Beach Family Conversion to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
By Paulene Beach
Document Shared by Crystal Dunn
My daughter, Crystal Lee Dunn, has asked me to write the story of our conversion to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I will record this to the bet of my ability from my memory.
One day in late 1970, I went to my friend’s house to visit her. It seemed to be every Saturday we visited. Her name was Dorothy Fairchild Mowery. Her husband was the most evil person that I had ever met. Dot was a great person and I don’t know how she put up with him. He was a drunk and he beat her all the time. He even made her lose a baby because she wouldn’t come downstairs and make food for him and his buddy and two women in the middle of the night. He threw her down the stairs and she miscarried. I met her when I was 18 and we worked in the sewing factory together.
Anyway, while I was visiting (and her husband was out) the doorbell rang and there were two young missionaries there. They asked if they could talk to us. They explained they were from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and had a message for us. I had been raised Evangelical (Methodist now) but they could never answer my questions so I quit going in my teenage years. I had been thinking about looking for God in my life, but didn’t know where to look.
The missionaries taught us the first discussion and I knew IMMEDIATELY that this is what I believed also was looking for. They asked if they could come back next week but Dot was afraid her husband might be there and hurt them. My husband, Fred, had just thrown the Jehovah Witnesses out of our house the week before, but I decided I needed to hear them. They asked if I wanted to go to church next week. Fred was going to be gone with the military, so I decided to try it. The closest branch was 35 miles away (in Sunbury, PA). A lady from the branch picked me up (Louise Bredbender). It was really impressive.
When the missionaries came the next week to our house, I explained to Fred about them. He listened and so did the kids. We started to study with the missionaries and decided to join the church. I was so happy that the family chose to follow me into the church. Lisa and I were baptized in January 1971. Fred said he had to be able to quit drinking coffee and smoking before he would join. He became the longest investigator, but went to church every week.
In 1972, Fred decided he was ready. I was upstairs and picked up the hall phone to call someone and I heard Fred on the downstairs phone talking to the missionaries. He told them he wanted to be baptized. I was so excited that I started to cry and ran downstairs. He was baptized right after that. When Mike was eight, he was baptized also and the others followed when they turned eight.
We drove to Sunbury every week. It was before the block. We went down in the morning and took our lunch and then went back in the evening. We did that for about a year. Our town, Berwick, PA, was central to several towns around us. We were the only members in our town except Don and Alma Thrash, who moved to Utah not too long after. They followed their married kids out there. They were our parents in the branch.
After about a year, some of the members and us, asked if we could start a branch in Berwick, since it was central to the towns that members lived in. We were told to find a location for a building we could rent. Fred and I looked around Berwick and found we could rent a Justice of Peace’s office on the weekends. It was smelly from people smoking in the office. On Saturdays our family cleaned the building and aired out the smoke. We held Sunday School sitting on the floor in the hallway for the kids. We adults used the main entrance and one of the offices for our meeting room. The Justice’s office was our chapel.
There were about seven families and us who got it started. Richard Long was our first branch president. Richard and Lydia were our good friends from Bloomsburg, PA. They are still our best friends today [Note from Mike – Mom put no date on this document, but both she and Dad have since passed away as has Lydia Long]. I’m trying to remember the other families. There was Doyle and Betty Smethers from Mainville, PA and their kids. Also Doyle (chicken lips) and Diane Breech from Catawissa, PA along with Jean Bitner and her husband (can’t remember his name) and their kids from Catawissa also. Then there was Bill and Linda Schmidt and their family also from Mainville area. Nancy Zehner from Mainville (Nancy, Bill Schmidt and Betty Smethers were sisters and a brother). Cecil and Ann Turburville and their family were from Bloomsburg, PA. We became one big family and stayed that way ever since. Many of them have died now and the one’s left are old and ready to go.
We used that building for about a year and then bought an old school building outside of Berwick. We had a fund raising spaghetti dinner to raise money to remodel. At that time Fred (my husband) had his own country and western band and they played for a dance with a dinner. Fred must have eaten too much spaghetti because when he was playing his guitar his belt buckle came off and flew across the dance floor under everyone’s feet. He got teased about that for a long time.
We tore it all up and remodeled it ourselves as a branch. For money to remodel, Lydia and I made my recipe of chili and sold it at an auction that Lydia worked with. Some of the people said they followed the auction just for our chili. It was all donated to the building fund. It was a lot of fun working the auction and it helped a lot. We were still going to that building in 1977 when we sold our house and left for Utah. Now there is a new regular ward building there. We visit it every year when we go back. It’s great seeing our old family again.
When we moved here [to Utah], Alma and Don Thrash had a house all picked out for us. We lived in it 28 years. We buried them (at their request) in our grave plot at Calls Fort cemetery between Brigham City and Honeyville, Utah. Their two kids were nomads and moved around a lot and died out of state later. Dona and Alma were our parents in the church and great friends. Fred is already buried beside them and I will be also someday.
We enjoyed having the missionaries at our house on P day. They did their laundry there and ate supper with us often. They played with our kids and took Mike and Fred with them on splits often. We have kept in touch with Elder Drue Smith and his family over the years but have lost track of Elder Johnson [we have confirmed the other missionary was actually Steven Hardy Jackson].
My testimony has grown over the years and I am so happy to have found Jesus’s church. It is the best thing that has happened to me and our family in my life except for having my family beside me. Thank you Heavenly Father and Jesus and the Holy Ghost for finding us.
