By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER
Ohio Correspondent

REILY, Ohio — Those in the know will be looking for Betty Updike’s coconut cream pie when the Reily Presbyterian Church celebrates its 175th anniversary with a potluck lunch at noon on May 1. A ceremony will follow at 2 p.m., at which Reily historian Tom Stander will speak.

Betty’s pies have been known to sell for $100 at the church’s fundraising potlucks. She and her husband, Leroy, have been church members since 1945 – before they were married. They recently met with Mike Egbert, a relative newcomer to the church (having come into the fold in 1972), to reminisce and look through old handwritten histories and yellowed newspaper clippings from other celebrations.

The church was organized in April 1836. One of the first elders, Pierson Conklin, for $1, donated a deed for a piece of land 60 feet square. The building was constructed in 1838 and the congregation still worships in that building.
“It’s just a small, unique church and people don’t believe what is here until they come,” said Leroy.

“It’s a very giving church – not just money, but the things people do,” added Egbert. “We are the oldest Presbyterian church in Butler County still meeting in the original building.”

“We’re like one big family,” added Betty.

One memory sparked another as they talked:

•Hanging on the wall is a spring-wound clock, purchased in 1875 and still running. It keeps good time – as long as someone winds it every week.
•”The building (located on Peoria-Reily Road) faces towards Indian Creek because that was the way people travelled when it was built,” Betty said. “There was a road along Indian Creek, originally.”

•The building has two front doors that enter on either side of the sanctuary. In early days men came in one door, women in the other. One of those doors has gouge marks from a time when Presbyterians and Universalists shared the building. One day there was a mix-up on meeting times. The Presbyterians were in the building when the Universalists arrived for their meeting.

“The Universalists took a log and tried to bash the doors in because they thought they should have the right to meet, then,” Egbert said.

•”We read in past session books that there was a couple who were caught dancing on a Saturday night,” Betty said.” It was taken to the congregation and they threw them out of church.”

•The church furnace was installed in 1927 and electricity, in 1928. Prior to that pot-bellied stoves warmed the church. Before the air conditioning was put in, the doors were left open and the occasional stray dog, cat or barn swallow wandered in.

•The church was a pioneer in electing women to church offices, Betty said. Leroy’s mother, Irene Updike, was elected an elder in 1954.
•A quilt hangs in the Fellowship Hall. During the Depression the building needed a new roof. People donated money and their names were stitched into the quilt pattern.

•There have been 43 ministers since the church was organized. The current pastor is Tom Ramsey. Membership stands at 42, but there have been as many as 500 people.

•Those old newspaper clippings noted the occupations in Reily Township in 1850, which included: 72 carpenters, seven merchants, 10 blacksmiths, five masons, three painters, four coopers, six wagon makers, two saddlers, two spinners and wool carders, two tanners, two pump peddlers, four teachers, four physicians – one female – three tailors, two shoemakers, one machinist, one miller, one weaver, two clergymen and one hotel-keeper.

Showing through the laughter the three friends shared as they remembered was a strong camaraderie. “We lost two of our daughters,” Leroy said. “If it hadn’t been for our church, we would never have made it; they hurt just as much as we did.

“If somebody needs fuel oil or electric, we try to provide it. We have potluck suppers and take the money and use it to do our mission work.”

Thanks to the spirit of the church and Betty’s pies, there’s usually enough money to go around. Reily Presbyterian Church is at 6370 Peoria Reily Road in Oxford; to learn more about the celebration, call 513-756-1900.