Influencer--The Reverend Dr. Harry William Pedicord

     Amy Johnson Crow has a 52 Ancestors Week blog challenge which I have decided to join.  I am hoping it may help me to pinpoint someone or something that I have researched and not blogged about on Flipside.  AND push me to blog about family each week in 2024.  Sometimes I get lazy. 😁  Let's see how well I keep up.

     Week #5 (January 29-February 4) is Influencer. I was stumped as to what to blog about with this prompt.  I was talking with a good friend, also named Linda 😊, and she mentioned a minister.  Thank you Linda!

     When I consider this, I actually had two ministers who were influencers in my life, The Rev. Dr. Harry William Pedicord and Rev. Keith Brown.  Dr. Pedicord at Hiland Presbyterian Church was an important part of my developing years from Kindergarten through eighth grade.  With attendance in Sunday School and Bible School I was heavily schooled in the Bible and when I was in college decided on religion as my second major.

     We moved to a new house and from ninth grade through my senior year in high school, Rev. Keith Brown, assistant minister, took charge of the youth ministry at Memorial Park Presbyterian Church.  I was active in church youth groups and Key Club after school.  His influence opened my eyes to the social injustice in our country and probably my major in college--sociology.

     Both ministers were important influencers in my life; however, this blog will focus on Dr. Pedicord.

Rev. Dr. Harry William Pedicord
Cropped from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
January 7, 1961

     In the Fall of 1950, my Mom and Dad bought a house in the North Hills area of Pittsburgh.  The neighborhood was called North Hills Estates and was located between Perrysville and the Borough of West View in Ross Township.  I've never been clear if North Hills Estates was part of Perrysville or just a place of it's own.

     Mom and Dad decided to join Hiland Presbyterian Church once we were settled.  A beautiful old historic white framed church located on a gentle hill on Perry Highway.  Dad's first medical office was located across Perry Highway in an apartment building.  The Hughes family had arrived in this area and it would be our home for the next ten years.

     Both of my parents were active participants in high school and college activities.  Once they joined Hiland, we all became active participants.  Dr. Pedicord, a dynamic church leader, became a very close friend of the family.  Under his leadership programs and church events were established to involve all members of the family.  

     My memories span ten years, my growing years.  Before the Fellowship Hall was built, Sunday School classes were held in small rooms behind the church sanctuary.  Reading the church history, this area was added in 1914 as the Sunday School building with seventeen rooms along with a dining hall, pastors study and a ladies sewing room. 

     With a growing church membership, it was a necessity to build the Fellowship Hall.  Not just for a large fellowship room but also for larger classrooms.  Under Dr. Pedicord's leadership the church congregation grew.  Money was donated and financed the new Fellowship Hall built in 1954. 

     The opening of the Fellowship Hall is the beginning of my memories of Dr. Pedicord and my time at Hiland.  I was seven, in second grade and already busy within the church.  I had been attending Sunday School and Summer Bible School since Kindergarten at age five.  

     Numerous fun events occurred at Church.  I remember an annual Pancake Dinner.  And I'm certain there were other family church dinners; however, the pancake dinner sticks out in my mind.  

Ken, Mom and Jeff

     The church celebrated Twelfth Night with a burning of Christmas trees brought up to an open area beside the old educational section at the back of the sanctuary.  Following the service everyone gathered in the Fellowship Hall for beverages and a piece of spice cake.  There were huge spice sheet cakes in the kitchen and hidden inside were twelve gold crosses.  When I got older, I would literally starve myself to eat numerous pieces of cake hoping to get a cross.

     I loved Vacation Bible School.  It ran for two weeks.  Everyone would gather in the Fellowship Hall and Dr. Pedicord would lead us in song.  I'm sure he made up the Books of the Bible tune sung while singing the Books of the Bible....Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers.........We learned all the Books to the New and Old Testament.  Dr. Pedicord had a commanding voice and a very dramatic presentation.  Following the opening sing, we were dismissed to our class.  

Dr Pedicord is the tall man back center

     I have several Vacation Bible School Class group pictures and almost all of my achievement sticker charts.  The ones pictured above were from my final year attending Bible School in 1958.  I was eleven and heading to junior high school.

     You can see from the photo, the church had a large amount of children attending Bible School and there were probably more coming in on Sundays.

Pittsburgh Post Gazette
February 1, 1956

The Allegheny Journal
October 5, 1957

     The Hiland Players, a drama group under the direction of Dr. Pedicord, was begun in 1956.  My mother was heavily involved in most of the stage productions.  Like all theatrical shows there were costumes, scripts, programs, set design, lighting and sound.  The stage was the stage in the Fellowship Hall.  Listed in a local newspaper article, I saw the ticket price was one dollar. 

     Mom was a member of a circle organization and Dad served as a deacon and an elder in the session.  I sang in the junior choir and was confirmed at Hiland.  Dr. Pedicord was my Dad's sponsor when he joined the Masons.

     I do not know the occasion for this gift from Dr. Pedicord to my parents.  It was not until I researched for this blog that I was made aware the Dr. Pedicord has a lengthy list of books he either wrote or co-wrote on the theater and David Garrick

     We moved to a new house in 1961 and changed to a more local church.  Dr. Pedicord wrote a letter of church membership for the family.

 

     I believe that the Pedicord's gave this beautiful water color to Mom and Dad as a gift for the new house.  I still have the picture.

     I have been focused on Dr. Pedicord.  He had a family.  He was married to Adah Smith and they had a daughter Alison.  The Pedicord's were with Hiland from 1947 to 1962.  Previous to serving at Hiland, Dr. Pedicord was at a pastorate in Bridgeville, Connecticut.  He left Hiland to join the faculty at Thiel College as professor of English language and literature.  

     

     In 1950 Hiland celebrated the 150th Anniversary of the church.   Dr. Pedicord wrote the hymn for the celebration.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Saturday, January 7, 1961

     This article is very interesting, Dr. Pedicord was very active in theater in his younger days and was a graduate from Washington & Jefferson College.  There's the tie in with my family.  My Dad was also a graduate of W&J and my Mom was active in theater in high school and college.  

Scanned from This is My Story
This is My Song Bicentennial Celebration (1800-2000)

     After doing a little research, it now makes sense to me why Dr. Pedicord was such a dynamic force in the church during his time at Hiland.  The singing, the dynamic sermons, the Hiland Players and the new programs and church events all stem from his previous education and love of writing and the theater.

Family attended Easter Service at Hiland
2004

     Unbeknownst to me, Dad maintained his membership at Hiland.  Whether he rejoined after he and Mom divorced, or he just continued a membership there while being a member at Memorial Park Presbyterian Church when we moved in 1961 is unknown.  I was surprised to see his name listed as a member in the Bicentennial Yearbook from 2000.

     Over the years I have blogged about the many wonderful aspects of my days at Hiland Presbyterian Church.  I have never mentioned the effect those years had on me during my college years. I declared sociology as my major focus of study in my junior year.  I needed additional course hours and dipped my toe into the religion courses.  I loved them and did well.  All of my religious training from ten years at Hiland reemerged.  I decided to have a dual major of sociology and religion.  I visited and applied to the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in my senior year.  I did not follow through, instead choosing to apply to the Peace Corps.  

     As the reader can see, I have written about my time at Hiland on four separate blogs, often repeating some of the same information.  Thank you Reverend Dr. Harry William Pedicord for your positive leadership at Hiland during our years there and leaving a lasting impression.  You are remembered.

Other Hiland Presbyterian Church Blogs on Flipside

Back to the Fifties:  Hiland Presbyterian Church

Hiland Presbyterian Church:  Ken's Memories

    

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