The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1914-03-26
From Rev. w. G. Hohanshelt.

Winterset, Iowa, March 4, 1914.
To the Leon NJ. E. Church, Greeting:
When l was appointed to be the
pastor of the Leon station it was a
great surprise. I knew nothing of
the town or country whereabouts. I
was to succeed Bro. Jeffry, about
whom now know nothing.
whether living or dead, but my last
information was he had gone south
| for health reasons and suffered a
complete nervous breakdown. | was
| told of the pretty new church, the
Loving Chapel and that the par
sonage was old and needed new one
We had been busy all summer with
remOdeling the Dexter parsonage and
moved into it few weeks before, cut
ting new carpet and intalling my
library in new quarters, cleaning up
the yard and getting ready to enjoy
the next year in the remOdeled bet
ter house. Imagine the feeling of us
all when we saw the contract of a
nice church and a preachers house
that needed to be new one. But
that came in the fall of our second
year. 1t is wonder that it was
built for we had no easy time to agree
on the location or inside plan Of the
house. / never have had as good a
garden spot as at Leon except at
Menlo, my first charge. Only at Leon
have we burned wood and not any
coal. We enjoyed the wood fuel very
much.
/ remember the 40th anniversary
of the church tl think it was the
40th) we observed. l am not sure
about the program, but we had tai
low candles in candlesticks and lot
of old time curios used in the SOS,
that old and young enjoyed very
much. Auntie Patterson and Aunt
Betty Loving We're very enthusiastic
over all we did and gave us valuable
information. The church was filled
on that occasion which pleased me,
for when l came to Leon the first
greeted me quite in contrast to
crowded houses that l had up to that
time supposed all preachers had, I'M
til I learned that l was mistaken.
But the congregations grew. | know
organized a Junior League and
think l also started the Epworth
League. We started the library and
in the three years l was there col
lected over 900 volumes. 1 remem-
Der we did not have a large Sunday
school, but it was good and struck
a fine average for the enrolment.
l ate my first meal at the home of
%. M. Lindsey My wife came and
/ think we were over night in the
parsonage. We had hard time to
get along financially my first year.
I had span of black ponies. l sold
team, new buggy, sleigh, robe, har-
ness and all for $3.50 with $40 per
month payments. l used up the mon
ey as it was paid in, thus in two years
we ate up our team, buggy, sleigh,
robe and all and the garden stuff we
raised. l have not owned team
since.
There are many instances that
come to me in connection with fami-
lies, but none impress me more than
the death of Alta Hawkins and Flor
ence Arnold. AS much as l loved
those two dear girls, don't see how
I conducted the funerals. Aunty
Patterson, I shared with the good
people in looking after, and can
never forget her garden and many
flowers. AS I write I think of a great
many people by name, but forbear
mentioning them because changes
have come to the homes as to mine.
Then, we had four children with us,
Anna, born in Leon. They are all
from home. Wilma (Mrs. G. F.
Brown lives in Indianola, Iowa. Lula
(Mrs. L. L. Newton) lives in Cody,
1900 miles away, and
Walter, who married May z, 1913,
lives in Sanders, Montana, runs a
store, is LOO miles away. Anna
will graduate from /. s. University