Joplin Second Ward thanks Community of Christ Church

Excerpts from 2012 Joplin Second Ward History
Provided by Bishop Dave Richins:

The Community of Christ

The night of the tornado, a co-worker of Bishop Dave Richins and pastor of the Joplin Community of Christ Church, Steve Hicks, and his son showed up at the Richins home to check on the family and to offer his assistance. In the coming days, he offered the use of the Community of Christ Church to the members of the Joplin Second Ward. Bishop Peterson of the Neosho Ward also called Bishop Richins and stated that his ward would love to share their meetinghouse with the members of the Joplin Second Ward. The Stake Presidency and Elder Roberts began reviewing these and several other options for meeting locations and meeting formats for the Joplin Second Ward while its new chapel [Joplin Missouri Stake Center] is being rebuilt.   

The extra expense of traveling to Neosho or other out-of-town locations would have surely been a financial burden to many of our Ward members.  Bishop Richins believed that staying in Joplin would also help the members of the Joplin Second Ward remain united as a rescue ward to “stay in the fray” and assist each other and our neighbors. Upon the counsel of President Jones (who previously toured the Community of Christ building), Bishop Richins and President Terrance Lloyd Thedell (of the Church’s Physical Facilities Department and Stake President of the Springfield Stake) met with Pastors Hicks and John Williams of the Community of Christ to discuss the logistics of having the Joplin Second Ward meet in the Community of Christ building.  The spirit of cooperation and love filled the meeting and Pastors Hicks and Williams made it clear that they would do anything in their power to accommodate the Joplin Second Ward. Next, the Joplin Second Ward Council met and travelled together to the Community of Christ where they received a tour led by Pastors Hicks and Williams.  The council also was touched by the love and generous offer tendered by the Community of Christ Church.  The Council unanimously supported the Joplin Second Ward meeting in the Community of Christ building.  This was passed on to President Jones by Bishop Richins. 

It was determined the Lord would have the Joplin Second Ward meet with in the Community of Christ Church.  On June 12, 2012, President Jones led an open discussion with Ward members and called for a vote of common consent from the ward members that the Joplin Second Ward should meet in the Community of Christ building until the Stake Center is completed.  The vote of common consent was unanimous, and the Joplin Second Ward began meeting in the Community of Christ Church at 1:00 p.m. on June 19, 2011. 

Ward members have found the Community of Christ Congregation to be very hospitable and accommodating. The Community of Christ also welcomed the Joplin Second Ward to hold its usual meetings on Wednesday night so families did not have to travel to Carthage or Neosho for YM/YW, Cub Scouts or Activity Days. The Ward was invited to the Community of Christ’s potluck luncheon on Sunday, November 11^th at noon that was well attended by both congregations.  The Ward was also invited to the Community of Christ’s “Hanging of the Greens” ceremony on Nov. 30, 2011, which kicks off the Christmas Season.  They [members of the Community of Christ] have been wonderful hosts and neighbors to our Ward.

There was some concern as to the strength of the Spirit in a non-LDS building with its familiar building layout, furnishings, art work and chapel. This fear was quickly disbursed as members immediately could feel the strong spirit as we met together as a Ward under such trying circumstances. On a particular Sunday, a high counselor speaker opened his remarks by stating that he was not sure how it would feel meeting in a non-LDS chapel for Sacrament Meeting, but now that he was there, the strength of the Spirit that he felt was undeniable.

Prior to the tornado, the Joplin Second Ward’s Sacrament Meeting attendance was around 170.  The Sacrament Meeting attendance was as low as 108 on one of the two meetings that were held in the Neosho chapel in early June.  The average attendance at the end of the third quarter in 2011 was around 140.  Since that time, Sacrament Meeting attendance steadily grew to the maximum of 212 attendees at the Christmas Sacrament Meeting on December 25, 2011.  Thus far in the first quarter of 2012, the average attendance in Sacrament Meeting is 173.

In 2012, the Ward is working toward bringing more souls into activity so we will fill our new chapel immediately upon its completion, through missionary and reactivation efforts. The Lord is certainly blessing us in the Ward’s efforts.