Paulene Fay (Miller) Beach
By Paulene Beach
Document Shared by Crystal Dunn
My daughter, Crystal Lee Dunn, has asked me to write the story of our conversion to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I will record this to the bet of my ability from my memory.
One day in late 1970, I went to my friend’s house to visit her. It seemed to be every Saturday we visited. Her name was Dorothy Fairchild Mowery. Her husband was the most evil person that I had ever met. Dot was a great person and I don’t know how she put up with him. He was a drunk and he beat her all the time. He even made her lose a baby because she wouldn’t come downstairs and make food for him and his buddy and two women in the middle of the night. He threw her down the stairs and she miscarried. I met her when I was 18 and we worked in the sewing factory together.
Anyway, while I was visiting (and her husband was out) the doorbell rang and there were two young missionaries there. They asked if they could talk to us. They explained they were from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and had a message for us. I had been raised Evangelical (Methodist now) but they could never answer my questions so I quit going in my teenage years. I had been thinking about looking for God in my life, but didn’t know where to look.
The missionaries taught us the first discussion and I knew IMMEDIATELY that this is what I believed also was looking for. They asked if they could come back next week but Dot was afraid her husband might be there and hurt them. My husband, Fred, had just thrown the Jehovah Witnesses out of our house the week before, but I decided I needed to hear them. They asked if I wanted to go to church next week. Fred was going to be gone with the military, so I decided to try it. The closest branch was 35 miles away (in Sunbury, PA). A lady from the branch picked me up (Louise Bredbender). It was really impressive.
When the missionaries came the next week to our house, I explained to Fred about them. He listened and so did the kids. We started to study with the missionaries and decided to join the church. I was so happy that the family chose to follow me into the church. Lisa and I were baptized in January 1971. Fred said he had to be able to quit drinking coffee and smoking before he would join. He became the longest investigator, but went to church every week.
In 1972, Fred decided he was ready. I was upstairs and picked up the hall phone to call someone and I heard Fred on the downstairs phone talking to the missionaries. He told them he wanted to be baptized. I was so excited that I started to cry and ran downstairs. He was baptized right after that. When Mike was eight, he was baptized also and the others followed when they turned eight.
We drove to Sunbury every week. It was before the block. We went down in the morning and took our lunch and then went back in the evening. We did that for about a year. Our town, Berwick, PA, was central to several towns around us. We were the only members in our town except Don and Alma Thrash, who moved to Utah not too long after. They followed their married kids out there. They were our parents in the branch.
After about a year, some of the members and us, asked if we could start a branch in Berwick, since it was central to the towns that members lived in. We were told to find a location for a building we could rent. Fred and I looked around Berwick and found we could rent a Justice of Peace’s office on the weekends. It was smelly from people smoking in the office. On Saturdays our family cleaned the building and aired out the smoke. We held Sunday School sitting on the floor in the hallway for the kids. We adults used the main entrance and one of the offices for our meeting room. The Justice’s office was our chapel.
There were about seven families and us who got it started. Richard Long was our first branch president. Richard and Lydia were our good friends from Bloomsburg, PA. They are still our best friends today [Note from Mike – Mom put no date on this document, but both she and Dad have since passed away as has Lydia Long]. I’m trying to remember the other families. There was Doyle and Betty Smethers from Mainville, PA and their kids. Also Doyle (chicken lips) and Diane Breech from Catawissa, PA along with Jean Bitner and her husband (can’t remember his name) and their kids from Catawissa also. Then there was Bill and Linda Schmidt and their family also from Mainville area. Nancy Zehner from Mainville (Nancy, Bill Schmidt and Betty Smethers were sisters and a brother). Cecil and Ann Turburville and their family were from Bloomsburg, PA. We became one big family and stayed that way ever since. Many of them have died now and the one’s left are old and ready to go.
We used that building for about a year and then bought an old school building outside of Berwick. We had a fund raising spaghetti dinner to raise money to remodel. At that time Fred (my husband) had his own country and western band and they played for a dance with a dinner. Fred must have eaten too much spaghetti because when he was playing his guitar his belt buckle came off and flew across the dance floor under everyone’s feet. He got teased about that for a long time.
We tore it all up and remodeled it ourselves as a branch. For money to remodel, Lydia and I made my recipe of chili and sold it at an auction that Lydia worked with. Some of the people said they followed the auction just for our chili. It was all donated to the building fund. It was a lot of fun working the auction and it helped a lot. We were still going to that building in 1977 when we sold our house and left for Utah. Now there is a new regular ward building there. We visit it every year when we go back. It’s great seeing our old family again.
When we moved here [to Utah], Alma and Don Thrash had a house all picked out for us. We lived in it 28 years. We buried them (at their request) in our grave plot at Calls Fort cemetery between Brigham City and Honeyville, Utah. Their two kids were nomads and moved around a lot and died out of state later. Dona and Alma were our parents in the church and great friends. Fred is already buried beside them and I will be also someday.
We enjoyed having the missionaries at our house on P day. They did their laundry there and ate supper with us often. They played with our kids and took Mike and Fred with them on splits often. We have kept in touch with Elder Drue Smith and his family over the years but have lost track of Elder Johnson [we have confirmed the other missionary was actually Steven Hardy Jackson].
My testimony has grown over the years and I am so happy to have found Jesus’s church. It is the best thing that has happened to me and our family in my life except for having my family beside me. Thank you Heavenly Father and Jesus and the Holy Ghost for finding us.
Paulene Fay (Miller) Beach
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