The Trinity Story

Trinity United Church — 1897-1987

Contributed by L.B. Leppard & R. Germain

The present sketch deals mainly with the time since 1933. The first forty-six years are covered in illuminating fashion by J Smyth Carter (an active member of our congregation till well into the 1950's) in his booklet "The Story of Trinity, 1887-1933", copies of which are scarce but still available for consultation. To avoid leaving the period a complete blank a summary paragraph of main points is provided here.

The founding fathers were a group of staunch Methodist business men, among whom the names Timothy Eaton, W J Gage, M Langmuir and B Westwood figured prominently. The first planning meeting was held May 12th, 1887, and developments followed rapidly: initial financing, site purchase, building plans, site occupancy (first a tent, then a wooden structure), then the corner-stone laying for the permanent structure May 19th, 1888. The date of laying the last stone and last roof-tile is not given by Mr Carter but it must have been in the early 1890's since a contract to complete the tower was signed in August, 1891. Title to the property - at first named Western Methodist Church but soon changed to Trinity Methodist - was deeded early on to the Methodist Church of Canada, Toronto Conference appointing our first pastor, the Rev T W Jeffery, effective January 1889. From then onwards there was enough to do to keep everyone busy—Sunday School, music service, governing committees, fund raising, Ladies' Aid and other women's work — and there was a goodly supply of willing hands. The departure of the Eaton family following a spat between Mr Eaton and Mr Gage—there is nothing new under the sun—is mentioned only because the Eatons apparently then transferred their membership to Avenue Road Methodist, a predecessor of our present partner congregation of St Paul's, Timothy's funeral service being held there in 1907. His family honoured his memory by the founding of Timothy Eaton Memorial Church in 1909. Trinity's mortgage, originally $70,000 was discharged in 1920. A further obligation of some thousands of dollars, undertaken to cover much-needed renovations, was paid off in 1933, the first year of the pastorate of the Rev G O Fallis and also the third year of the great depression. Both were moments of great rejoicing, following years of valiant struggle, complicated, as in other churches, by the darkness, burdens and sacrifices of World War I. In his "Trinity War Book" Oliver Hezzelwood notes that practically every young man in our congregation had volunteered for war service. We doubt not that many of our young women also served. The book is full of tales told by those who returned.

Before quitting the early period, the present reviewer may be excused for admitting to curiosity on one minor point: did not some of the founding families expect to drive to church from their new homes in the neighbourhood? And if so, in hired carriages or in their own? Are we to picture shivering coachmen circling the block on a cold Sunday morning, waiting for their employers to emerge? If provision had been made for stabling horses, we might have had a parking lot to-day!

The transition from Trinity Methodist to Trinity United occurred without noticeable hitch at the beginning of the Rev WL Armstrong's pastorate in 1925, a year well within the memory span of our older members. From here on, our story is based on both their memories and official records, ordered according to the pastoral succession. But some aspects, such as music and Christian education, are skimped here in favour of fuller treatment further on.

There is nothing like a deep depression or a war to focus priorities. The 1930's was a period of economic gloom and of pre-war "nerves". One of many responses to local need may be cited- a Relief Society, activated mainly by Mrs Graydon, Mrs Tennant and Mrs. Staples met on Tuesdays to work on quilts and clothes. At Christmas attention turned to food distribution: a list of 100 families, 50 from our area and 50 from the 3 area of Queen Street United Church was obtained well beforehand and 100 hampers, each carefully stocked according to the special needs of an intended recipient, were packed and delivered in trucks provided by Mr Staples. During World War II the women continued their unflagging labours but with attention to providing comforts for the soldiery and for the people bearing the brunt overseas.

