Gleanings From
In Christian Fellowship
By Shirley Lindahl
Edited by Jerry Rutherford
Reverend Newberry, Father of Kirkland, Dies
By 1936 the economy was becoming more stable as employment increased. Once again the Washington Congregational Conference set goals for benevolences for each church. "We may not yet be out of the depression but we have made progress," wrote Claton Rice, superintendent. Kirkland Community Church was assigned a goal of $50.
Following the Easter musical programs choir director Lucile Crow resigned after many years of service. Luella Wilsie succeeded her.
When Chet Green (who began Green's Funeral Home) became secretary of the Board of Trustees the church membership was 177 with 69 men and 108 women.
Once again the need for improving the building came under discussion. A local builder was consulted and he told them that the decayed sills and joists were beyond repair.
Reverend Newberry commented that there will be a demand for a good sized church plant in Kirkland within the next 10 years, but this is not yet the time for it.
The first Sunday of January 1937 Reverend Newberry preached his last sermon and tendered his resignation. That evening as he prepared for bed he died of a heart attack, thus closing the book on a rewarding and full life in his church. For 22 of the nearly 30 years he was in Kirkland he had been minister of the Kirkland Congregational Church. He had also served as high school teacher, mayor for four years, city councilman for eight years and town clerk for six years. Perhaps no man exerted as much influence on this town as Reverend Newberry, often referred to as the "Father of Kirkland." His funeral was one of the largest ever held in Kirkland.
The church records often contained items other than official business. One paragraph stated that Gertrude Labarr (Gates) and her sister Dorothy and a lady friend from Seattle left by train nearly two weeks ago for Detroit and plan to drive back in their new car. Gertrude was Pam Owen's mother.
Death struck in the congregation later that year. On October 16, his 88th birthday, the church's oldest member, Henry French, died. He was the pioneer who had cleared land for his first cabin in 1872 on the shores of Lake Washington, later gave land for the first church building and helped construct it in 1880. He served the church and its congregation in many capacities over the years.
Since the church was without a pastor after Reverend Newberry's death, Reverend Fenwick of the Bellevue Congregational Church officiated at French's funeral service. He was buried in the family plot beside his pioneering parents, Sam Foster and Caroline French in the Kirkland Cemetery which he had helped found 50 years earlier.
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