.::Groveville United Methodist Church::.

Before I start about Groveville, I would like to tell you two things about Yardville. Did you know we had two very famous people that stayed in the Yardville Hotel on the corner of Route 156 and the Yardville Allentown Road? They were Buffalo Bill Cody and Annie Oakley, who were visiting at the same time. Buffalo Bill was an Indian fighter in the west and Annie Oakley was a sharp shooter.

Now a little history about our Thanksgiving breakfast that started in 1922, 102 years ago. The Pastor was Reverend Hubert Doran from 1920 to 1923. In 1917 during World War I, the town of Groveville built a community house for our town at a cost of $2800. The first floor was a big hall where we held our first Thanksgiving, breakfast, Harvest, Home dinners, a basketball court and a gym. In the rear was a large kitchen. The second floor was a large area, a stage for plays, showing movies on Saturday afternoon, and Sunday school classes.

Now I will take you back to 1830. That is 194 years ago. Just imagine for a moment in time and try to think back all of those years and what life was like at that time. Would you like that time in 1830, or this time today in the 21st-century?

On your calendar for the month of December, we have days that are marked for special events. December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor was attacked, 21st first day of winter, 24th Christmas Eve, 25th Christmas Day, and 31st New Year’s Eve. But there are three special days that are not marked on any calendar but mine.

I would like to thank Reverend Clifton and all of you today for attending this special service. Today I would like to review three messages that I had the honor of bringing to you this year. My first message on May 19 I spoke about three military men, a father and son who led our Groveville Yardville Memorial Day Parade for over 65 years. The other soldier whose name was on our “Honor Roll” with a gold star that was killed in action in World War II, on March 4, 1944, in a town called Angio.

On June 9, 1910, in Spokane, Washington, Father’s Day was proposed by Sonora SmartDobb. Her father, a Civil War veteran, William Jackson,Smart, was a single parent who raised six children. In 1922 Dodd stopped promoting Father’s Day because it faded away.

Our first parade started in Groveville-Yardville in 1868. This will be our 156th parade. When I was a very young boy living in Groveville, age 3 in 1939, I was in the Decoration Parade, parading with the Groveville Fire Company as the first mascot. But today, I will tell you about three men, two of the men that led our parade which was called Decoration Day and was held on May 30 from 1868 until 1970. Now it is called Memorial Day, and is held on the last Monday in May (started in 1991).