The Rev Mr Fallis, one of our outstanding pastors, had served in World War I and at demobilization in 1918 in the capacity of Senior Protestant Chaplain held the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. In 1936 he helped to plan the dedication service for the Vimy War Memorial. His dedicatory address at the unveiling was broadcast world-wide and of course listened to with pride and enthusiasm by his Trinity flock. It was only natural therefore that he should reenter the chaplaincy service at the beginning of World Ward II. For a time he was able to continue at Trinity, taking the evening service while bringing in the Rev Trevor Davies for Sunday mornings. When duty finally called him away, a full-time locum was found in the person of the Rev Arthur Organ, summoned up from the Maritimes by Presbytery. He proved to be an excellent choice as Minister-in-Charge, being both a gifted preacher and a man quick to spot human need. The need he saw was with young people, often left footloose by departed fathers and struggling mothers. He worked hard at building and running a Boys Club in the church, later invoking the church secretary, Olive Millsap, to operate a parallel Trinity Girls Club. Sports were the main fare at the former, crafts, at the latter, both seasoned with suitable devotional periods.

With the wars end in1945, the Rev Col Fallis, C B E , gave up his 12-year pastorate here, returning to British Columbia. His sons, George and Fred, stayed on to pursue careers in Toronto, they have been associated with Trinity ever since. It is interesting to note that Col Fallis was the real originator of our Trust Fund: on entering military service he had made over part of his padre's pay as nucleus of a new reserve fund for this church. Later contributors were Major A A S Wilkins (whose family had donated our Casavant organ) in quite a substantial way and Mr Percy G Might, a long-time Elder, who bequeathed the bulk of a very substantial estate to Trinity at his death in 1968. Along the way numerous significant bequests also came in This fund — it deserves to be written in caps, FUND — has seen us through many a crisis, and with prudent management has continued to grow.

As with World War I, the second world war took a toll of our young. Those who failed to return are named in a book of record kept in the Memorial Room, while their predecessors in the first war are named on a bronze tablet in the Sanctuary. The Memorial Room itself, begun in 1947, was funded by a special appeal and created in a space under the south balcony of the Gymnasium/Lecture Hall. Furnished and zealously cared for by our women's organizations, it became the venue for meetings of the Official Board and other solemn committees.

The Rev Arthur Organ succeeded Col Fallis, continuing in our pulpit until 1948, when he moved on to Ryerson United in Hamilton. He was a strong preacher and musically gifted his collaboration with our music director John Linn seemed effortless and highly successful. At our farewell party for him and his wife Harriett and their children Foye and Jack, the Very Reverend Dr Pidgeon told us that we were making a mistake in letting a fine young minister slip through our fingers. Happily, the Organs kept a warm sport in their hearts for this place, deciding to make Trinity their church home after returning from their last station, Mount Royal United, in the early 1970's. We were then able to persuade Dr Organ, overcoming modest reluctance, to accept the title of Minister Emeritus, Trinity United Church. In the 1950's Emmanuel College had awarded him a D D (occasion for a celebration at Trinity). In that era he had served also as Chairman of the United Church's Department of Evangelism and Social Service, teaming up with the redoubtable Dr James Mutchmor, Secretary. One of the most memorable undertakings at Trinity 1945-48 was the institution of a Recreation Council, with a YMCA man, Norville E Luck, in charge. The Minister had noted two things a tavern a block away flourishing like the green bay tree and hordes of teenagers looking for excitement in the streets instead of in Sunday School, where they had found it in the thirties. The end result of his pondering the situation was provision of a Saturday night dance in our Gymnasium, cautiously endorsed by the Official Board for a trial period. The job of on-the-spot supervision was given to two couples, comparatively new members at Trinity (the Wrenshalls and the Leppards). Fortunately, the group was largely self-disciplined, mostly nice youngsters, but of course with an admixture of rowdies. For a time we hired a mean-looking man with some reputation as a professional wrestler to act as bouncer. But they did love to dance, especially in the dark. Some of our congregation looked in and were duly horrified, one or two actually transferred their membership. However Teentown dissolved shortly after the Organs left, mainly because the same facilities, plus smoking privileges, were being offered by St Peter's Roman Catholic Church on Bathurst Street. One permanent legacy from this adventure was a new wooden floor in the Gymnasium, replacing the ragged old linoleum. The new floor, installed by our own Jack Carroll, was underwritten by the Teentowners.