Joplin Second Ward's 2011 History Report focuses on May 22 Tornado

Excerpts from 2012 Joplin Second Ward History
Provided by Bishop Dave Richins:

The Tornado’s Path Across the Joplin Second Ward
On the afternoon of May 22, 2011, the Joplin Second Ward had its church meetings as usual.  After Sacrament meeting. which ended at 2:10 p.m., there was an unusual exodus of several families leaving the church building.  Katie King, Cali Evenson, Alayna Jones and Rachel Richins were graduating from Joplin High School in the field house at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin’s northeast side at 3:00 p.m.  Their families and friends left church early to attend the graduation.  Due to the absence of Stake President Creed Jones, Bishop Dave Richins and First Counselor Mark Andersen, interviews and the ward meetings typically held after the three-hour block (in the Stake Center) were cancelled.

At 5:34 p.m., an unusually large and powerful F5 tornado touched down in the southwest end of the ward boundary and headed in an east-northeast direction, causing a milewide and 6-mile long gash across the entire length of our ward boundary. 

Mark Andersen had just pulled into his driveway in time to see the light-colored funnel cloud reach down from the sky and turn dark with dirt and debris when it contacted the ground.  He shepherded his family to cover -- knowing it was a bad storm -- but he said later that he had no idea of the destruction that was being inflicted in Joplin.

Ward member Denise Ramey, with her non-member husband, Don, were waiting in the emergency room in St. John’s Hospital for the doctor to come in.  Her husband, a former military pilot, felt the sudden change of air pressure in the room and grabbed his wife and pulled her from the examining room table to the floor, pushed her under the table and laid across her as the interior walls and windows imploded around them.

Bishop Richins was driving home from the graduation ceremony with his family as he watched the dark mixture of black, gray and green clouds rolling toward the center of town from the southwest.  The local news radio station reported a tornado in Galena, Kansas (west of Joplin) and hail moving into the Joplin area. Within a couple minutes of arriving home, the family heard the distant “freight train sound” that could be heard to the west.  Sister Richins and the Richins children took cover in an interior bathroom with Rachel’s grandparents, George and Karen Richins (of Tulsa, Oklahoma).  Bishop Richins stood at the sliding glass door looking west as massive storm clouds moved from his left to right. Debris could be seen high in the sky -- but no rotation in the cloud was noted. Suddenly a large tree from the neighbor’s yard crashed onto the deck and against the sliding glass door completely blocking the view.  The sliding glass door held and Bishop Richins thought, “This is going to be a busy night.”  He knew he would need to quickly assess who in the ward might have received some damage. Within fifteen minutes, as he walked three blocks and approached 26^th Street on Wisconsin Avenue, he learned the true magnitude of the storm damage.

Sister Janice Falls and a few other stake members were meeting on the gym stage in the Stake Center as part of a Single Adult Planning Meeting. Tom Winden was standing at the church door watching the approaching storm.  He suddenly interrupted the meeting and “in a voice that was not his” he ordered the group into the women’s bathroom on the church’s eastern side.  The destruction was vast -- and the roof was pulled from above them as they piled on to each other.  Lee Alphen of the Granby Ward prayed for protection of the group. It was reported that unseen hands could be felt holding down the group as the roof over their heads tore away in the heart of this storm. Although the church was destroyed, that magnificent structure one last time protected its Saints from the spiritual and physical storms of the world.

Elders Fox and Jones, the Joplin Second Ward missionaries, were attending a dinner appointment in the home of Dan and Holly Maxwell, whose home is only three blocks due east from the missionaries’ apartment. The family and the missionaries watched from the window as the massive storm bore down on their home. The missionaries watched as their two-story apartment building was leveled.  The storm suddenly took a northern shift and spared the Maxwell’s home from utter destruction (although it sustained moderate damage to its exterior).  The Lord indeed watched over His servant missionaries and this good family. The Maxwells were just renting their home and and had to leave it for a short time while repairs were made.  They discussed how easy it would be to move into one of the neighboring communities into a home that is not in the debris zone and to a ward whose church is not destroyed, but Brother Maxwell (Young Men’s President) and Sister Maxwell (Primary Music Leader) felt the Lord would have them stay in their damaged home to support the Joplin Second Ward.

Newly graduated Alayna Jones and her big sister Lynelle were driving home from the graduation together.  President and Sister Jones drove separately.  As President Jones was driving into the storm, he knew he had to pull over and ride the storm out.  His major concern was that of his daughters.  He called them and told them to pull over and take cover in a building.  They pulled over at a gas station located between the missionaries’ apartment and the Maxwell home.  When they ran to the door of the gas station, it was locked as the attendant had already sought shelter in a neighboring building.  With the storm upon them, they ran back into the car and held each other as the storm buffeted the car, breaking out the windows subjecting them to the flying debris.  When the storm passed, they found they only suffered scrapes and their lives were spared.  They began to walk home and were picked up by members of the ward who took them to their destroyed home and their relieved and thankful parents.

