Saved by Grace - West Memorial Chapel

West Memorial Chapel

Chester, SD

The church has come a long way!
Read the following input from the Argus Leader (Sioux Falls, SD) newspaper as well as KELO-LAND Televisions broadcast.

Garnet Keena and Wanda Lindholm

Val Hoeppner - Argus Leader
Garnet Keena (Left) and Wanda Lindholm have spent many hours working on the chapel after a 1997 fire set by vandals damaged the building, which was built in 1909.

It has survived time, tornadoes, its own closing and vandals. On Sunday, members will celebrate a small chapel's endurance.

Wanda Lindholm was driving to work early one morning in 1997 when she glanced over at the abandoned church that stands near her home.

It looked like steam was coming from its roof.

Nothing like steam was coming from her house's roof.

Lindholm made a U-turn and headed back home to call 911. The firefighters who arrived were able to save the structure, which vandals had piled hymnals in and set on fire.

Lindholm, who had attended that church as a child and continued until it was closed in 1972, saw the fire as a sign.

"The church didn't burn that day because I saw the smoke, and despite the vandals, it didn't burn in the night," Lindholm says. "Through all the wind and the tornadoes and everything, it's never been harmed. I decided there's a reason we'd better keep this thing going."

It's not unusual to hear of small rural churches closing. There's not a denomination in the state that hasn't had to struggle with limited resources and declining numbers in rural areas.

That's why tomorrow morning's Sunday service at West Memorial Chapel, four miles east of Chester in Moody County, is unique. It will be a special service, with members of a saddle club promising to arrive on horseback and by wagon and old cars.

But most importantly, it's part of an unbroken string of Sunday services that began before last Christmas and marked West Memorial's full-fledged return to serving as an active church with about 30 regular members.

The Rev. Verlyn Hanson serves as pastor, driving the 18 miles from his home in Madison on Sundays and for Wednesday night Bible study.

He's willing to do that because of the life he sees in the church. The congregation was willing to start from nothing to re-establish the church, Hanson says.

"The last church I served in Colorado, their main goal was to survive," he says. "They weren't interested in growing and renewing. This church is still alive."

The church that became West Memorial Chapel was founded in 1909 by Scandinavian immigrants. Garnet Keena's grandparents were among the founding members; they now are buried in the cemetery adjacent to the church.

Keena has the church records that show it cost $696.95 to build the original frame structure. The only major change came in 1960 when 10 feet were added to the front for an entrance.

For a time, West Memorial was associated with Scandinavian Pilgrim Baptist Church in Dell Rapids, Keena says. Then, the pastor of Sioux Valley Baptist Church east of Dell Rapids began alternating Sundays between the two.

Only a dozen years after the expansion was made, however, dwindling membership forced the church's closure. As farm families left the countryside, the membership had dropped below a sustainable figure.

Keena, her husband and her father, who since died, began driving the 10 miles to First Baptist Church at Dell Rapids.

The other families scattered to different churches. To keep up the cemetery, a board was incorporated in 1976.

Time and South Dakota's weather began buffeting the church building. Finally, the five-member board called for a vote on tearing down the church. It passed, 3-2, but Lindholm and others, determined to save it, went to court to block such an action.

After it won a reprieve, Lindholm and her husband, Ken, and Keena and her husband, Donald, began the restoration.

"It took two weeks to get the wallpaper off," 60-year-old Lindholm recalls. "But there have been so many people who've helped. It was like the Lord was guiding us along, giving us energy."

She recalls the day a carpet layer came down from Madison and worked all morning installing the new floor covering.

"Garnet and I looked at each other, wondering how much he was going to charge us," Lindholm says. "After lunch, I thought, here goes, and said, ÔDo you have a bill?' "

She'll never forget the carpet layer's response.

"I've worked in a lot of churches," he told the women. "I was out here eating my lunch at noon, and something forced me to say I'd do this for nothing. I have never felt closer to the Lord than I did today."

Recalls Lindholm, "We all started crying."

Other donations came in as the volunteers scraped paint, renovated the doors damaged by fire, replaced broken panes of glass and moved in a stove and refrigerator.

The entire basement had to be redone because of standing water. All the Sheetrock was pulled down and new concrete poured.

"We worked for three weeks pumping water," 77-year-old Keena says.

"It's been fun and a challenge and a lot of fellowship, and that's what it's all about."

Financial contributions have come from people who had early ties to West Memorial.

An annual endowment comes from Joyce Anderson Ritchie and her family. Her father had joined the church after he arrived in South Dakota from Denmark.

Fern Cramer Tobey also made a contribution, along with a letter recalling how she had traveled to the church in a lumber wagon pulled by a team of

horses.

The first service at West Memorial came in June 2001. Plans were for services every other Sunday. North American Baptist Seminary supplied students once a month with other pastors asked to fill in on the other Sunday.

As Christmas neared, however, Lindholm proposed a change.

"I said, you know these kids need to be here practicing for their Christmas program, so let's have a service every Sunday," Lindholm says. "So we started having it every Sunday, and we came off with a beautiful Christmas program, and when January came around, no one said anything about going back to every other Sunday."

Hanson has served the church since just after last Easter.

The church originally was to reopen as West Memorial Baptist Chapel, but members decided to change its name to West Memorial Chapel.

"We don't want to close any doors," Lindholm says. "I don't care if you're Catholic, Lutheran or Buddhist, you can come to church here."

The dog in the picture is Jake.
He has spent many hours overseeing the details to bring out little church back!
He never misses a Sunday!
(I love you Jake)

09/29/2002
Church Celebrates Challenging History
It's not always easy finding hope in the world today. But people in one KELOLAND community feel like it was faith that found them and convinced them to bring life back to an empty church.

People of Chester didn't have a church to bring them together for a long time. But that's changed. Sunday they took a trip back in time, to appreciate how they're West Memorial Chapel was "Saved by Grace."

Horseback was the transportation of choice for many church goers as they celebrated the history of this little church. Wanda Lindholm says,"You don't always remember where the groundwork is laid."

Many families had been coming here for generations, until the 70's when the church was closed because of a lack of interest.

In 1997 the pews were empty and it seemed all was lost. That's when Wanda Lindholm noticed the church burning and helped save it.

Lindholm says, "There had been vandals in there they had taken a Christian flag and an American flag and they burnt them and the hymnals."

The churchgoers know they have plenty of reasons to be thankful, they wouldn't be here now without a lot of help from up above. They may be small in number, but they're big in heart. And there was a spark of hope after the fire.
"In the rubble and plaster and sticks and things it was a page out of one of the hymnals, the edges were burnt all around, the name of the song was Saved by Grace", says Lindholm.

The building was almost torn down, and sold. Still something kept it alive.

Lindholm says,"Then we started oh, coming here and working on it and pretty soon others came to help and work on it and contributions started coming in."

Even when church members couldn't afford to pay for final touches, like the carpeting, it was given as a gift.

The carpenter told them, "The Lord spoke to me and told me I should do this for free, it was like another one of those miracles", says Lindholm.

Now that they have a regular Sunday gathering place once again, they look to the future with comfort, knowing there is a greater plan for their little church.

Lindholm says, "God has blessed us."

The Chapel is located 4 miles east of Chester and has service every Sunday.

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