The next pastorate was that of Dr E Crossley Hunter. He knew Toronto well, having served fairly recently at Carlton Street United although when he came to us it was from Winnipeg. He was a son of a famous evangelist, with two sons of his own (John and Gordon) in the United Church ministry, and a kindly person with great understand­ing of and tolerance for human foibles, including his own. Some of the people whose lives he had helped to change came into membership while he was here, but in spite of his magnetism the congregation was shrinking Post-war secularism was on the march.

He used to look at the gaping void of the balcony, wishing it could be abolished. Yet the faithful struggled on. Mrs Lottie Vowles was hired as congregational worker and a succession of memorable pastoral assistants — Clarke Logan, Stanley Greenslade, Dr George Little — did yeoman service In spite of growing worries over finance, the things that mattered were still being done — candidates for Emmanuel were sponsored, student ministers taken on, music maintained at high level, Young Adults going strong, amicable joint arrangements for sharing summer services with Bloor Street United and of course welcoming the Bloor congregation into our evening service when they were recovering from a disastrous fire. In the summer of 1952, on the basis of an affordable price from Jack Carroll, a sprucing up of the Sanctuary was undertaken, including painting, varnishing, polishing, carpet shampooing, even removal of the heavy dirt incrustation in the skylight. The last-named tricky operation was not repeated for over thirty years when our present Minister, Rev Malcolm Sinclair, and Roger Hutchinson took it in hand with help from the church secretary, Jean Ecclestone, and another friend. But other matters, such as joining the Observer Every Family Plan, were judged postponable. The Percy Might bequest was still years away.

Dr Hunter is remembered as a charming and gregarious man with friends of high and low station everywhere. He loved to preach, but also to listen to others who had an effective message for his congregation: one memorable Sunday, for example, he brought us the Rev Howard Thurman. Perhaps most of all, however, he is remembered for his tireless energy he ran his close associates almost into the ground. Impatient with short-hand, he insisted on dictating his sermons and correspondence directly into the typewriter as he paced up and down. His wife Mabel no doubt experienced her share of the pressure she died in September 1958, about six months after her husband's retirement. Trinity had been his last call in forty-seven years of ministry. George Little had died in harness (chairman of one of our committees) shortly before that. A year or so later Dr Hunter married Miss Stella Drake, a member of the congregation, and continued to accept pulpit occasions from various churches. He died in 1966 and was buried from Trinity. His portrait, like that of Rev Col Fallis, hangs in our western corridor. Stella Hunter is still working happily in our midst.