Jeramy Jasperson (Elder’s Quorum President) and Hannah Jasperson (Youth Sunday School Teacher) were at home playing with their children when 7-year-old Emma Jasperson told her mother the family needed to get in the closet. The Jaspersons lived on the northeastern part of the ward.  Sister Jasperson tried to calm Emma’s fears -- telling her this was just another thunderstorm. But Emma persisted until her mother said she would get in the closet with Emma. Emma said 5-year-old Ethan, Dad and Grandma (Sister Hiatt) must join them. Finally Dad relented to calm down Emma and the entire family got in the closet.  Soon, Brother Jasperson heard glass breaking and debris hitting the walls.  Suddenly, he could feel the house lift from the foundation and turn as if it were an amusement park ride. The Jaspersons felt the house hit the ground and felt a calm as the eye of the tornado passed over them. When the back wall of the tornado hit the house, exterior then interior walls began to fall around them and a carpet from the floor of the next room blew over them and formed their only protection as the back half of the tornado passed over this family.  Miraculously, no injuries befell this family.

In the City of Joplin, 161 souls were lost and thousands of homes and vehicles were destroyed.  Not one single member of our ward lost their life. Only two dear sisters were hospitalized.  Therefore, the Lord left our ward in strong shape to go out and rescue those in need. The Ward responded with a strength and vigor that could have only come from Heaven.  Although 52 homes of our members sustained damage and 28 of those were completely destroyed, the brothers and sisters of the Joplin Second Ward forgot their own problems to rescue those who have greater needs.

The Church in Action

The following morning, the rescue effort began in earnest.  President Montague (First Counselor in the Stake Presidency) called Bishop Richins[1] while he was at the stake center removing records from the destroyed Bishop’s and Clerk’s offices.  Photos were taken and sent to President Montague who was in contact with the Church as the damage assessment began.  Within 48 hours, the breakfast room of the bishop’s home was the Command Center for the Church. Meetings were held by Elder Jonathan Roberts with President Matthew Montague, Bishop Richins, brethren from the Church’s Welfare Department (who happened to be in Kansas City in an emergency response seminar), and Brother and Sister Lars Ludlow (who happened to be on their way home from heading the Church’s efforts during the Tuscaloosa Alabama tornado when they received the call to come to Joplin). 

The Church’s relief efforts from this time forward was under the direction of Elder Jonathan Roberts with President Montague providing Stake support for the benefit of our Ward and the Joplin community.  Elder Roberts directed that Bishop Richins fill out the order form for all needed tools, supplies and equipment that would be sent from Salt Lake with the assistance and expertise provided by President Montague and Brother Ludlow.  Eventually, a location suitable to house these tools, supplies and equipment was located north of the airport, and the Command Center was moved there.  The bishop’s home became the rallying point and coordination location for the Joplin Second Ward from this point forward.

President Montague told Bishop Richins to now attend to the needs of the Ward.  Elder Roberts suggested that everyone in the Ward affected by the tornado be offered a priesthood blessing from a member of the Bishopric.  In a very special meeting at the Bishop’s home, the Bishopric divided up all of the families affected by the tornado, and the Bishop gave a blessing to his Counselors and they, in turn, gave a blessing to the Bishop with Brother Andersen acting as the mouthpiece.  The blessings were then offered and received by most of the Ward families and the spirit was freely manifested in several of the blessings in members’ homes. 

The Ward was humbly touched when Elder Roberts informed the Ward that the church members in Joplin were included on the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve’s agenda and that they were ever mindful of our wellbeing.  The Ward also received countless letters, packages and donations to be distributed to those affected in the storm.  Such donations included, cash, gift cards, clothing, quilts, baby supplies, toys, temple garments, etc.  Armies of members wearing yellow shirts flooded Joplin for several weekends providing service throughout the community.  It was a point of pride for each of our members to see so many Latter-day Saints serve our neighbors and fellow townspeople.

As a Ward, we met at Sam’s Club parking lot every Saturday from May 28^th through September and spent our Saturday mornings serving our fellowmen. As we served members, crews often branched out to the neighbors of these members and helped clean up their yard or assist in whatever way needed.  We served with other organizations and with members of other church organizations and developed a real kinship with our brothers and sisters of differing faiths. It was wonderful to see the faith, courage and willingness to serve from so many in our community.

