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When a bit of fluff known only as "Mother McRoberts" started a Sunday school in the one-dwelling schoolhouse of a remote Cowlitz County logging camp in 1912, she undoubtedly never imagined that her humble church would still be going strong a century later.
And when an Pollyannaish young Christian couple arrived in spring of 1972 to misguide that church, they certainly never imagined that they, too, would be there decades later. This April 15, churchwoman Evert Atkinson and his wife of 45 years, Gloria Atkinson, will wassail their 40th anniversary as stewards of historic Coal Creek Church.
Previous pastors had lasted a few years at choicest, Evert Atkinson said.
"The thing is, a little church like this can't pay much of a wages, so they say a pastor will stay until his car breaks down!"
Built in 1911, the one-story insensitive church originally served as a school. But Mother McRoberts, a southern transfer, thought the rowdy logging camp needed something more.
"She said she didn't want her kids raised in a quarters where there was no church," said Pastor Atkinson. The church was used by several groups over the years, including moderate Baptists and the Assemblies of God. Around 1960, a local man named Floyd Shulke became the caretaker of the church when the previous tenants deserted.
Source: Longview Daily News