The Rev J Robert Watt accepted our next call, bringing his wife Verna and their four children down from Mitchell, Ontario, to occupy the refurbished manse. He was an earnest, hard working pastor in the traditional mode and the family quickly won the affection of the congregation. His tenure lasted about fifteen years, longer than any we had previously experienced. On the whole it was a quiet time, yet one in which we became increasingly aware of pressures. Sunday evening attendance dwindled and the evening service, together with its Fireside Hour, was eventually dropped. Support for the Cedar Glen project was forthcoming only after much pondering. The WMS and WA, as in other churches, joined forces in the interest of efficiency, emerging as the United Church Women. To find out how an inner city church can best survive, Mr Watt visited New York's concrete jungle for a few days in 1962 and reported back on his consultations with leaders of various denominations powerful preaching (e g , Sockman, McCracken) and long pastorates seemed to provide central points of stability, strongly attractive to harassed people scattered over all five boroughs. In summer 1969 young George Stinson, of the fourth generation of his family in Trinity, was given the task of surveying a large area around Trinity to assess the make-up and needs of the residents. His report, still on file, is one of the best of its kind — thorough and informative. He also performed a similar service for Metropolitan United. His untimely death, a few years later, shocked and grieved us all. But there were also bright spots in the 60's decade. The exterior floodlights (gift of Ken and Heloise Dawson) were installed. In 1962 Trinity's 75th Anniversary was celebrated, among other ways by the creation of an elegant little chapel under the north balcony of the Gymnasium, to the design of our architect member John King. In the same year the Session decided, perhaps a little reluctantly, to admit women to the Eldership, it is now hard to imagine that there was a time it was an all-male preserve. The Rev Wilbur Howard, co-author of the controversial New Curriculum and later a United Church Moderator, sat happily with us in the pews until he answered a pulpit call from Ottawa in 1965. The Rev Dr Victor Mooney, retired United Church Treasurer, came on as pastoral assistant and made some 6,000 pastoral visits over five years, welcome wherever he went. And of course there was the large Percy Might bequest in 1968, hailed with gratitude at the time but the subject of considerable argument as to its management over the next few years. Co-operative attention to local outreach, in conjunction with other district churches, was becoming a reality. Our new assistant, the Rev Kent Clayton, was our delegate to the first Parish Council, a forerunner of the Spadina-Bloor-Bathurst Interchurch Council, or SBBIC, this was pronounced "SPIC" until someone noticed, a few years later, that that was a term of approbnum, whereupon the acronym was changed to "INTCH". For a few weeks we maintained a Community Information Centre in a basement room, but it was moved to Bathurst Street when it was found that noise from the Boys' Club in the Gymnasium overhead made quiet interviewing impossible. In the midst of all this, business as usual an organ repair fund appeal realized $6500 , leaving after the repairs a small surplus, the manse, built in 1905, was sold in early 1971 and help afforded to the Watts in acquiring their own house. The need for importing "big names" as summer pulpit supply was discussed and the practice ended. The Rev Messrs Mooney and Clayton retired in June 1972 and were not replaced. The clock seemed to be running down: Bill Bouck, eminent lawyer, commanding business figure and Trinity's Treasurer from the 1930'sto 1958 (succeeded by George Fallis) had died in 1964 and Arnold Stinson, another great pillar of our church, in 1966. John Linn resigned in 1973, and finally there came, quite suddenly, the retirement of the Rev Mr Watt toward Christmas, 1973, in response to a call from Humber Valley United Church.

Fortunately, Dr Organ was there. He helped us to get through Christmas and to arrange a schedule of Sunday services for a few months ahead and to provide for pastoral visitation. Faced with a dearth of retired U C ministers we gratefully engaged a semi-retired Baptist minister, the Rev Arthur England, and have never regretted it. He was the ideal visitor, kindly, sincere and gentle, our shut-ins loved him. Meanwhile, we had a few weeks to think over the report of Fred Stinson's Committee on the Long Term Use of the Church Property and to come to some decisions in meetings of the New Opportunities Committee. In essence, our question was "to be or not to be". If it was "not to be", the road to dissolution was well marked. If "to be", then there was a choice — follow tradition or go for innovation. The decision was to continue, and to try innovation. The Pastoral Relations Committee interviewed a surprising number of applicants, the congregation accepted its recommendation — the Rev William F Phipps.