On May 29^th, the Joplin Second Ward and the Joplin First Ward met in a joint Sacrament Meeting, Speakers included Bishop Chris Hoffman (Joplin First Ward), Bishop Richins, President Creed Jones and Elder Roberts. Several members who were directly affected by the tornado were called upon to bear their testimony, including President Jasperson and Gale Lamoreaux. One of the highlights of the meeting was when President Montague, who was conducting the meeting, invited everyone to stand and hug the person on their left and on their right (if it was appropriate).  That brought many smiles and much laughter to a weary congregation.

On Monday, May 30th, the word was passed around that many involved in the cleanup were meeting at Landreth Park to hold a joint Family Home Evening since many had been working non-stop for eight days on the cleanup.  Approximately 80 members showed up and enjoyed each others’ company and shared many hugs, smiles and expressions of gratitude.

---

[1] Bishop Richins had called into his employer, TAMKO Building Products, Inc. and requested to take vacation days while he assists his Church and his immediate supervisor Robert C. Bradley (TAMKO’s Vice President and General Counsel) said that the bishop should take off as much time as necessary for him to fulfill his duties under these circumstances.  Mr. Bradley has previously told Bishop Richins that he knows the work the bishop does for his church is “sacred.”

Memories of Church Growth in Southwest Missouri

AN ABRIDGED MEMORY HISTORY OF

THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS

IN SOUTHWEST MISSOURI

(The following is mostly, from the memories of Walter R. Tomlinson and me,
Donald E. Warren. Some items included by me are second hand -- information I have
been told through the years.)

The early Church in Southwest Missouri

Early branches

Three of the earliest (likely the three earliest) church branches in southwest Missouri were in Springfield, Webb City, and Joplin. All were in existence in the 1920s; how much earlier is not known.

Springfield Branch

Some of the early and most stalwart members of the Springfield branch were the Nichols families. There were Clem, Jim, Dan, and Dave Nichols and their families. The Nichols families were so prominent in the Springfield Branch that it was regularly referred to as the Nichols Branch. Most of the Nichols later moved to Utah. James (Jim) Drummond's wife, Gladys, was a daughter of Dave Nichols.

The Springfield Branch had a Church-owned meetinghouse early on.

Webb City Branch

The Morgan family, including Sister Gertie Morgan Ohler of the Carthage Ward and Sister Gertrude Morgan of the Joplin First Ward, were among the early and stalwart members of the Webb City Branch.

The first church-owned meetinghouse in our immediate area was built at 3rd and Liberty in Webb City. Brother Dave Nichols of Springfield supervised the construction. The church furnished the materials. Local members of the church did the construction work.

For several years in the 1940s and '50s, Brother Walter R. Tomlinson of Joplin, at the request of mission and district leaders, served as branch president of the Webb City Branch -- much of the time without counselors. Non-member husbands of two of the sisters (Gertie Ohler and Lucy

Cahill) were two of his best and most dependable male helpers. Charles Ohler served faithfully and well as Sunday School superintendent for quite some time.

Leslie Cahill, though like Charlie Ohler not a member of the church, totally supported his wife and daughters, attended church meetings much of the time, and was always ready and willing worker and supporter.

Walter L. Walker, Jr. of Joplin was called and served as branch president in Webb City in the early 1960s until the Webb City Branch was combined with the Joplin Branch in 1962.

Joplin Branch

Brother Tomlinson, now 91 years of age (at the time this abridgement was written in 1970s), recalls that the Joplin Branch was in existence in the "teens." He was baptized in the mid-1920s but had been attending for several years prior to that waiting for his wife to join the church with him.

Other early, and earlier, members of the Joplin Branch included The Altops (Move-ins. Brother Altop was one of the earliest branch presidents), Brother Joseph O. "Popeye" Johnson and his wife, Edna Mae, (parents of Glen O. Johnson), Everett Fain, T. J. Thomas (a barber), Sister Bush, Sister Camp, Grandma Woodworth (mother-in-law of Sister Lois Woodworth/Macke), Grandma Cox (grandmother of Sister Mildfed Alderman)), Clyde Helton, and the Teters family.

Brother "Popeye" Johnson left his family and with another (non-local) missionary served as full-time missionaries without purse or script for six months in Arkansas in 1933. He served another six-months mission in the Kansas City area.

Joplin Branch Area

For a few years after the Webb City Branch was combined into the Joplin Branch in 1962, the Joplin Branch included all of southwest Missouri that is now in the Joplin Missouri Stake except part of the

Nevada, Missouri Ward. (Most of the present Nevada Ward Area was then in the Kansas City Stake.)

