, and swearing, are not permitted …………

Regularly scheduled activities have first claim on the Hall. 

Of course, after the dedication there was still a lot of work to do, and every committee and Sunday School class played a part in completing the education wing.

The new classrooms were assigned, and their new occupants took over the task of furnishing and decorating them. For example, 

The Ladies Aid decided where the dishes and pots and pans should go in the kitchen – and purchased a lock for one of the cupboards! The Friendship Circle provided stacking chairs for the parlour and the True Friend decorated the baby nursery, which 14 women from the Victory Class offered to staff. The curtains for the stage were chosen by the Live Wires.

One recurring dilemma remained. What was to be done with the room off the parlour, which we now call the Skylight Room. It is marked on a floor plan as “storage”, but it seemed even for storage no-one wanted to claim it. Finally, there is a note in the Sunday School Board’s 1958 minutes that an unnamed volunteer painted it. But still there is no record of how it was used in those days.

Of course, the 30 year-old building suddenly looked like it needed some sprucing up, inside and out, to match the brand-new wing. Much of the major work fell to the Trustees to do the work or to arrange to have done, but others helped in both small and big ways. Some repaired broken equipment, some scrubbed the pews, one person arranged to replace the carpet in the choir loft and chancel area, and one family provided furnishings for the new worship centre at one end of the Junior Sunday School Room so it could be used as a chapel. 

There were old things that needed to be replaced like the flannelgraph board and out-dated books in the library; there were hymn books that could be repaired but might better go to a church that didn’t have any; and there was new technology to be added as well. Various groups that would use the new equipment agreed to share the cost, for example, for a PA system, or a mimeograph machine, or a new projector which in turn deserved a new screen and needed film strips that could be rented from the Toronto Public Library’s Film Strip Library at a modest cost.

In 1958 an audio-visual committee was formed, a sign that there was more technology to come.

To keep the outside of the building looking fresh all the woodwork was painted and the stucco trim was repaired where necessary and painted bright white. Even the sidewalk in front of the church was repaired after some disagreement with the city about whose responsibility it was.

To add a chapter to the ongoing saga of heating the building, it was decided to change to an oil furnace in hopes of saving fuel costs.

Through all this time, regular activities continued. Sunday School classes and two worship services were held every Sunday, and most classes, committees, and other organizations met at least once a month. People cared for each other with cards and visits, and funds were raised to help other charitable organizations do their work.

Finally, the Calvary Boys’ Hockey Team would like us to remember that in 1958 they brought home honours by winning the Boys’ Church League Championship. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough money in their account to pay for the championship crests, so the Sunday School Board came to the rescue and paid not only for them but for half the cost of each boy’s plate at the final banquet. By the way, have you heard that Calvary produced one NHL hockey player, Tom Miller, who played for the Detroit Red Wings and the New York Islanders in the 1970s?

The story of the 1950s at Calvary is the story of a congregation who cared deeply for both its building and the people who worshiped and sang, and studied and developed friendships in it, just as its founders had prayed it would do. 

Reverend Getz’s ministry carried on into the mid 1960s when Calvary experienced a major change that we will learn about in June