Mr Phipps came to work, sleeves rolled up, in July 1974. It was soon evident that we were in for a New Wave experience. In fact, some of our staid congregation might have described what they felt as a series of shock waves. A few transferred in the course of time but most bore up bravely and hopefully. David Low disappeared from the organ bench to be replaced by Lloyd Bradshaw, of whose choir at St George's United Mr Phipps had once been a member. Olive (Millsap) Hart resigned as of April 15th, 1975, duly honoured, feeling that as Church Secretary and really heart of our machinery since the late thirties she had earned a rest. About the same time the Walsh Committee on Planning and Renewal made its report analysis of answers to a questionnaire distributed to the congregation showed social action to rank eighth in order of preference, with minister, worship service and music running strong at 1, 2 and 3. Session did not feel that a conflict was really involved and agreed to the new Minister's general theme of Bible, social action and experimental variations in liturgy. Liturgical dance groups and singing groups performed from time to time, and new modes of administering Communion were tried. There is no doubt that the sermons were strongly Bible-based but also aimed at making plain the evil and injustice in the world and at urging visible counteraction wherever possible. Mr Phipps was often mildly reproached for harping on "gloom and doom" but his inner fire kept burning and he soldiered on. One noticed new faces in the congregation, especially young ones. Some half-dozen officials from United Church House and Toronto Conference also listened in and decided to stay for more, bringing their families along. The Phippses moved to 253 Major Street to be near the church and at this address Sharon (Mrs Phipps) soon added Sarah and Jeremy as candidates for the Nursery. Our first real experience of counteraction or "solidarity" with the underdog was participation 1974-75 in the California Grape Boycott, which involved the posting of a large placard on our Bloor Street front (twice stolen, then not replaced) and related publicity events supporting the wage claims of grape harvesters a few thousand miles away. In a wide variety of other causes protest marches and all-night vigils became a common thing. The new emphasis in this area required rearrangement of other responsibilities and so a new committee structure was developed, described separately under the heading of "Modern Times". There was certainly an increase in work load, and a further increase at the time of the union with St Paul's and the absorption of the St Paul's Centre into Trinity's fabric. The circumstances of the union are described separately under "Merger". Encouragement was given to groups wishing to involve themselves in current affairs of various kinds, and their reports are also to be found under Modern Times. Following the merger, space had to be found for the various elements of the St Paul's Centre and a quite radical subdividing operation had to be performed on our building's interior, an operation rather grudgingly conceded by the Historical Board which had "designated" our property some years before. One of our sacrifices in this process was the loss of original elegance and integrity in the 75th Anniversary chapel, which over the intervening years had been in fairly regular use for small weddings and for religious services by various external groups. To provide extra room for other meetings, several of the rear pews were removed and a table, chairs, and later a piano (upright) were put in place. The change was painful to many who had supported the chapel project in 1962, but no doubt marked a gain in general utility. Prior to the merger we had sought suitable tenants for available space one of the most gratifying tenants was and still is, Tafelmusik, a baroque instrumental ensemble now well known throughout the world of music. Staffing arrangements incident to all these changes tend to follow one another in rather confusing succession and management lines are still not clearly visible. Staff persons, on the other hand, are visible, among these is Ms Patricia Lisson, engaged in 1982 to take charge of local outreach and Sunday School direction. Her contract was converted to a call in June 1983 in her role as diaconal minister. Besides her prescribed work she has of course conducted some of our Sunday services. On the eve of the 100th anniversary she has accepted a call to another city church. Mr England faded from visibility on retirement in December 1982. Both will be gone but not forgotten. Mrs Jean Ecclestone and, later, Mrs Peggy Evans have served us well in the difficult job of church secretary.

After nine busy years in which the two congregations came fully together, the Rev Mr Phipps and family moved on to Edmonton, where the post of General Secretary, Alberta Conference, awaited him. Indeed a remarkable, a memorable pastorate.

The Rev G Malcolm Sinclair (now Dr Sinclair) was chosen to succeed Mr Phipps. The Pastoral Relations Committee set its sights on strong, Bible-based preaching, leadership qualities and sensitivity to local and world need. He began with us in February 1984, and soon confirmed the wisdom of our choice — a man of many talents and deep insights. Coming from a suburban church he deliberately sought out the inner city experience and has stoutly faced with us the continuing challenges. We welcome also his family, in particular his wife Elspeth Sinclair who has, from the beginning, taken time from a busy professional life to fit in and work with us. The full tale and impact of the Sinclair pastorate can safely be left in the hands of future Trinity — St Paul's historians.

This sketch has a vital flaw for which an apology is due the absence of any account of Trinity's missionary connections. It is a subject to which justice could be done only in much larger compass. Suffice it then to name some honoured names: Armstrong, Brennan, Collier, Endicott, Falhs, Hockin, Kilborn, Lindsey, Perry, Small, Spooner, Vipond and Voaden.