Joplin Branch Meetinghouses

The Joplin Branch did not own a meetinghouse until in the 1940s when it acquired and renovated a roofed-over basement at 8th and Byers in Joplin. Earlier they had met in Erikson's Dance Hall upstairs near 6th and Main Streets (where the members always had to clean up the cigarette stubs, ash trays,

spittoons etc. on Sunday morning before they could hold services), and in an old store building near 23rd and Main Streets, among other places. While the Joplin Branch was meeting at the old store building,  Lester Rail, brother-in-law of Sister Mildred Alderman, was branch president.

The present (original) Joplin Meetinghouse has been (was) built on land that was donated to the Joplin Branch by Kelsey Norman, a non-member.

Mr. Norman was a quite wealthy Joplin resident who owned considerable property. He had previously donated to the Joplin School District the site where the present Joplin High School is located.

Harold (Happy) Cantrell approached Mr. Norman regarding our need for a site to build a new meetinghouse. Conversations between Mr. Norman and other Church members including Albion N. Alderman, Dr. Keith Wintle, and William E. Hughlett ensued. Mr. Norman agreed to give the four-
square-block area (about 14 acres) bounded by Twentieth and Twenty-second Streets on the north and south, and Wisconsin and Indiana Streets on the east and west to the Joplin Branch. Church policy at that time was that any donations of property was to be made to the church in Salt Lake City; not to
the local units -- that local units could not hold title to real property. Considerable negotiations ensued. Mr. Norman refused to donate the land to the church saying he would give it to his "neighbors" but not to the church in Salt Lake City.

Finally in exasperation he set a deadline of the close of business on a certain date for the church to accept his terms or forfeit his offer. The church finally agreed to his terms. On the final day of the offer, a church representative flew into Kansas City. Bill Hughlett drove to Kansas City, picked up the church representative and brought him to Joplin, arriving around four o'clock -- about an hour before the deadline Mr. Norman had set. They were met at Mr. Norman's office by Dr. Wintle and perhaps others, and the donation was consummated.

Later, three of the four square blocks were sold to developers. The proceeds of the sale became the largest cash portion of our local unit's twenty percent contribution to the construction costs of the first part of the Joplin Meetinghouse.

The first part of the Joplin Branch Meetinghouse was constructed in 1960-61 and was comprised of the chapel and all offices and classrooms directly south of the chapel. It was built by a combination of contracts, day labor, and donated labor. George Durocher of Wichita, Kansas, a cousin of Glen O.

Johnson, was the construction superintendent.

(The enclosed additional information was provided by Bro. Paul Johnson of the Carthage Ward:

Glen Johnson Sr. was the Construction Foreman.

Steven Hughlett, Phillip Durocher, and Paul Johnson were laborers.

Donated Labor:
Forrest Masters - Plumber
Robert Moffet
Ralph Green
Don Warren
Bill Hughlett Sr.
Bill Hughlett Jr
Glen Johnson Jr.
David Hughlett
Mike Hughlett
Bud Meyers
Joe Hughlett
Wesley (Skinny) Green
Carl Crouch
Walter Lee Walker
Norman Spring
Billy Chase
Dennis Peck
Lee Peck
W.T. Peck

Plus the following worked 40 hours for pay and 40 hours donated labor:

Steve Hughlett, Phillip Durocher, Paul Johnson and Glen Johnson Sr.)

The building has been added onto twice. The cultural hall, Relief Society room, and all directly east thereof were built in the early 1970s mostly by contract. The stake offices and all else north of the chapel and cultural hall were added in the late 1970s – again mostly under contract.

Central States Mission

The Central States Mission was a big mission and was headquartered in Independence, Missouri.

In the 1950s and early '60s, the Central States Mission included Missouri, Iowa, Nebrasks, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, and perhaps more.

President Spencer W. Kimball served his mission in the Central States Mission -- most of the time in Oklahoma, but I believe he served some time in Texas.

Central States Mission Presidents

Samuel O. Bennion served for about thirty years. He was mission president when Brother Tomlinson was baptized),

(There may be a gap here)

Alvin R. Dyer

Samuel R. Carpenter

Carlos G. Smith

Wayne C. Player

James B. Keysor

and James West

Central States Mission Board

There was a mission board much as there is a stake board now. Mission board members were drawn from all areas of the mission and were expected to attend district conferences wherever they were held in the mission. The mission president's wife always served as the mission Relief Society president.

