The Iago Federated Church

The Iago Federated Church. That’s where I went to church from the time I was born until Art and I married there when I was 20 years old. Art and I met there when we were babies. As we’ve said many times, “we slept together for the first time in the church nursery.” We’re sure that we actually slept in the same baby bed, because that little nursery probably didn’t have more than one crib. Art was 5 ½ months old when I was born and since he was premature, I’m sure he was just a little thing sleeping there beside me in the church nursery. Back then parents took their babies right on to the nursery. They didn’t take them into church or Sunday school with them. A good thing.

The Iago Federated Church was located on the corner of the Wharton Highway and Barker Road, just a mile from our house. It was a white frame building with a front porch and famous for its oil well pump-jack in the front yard. Later, just before I graduated from high school, a new brick church building was erected just about a block away down Barker Road. Most of my memories are from the old church building.

The make up of people at the church was very unique, really unlike anything I’ve ever heard of. Most everyone in our area went to church there, except for Catholics and some Church of Christ. The Mexicans and the Blacks had their own churches in Boling and Newgulf. Most of the Bohemians were Catholic. So just about everyone else went to the Iago Federated Church. For business purposes, we were broken up into five groups –
Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Christians (the denomination) and associates, which included anyone else. When you joined the church, you joined one of those groups. We rotated pastors (that we called preachers) amongst the first four groups. Most of the preachers would stay many years, but some lasted only a few years. When a kid “got saved” and joined the church, he would join whatever group his parents were. My dad was Presbyterian and my mom was Baptist. My brothers joined the Presbyterian group and I became a Baptist. Art’s parents were Methodist, so that’s what he was. We grew up that way, having no idea what each of those denominations stood for, so when we left Iago, we were introduced to a whole new way of “church”. As it turns out, after visiting many different churches after we married, Art and I realized that the Iago Federated Church, at least back then, was Baptist. Now many years later, I am so glad to see “non-denominational” churches. Even though, we weren’t called that, the Iago church was probably one of the first.

I have only fond memories, and many of them, growing up in the Iago Federated Church. That’s where I went to Sunday school and church every Sunday morning and “young people’s group” and church every Sunday night. I had great teachers and learned so much. Teachers like Mrs. King (Art’s mom, Wilma Faye), Mrs. McDaniel (Josephine), Mrs. Fields (Mary), Mrs. Barnhill (Art’s Aunt Joyce), and Mrs. Allen (LaRue – Charlie Boy Allen’s wife). Those are the ones who stand out to me. I remember them as being so knowledgeable of the scriptures and having such sweet, sweet spirits. I knew they loved the Lord.

Vacation Bible School was a really big deal every summer. It was a very special time of concentrated Bible study, crafts, singing, refreshments and just plain fun. We went all morning for a week. Both my mother and Art’s mom were very involved. I recall that Art’s Grandma Barnhill told us a Bible story every morning during the time that we all met together.

The “old church” as we later called it, was indeed old. It had high ceilings with ceiling fans – no air conditioning, old wooden floors, and wooden church pews. I can still see that church building as it looked 60 years ago. I can even remember where people sat. I recall the old hymns we sang. I don’t even need to use a hymnal anymore. The words to the first, second and last stanzas are still embedded in my mind and on my heart. I can still see Art’s Grandpa Barnhill directing the music in his own unique way. I can also see him and hear him as he prayed. He was the only person I ever saw who would get down on his knees to pray during a church service. When he was called on to pray, he would get up from the pew and kneel there on the floor and pray the most incredibly powerful prayers…always praying that we “worship God in spirit and in truth.”

The front porch and the front yard of the church were the gathering place for all of us after church on Sunday mornings and especially on Sunday nights. The grownups would stand around in small groups talking and laughing, younger kids would be running around playing and laughing and the teenagers would be standing around talking – the boys usually teasing the girls. I remember my dad many times being in the teenage group teasing them and joking with them. If he knew a couple was dating, he would say “that’s not the girl I saw you with last night” or other such teasing things. Sometimes after church on Sunday night, we would invite a family to our house to visit and share homemade pie and coffee or someone would invite us to their house. Everyone knew and loved everyone else. We were like one big family. It was real community….something I feel churches are lacking in these days.


Art and I married in the new Iago Federated Church building on August 28, 1965. Since then, we have not been back there much except for funerals and weddings and occasional Sunday morning services. Most weddings and funerals in both our families have been there. It’s a very special place that holds many wonderful memories. It’s where we learned so much about God and Jesus and all the famous Bible characters and stories. It’s where we learned to worship God with singing. It’s where I first played the piano in front of “crowds” for church services and my annual piano recitals. It’s where I sang solos and duets and trios, etc., sometimes with Art and Dixie. It’s where I watched Art lead the music and heard God speak to me clearly that he was the man I was to marry. The Iago Federated Church has a very special place in my heart.