Dateline/Memories Posted in the April 22, 2012 Bulletin:During 1983-1985 preliminary meetings/discussions were held with Jack Reish, ELCA church building consultant, and Peter Norgren, ELCA church building architect. During this time the Reitz property next to the church was purchased.
On July 6, 1987 the final service was held in the old church and a ground breaking was held on the site. 193 attended and a picnic was held afterwards outside on the site.
The next day work began on stripping the old church of items to be utilized and then tearing the building down.
On July 13 we began worshiping in the fellowship hall until the new building was finished. The men came in the evenings to work and the women prepared suppers. Everyone worked together utilizing their tools and skills. Jim Hoffman provided the crane to remove the bell and steeple. MANY folks of all ages worked together to make this demolition happen ASAP. By the very next Sunday the building was gone and in two weeks the site was almost ready to be utilized. Bill Stickle provided his expertise to disassemble the pipe organ and store it away. He then did the reassembly when the building was finished. We could never have afforded such a fine instrument without his assistance. At this point the building meetings were held almost weekly.
By September footings were being dug. The building team voted to extend the footers below the grade of the old church so that the new building would sit on solid rock. By October the concrete pad was poured. (One Sunday morning some of the older guys [Ray Jones, Emil Isaacson, Wayne Raymond, etc.] were looking at the pad. When asked by the pastor what they were doing they replied, "We're picking out our seat!")