Early in the 1960s, Gladys Drummond of Springfield and Gertie Ohler of Joplin were counselors to the mission Relief Society president. Mildred Alderman of Joplin was the secretary. James G. Drummond of Springfield and Donald E. Warren of Joplin were on the mission board for the Aaronic

Priesthood. This group, as did other mission board members, traveled to district conferences in Des Moines, Iowa; Omaha, Nebraska; Wichita, Kansas; Sedalia, Missouri; Columbia, Missouri; etc.

The writer (Don E. Warren) remembers that also in the 1960s a group from Bartlesville, Oklahoma, including Veigh J. Neilson was on the mission board. Elder Neilson later served as president of the Tulsa Oklahoma Stake, mission president, regional representative, and most recently president of the Dallas, Texas Temple.

Youth Conferences

Until the mid- to late '60s, when most of the larger population centers -- Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Wichita, Omaha, Des Moines, etc., had been made stakes, youth conferences were held on a mission basis. For several years in the late '40s and early '50s, most of them were held in Independence, Missouri. Later, they were held in Oklahoma City; Wichita; Tulsa; Ames, Iowa; Sedalia;

Springfield; and several times in Jefferson City, Missouri.

Southwest Missouri District

Inspirational Story:

Brother Tomlinson relates and Brother Glen Johnson confirms that at one time in the early days Sister Edna Mae Johnson had TB. She was so weak that she was unable to care for her family. Their youngest daughter, Ruby, was one year old. She was brought to the Tomlinson's home for Sister Tomlinson to care for. At a district conference held in Springfield in 1927, President Heber G. Grant presided. After one of the sessions, President Grant walked down the aisle to where Sister Johnson was sitting, placed a hand on her and said to her, "Woman, don't you worry; you will live to raise all your children." And she did. She died at age 93.

Branches 1958-62

Springfield, Joplin, Webb City, Fayetteville, Commerce, Pittsburg, Cross Timbers, and West Plains (?).

Dependent Sunday School -- later dependent branch – Neosho attached to Joplin.

District Presidencies during late '50s and '60s

James G. Drummond with King E. Beagley and Kenneth Rone as counselors.

Kenneth Bone

Two Mission Disctricts Created
In 1963, the Southwest Missouri District was divided to form two districts: Southwest Missouri District headquartered in Joplin, and South Central Missouri District headquartered in Springfield.

The new Southwest Missouri District consisted of branches in Joplin; Pittsburg, Kansas; Commerce, Oklahoma; and Fayetteville, Arkansas, along with the dependent branch at Neosho, Missouri, attached to the Joplin Branch.

The new South Central District was comprised of the remaining units of the old Southwest Missouri District.

Presidencies of the New Southwest Missouri District

Donald E. Warren with William E. Hughlett and Walter R. Tomlinson, counselors and Robert W. Moffet, clerk.

Richard Wallace with William E. Hughlett and Walter R. Tomlinson, counselors.

Changes in Southwest Missouri District

-- Organized an independent branch in Neosho.

While Neosho was a dependent Sunday School and later a dependent branch attached to Joplin, the regular and dependable attendees at Neosho were William Marion Gunnels and his wife Nancy "C" Dona Gunnels and Elizabeth Temperance Barcroft.

A member of the Joplin Branch presidency went to Neosho each Sunday to help with the services and Sacrament.

While he was a member of the Joplin Branch presidency, Brother said that when he, his wife and six children visited Neosho that Neosho's attendance on those Sundays always doubled or more than doubled.

-- Organized an independent branch in Siloam Springs, Arkansas.

-- Organized a dependent branch in Gentry, Arkansas.

-- Organized a dependent Sunday School in Monett attached to the Neosho Branch.

At that time there were four known church members in Monett: an elderly lady, a mother and her adolescent daughter and son. Meetings were held in the mother's home.

There were two or three known church members in the Cassville area.

Southwest Missouri District

In 1972, to prepare the area for stakehood, the two districts of Southwest Missouri and South Central Missouri were rejoined to form the Southwest Missouri District.

The district presidency members were Carroll S. Claybrook and Richard Wallace of Joplin and Wilbur Murray of Springfield.

The Ozark Stake was created in 1973 by Elder Spencer W. Kimball, president of the quorum of the twelve, assisted by Elder L. Tom Perry.

Carroll S. Claybrook was called and sustained as stake president with Richard Wallace and Wilbur Murray as counselors.