[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 118 (Thursday, September 28, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S9461]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               TRIBUTE TO THE TURNER HILL BAPTIST CHURCH

 Mr. CLELAND. Mr. President, it is with great personal joy and 
pride that I come before you today to commemorate an anniversary that 
is of particular importance to my family and me. One hundred years ago, 
on October 13, 1900, in a borrowed school building at the intersection 
of McDaniel and Rockland Roads, sixteen original members of the Turner 
Hill Baptist Church convened for the first time.
  The group enjoyed being together and quickly became a strong extended 
family. In fact, within months of their first meeting at the Old County 
Line School, the members decided to cement their closeness by 
constructing a permanent church building of their own. On land donated 
by E.L. Turner and as a result of its members' ingenuity and hard work, 
the beginning of 1901 marked the opening of Turner Hill Baptist Church, 
a wooden structure heated by one wood stove and lit by kerosene lamps.
  Although the congregation moved to a new brick structure in 1954, the 
original wooden building and the work that went into its creation 
continue to embody the values of all those associated with the church. 
Despite the absence of Turner Hill's original sixteen members at 
today's centennial celebration, many of their descendants are delighted 
to take part. By the same token, some of the original nine families, 
including my own, who were present as the church opened in 1901 
continue to attend regular services: Turner Hill has both fifth and 
sixth generation members. I am also proud to be related to both the 
church's current youngest and oldest members. While my father, Mr. 
Joseph Hugh Cleland, and Aunt, Mrs. Georgia Mae Cleland Johnston, are 
Turner Hill's most senior members, my cousin, Miss Jessica Wages is the 
newest addition to the 151 member congregation.
  Over the years, the church itself and the faces in the pews have 
changed, but one thing has remained a constant--community. My friends 
and family at Turner Hill have pulled together in times of crisis and 
joined each other in celebration throughout the years. Behind the 
leadership of Reverend Farrell Wilkins and with God and family at the 
center of their lives, the members of my church today commemorate an 
historic anniversary. May their next hundred years be as prosperous as 
their first.

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