Click on the following links for related stories:
Presbyterian/Abilene History: A Minter Family Legacy
A Prayer for Abilene
Presbyterians, City Celebrate 145 Years

By Janice Six

For several years, a newspaper photo from 1925 was posted in Joe Allen’s Barbeque on South Treadaway. The photo was of George and Robbie Lee Allen and their ten children, ranging in age from 2 years to 20-something. Joe’s dad, Mabene Allen, was the fourth from the bottom in the stairstep line-up and my dad, Gene Allen, was the toddler at the bottom. Why did our family photo appear in the daily newspaper less than a week after having moved to Abilene? 

As the story goes, they arrived in Abilene on a Thursday. On Sunday morning the family walked downtown to First Presbyterian Church. They filled two pews and after worship promptly joined the church.  An employee of the newspaper, who was attending worship that Sunday, thought it was newsworthy for such a large family to join the church, so he asked if he could send a photographer to their home to take a photo and run it in the newspaper. My grandparents agreed and the headline over the photo read something like, “Presbyterian Church Increases by a Dozen.” 

Allen Family in 1925 Abilene Reporter-News photo

In the late 1940’s, my grandmother and three of her four children who were adults still living in Abilene and worshiping at First Presbyterian Church, moved their membership to Central Presbyterian Church. There they remained until the two congregations united in 1970. My parents, my husband and I, and both of our children and their spouses were all married in either First Presbyterian or First Central Presbyterian Church.  We now have three grandchildren who are the fifth generation of our family to be members.  Our youngest grandson was baptized 100 years after my grandparents and their children joined the church. It’s no wonder that understanding church as family comes so easy for me. 

So when I was offered the position of Director of Christian Education at First Central Presbyterian in 1997, I was honored to be given the opportunity to give back to the congregation that has meant so much to our family over the years. I served in this position until 2005, during which time I attended ACU Graduate School of Theology and received the Master of Divinity degree, necessary for ordination as a Minister of Word and Sacrament in the PC(USA). What a humbling and joyful gift it was to be called as the first female pastor to serve First Central Presbyterian Church. I served as the Associate Pastor from 2005 until I retired in 2023. 

Few pastors have the privilege of serving the congregation in which they were reared. By so doing, I already had a lifetime of memories and longstanding relationships within the congregation. In fact, there were older members I had known my entire life. As a pastor, I could now hold their hands and pray with them just as they had taught me to pray when I was a child.    

One poignant moment that I hope to never forget came as I stood at the bedside of the woman who had been my cradle roll teacher when I was a baby. Miss Juanita, who was nearing the end of her life, was very restless when I dropped by the hospital to see her. Not wanting to leave her in such a state, it occurred to me to do for her what she had done for so many babies over the years. I began softly singing to her a song I was sure she had sung to me numerous time: “Jesus Loves Me.” As I sang, she quieted and by the time I finished the song, she was calm and drifting back asleep. It was a full-circle moment for me to get to care for her at the end of her life just as she had cared for me at the beginning of mine. 

I’m so thankful that our adult children returned to Abilene and continue to worship and serve as members of First Central Presbyterian Church. It’s a joy to be celebrating the 145th anniversary of this congregation and to know that for the past 101 years, descendants of the Allen family have called this church our home. 

Janice Six is a retired minister at First Central Presbyterian Church and the author of two books.