Surnames: Longenecker, Ernst, Edwards, Orr, Dechant, Zaeske, Schweinler, Reichert, Scott, Roessler, Bruley

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI.) May, 17, 1951

Longenecker, George W. (October 1861 - 11 May 1951)

Geo. Longenecker dies at age of 89 - Was Community Pastor at Neillsville 38 Years - Poet, Horseman

The Rev. George W. Longenecker has been interred at Wauwatosa, following funeral services there Monday afternoon. Burial took place in the cemetery lot of the daughter, Gladys, Mrs. Edwards, where her husband is buried. Officiating was the Rev. N. J. Dechant, formerly pastor of Zion Reformed Church here. Among the pallbearers were three men who were, as boys, members of Mr. Longenecker’s Sunday school class. These were Elmer Zaeske, Charles Schweinler and Ray Reichert.

Present from the Neillsville Congregational church, of which Mr. Longenecker was pastor 38 years, was Jess Scott, chairman of the board of deacons, with Mrs. Scott. They took with them the offering, hurriedly made, from members of the church. With a bountiful display of flowers already provided, it was the expressed wish of Mrs. Longenecker that the local offering be used toward a marker for Mr. Longenecker’s grave.

Mr. Scott told the Longenecker family that the limited time available had made it possible to contact only a few of the Neillsville church and community and that doubtless other contributions might be anticipated. In that case, it was stated by members of the family, it would be their desire that the fund to be used for the purchase of a Memorial window, to be installed in the church building in Neillsville.

Old Minister Fades Away - It was the impression of Mr. and Mrs. Scott that the last rites for the old minister were characterized by unusual calm and resignation on the part of Mrs. Longenecker and the children. For some years past Mr. Longenecker had been failing, and the members of the family could see the approach of the inevitable. The chief regret expressed by Mrs. Longenecker was that Mr. Longenecker died before their sixtieth wedding anniversary, which would have come next August.

Until the end Mr. Longenecker was thinking of Neillsville and of his accustomed interests and activities. On Wednesday, May 9, going out of the house, he saw upon the porch a package which had been left by the mail man. He gathered this up and started out, telling a neighboring boy that the package was his baggage and that he was going to Neillsville. He started bravely out, with kindly eyes upon him, and was presently led back to the Edwards home. Ascending the steps to the porch, he fell, cutting his forehead. He was taken to the hospital for a short time, and was then brought back to the home. Members of the family believe that Mr. Longenecker, just prior to the fall, had a first, light stroke. At that time a message was sent to the daughter Lois, Mrs. Ray Orr, at Berea, Ky., and she hurried to Wauwatosa, being present at the end. The final stroke came Friday evening.

Played His Violins - Earlier in the week, Mr. Longenecker had proceeded with the usual routine, reading with Mrs. Longenecker and playing the violin. On the last day of their reading, he asked her to read to him, saying that his vision was not up to it. With his usual happy pride in the possession of four violins, he pulled them all out and played on them, one after the other.

At the conclusion of his address at the funeral service, Mr. Dechant read from Mr. Longenecker’s poem "Sunset," the first in his book of "Sunset Poems, " concluding thus:--

"But our life is not a dream, It is brightened by a gleam, By a hope of life to be, Of a life we yet shall see.

A new morning shining bright With a fine celestial light, Lighting up eternal day When the night has gone away.

We shall live, so do not fear, There are other worlds not here.

His Early Years - Mr. Longenecker was born in October, 1861, and was 89 at death. He came of Swiss stock. His father was a Pennsylvania farmer. The family moved to Kalamazoo County, Michigan, when George was seven years of age. During his youth he helped his farther on the farm; went to high school after he became 21; taught country school; worked on a farm in Nebraska; worked a farm on shares; clerked in a store two years.

Mr. Longenecker was brought up in the German Reformed Church. He became acquainted with a young Congregational preacher, and was thus led to attend Oberlin College and Seminary. After he finished college he married Rose Ernst, whom he had come to know in high school.

Mr. Longenecker’s first work as a preacher was in northern Wisconsin. He was the only preacher between Ashland and Spooner, and he traveled over this large pastorate, preaching and holding Sunday schools. During this period the first baby came to the Longeneckers, a girl. She did not live; was buried in the north woods.

The Longeneckers went to Oberlin, where Mr. Longenecker took two years to complete his seminary work. During this period he preached at the church at West Andover, Ohio, and went to the pastorate there upon graduation from the seminary. From there he came to the Neillsville church in 1897.

Long Pastorate - The Rev. George W. Longenecker served 38 years as pastor of the Congregational Church in Neillsville. His was the longest pastorate, by all odds, in local history; was one of the longest pastorates of the Congregational denomination in the entire state.

Mr. Longenecker, however, was more than the pastor of one church. In the sense of the modern go-getters in church promotion, he was somewhat indifferent to names on a church roll. He was intent upon people, in and out of his church. He liked to walk leisurely up and down the street, greeting his friends, of his own church, of other churches, and of no church. The result was that he came to be recognized as a community pastor. He was the choice of most of the unchurched of the countryside for funerals and weddings. In his second period of service in Neillsville from 1916 to the end of 1945, he performed 255 wedding ceremonies, and conducted 800 funerals.

Through these services at weddings and funerals Mr. Longenecker came to have a unique relationship to the Neillsville area, a relation which no other person has ever had and which probably no other ever will have. All of the families thus served came to count him in. He was one of them. Hence he was tied into the Neillsville community as no other man has been.

Her Never (unclear) - The preference for him bringing the (some lines too dark and blurred to read) to his gentle spirit was his contact. He was at his best in funeral sermons. He always said the thing that helped and pleased; never the thing that disturbed. At funerals he was not the judge; he left that to the Almighty. He gave the departed the benefit of whatever doubt there was. The opening or closing of the pearly gates was not regarded by him as his particular job.

A graduate of Oberlin College, Mr. Longenecker had an adequate educational background. His service was not remarkable, however, for scholarly oratory in the pulpit. Indeed, in his last years his sermons came to have certain sameness. It was his human qualities that especially commended him. He had in him much of the artist, with the desire to play the violin, in which he made no especial mark, and to write poetry, in which he had no little ability.

His human quality shone out especially in his love for horses and in his taste for racing them. He was a horse-racing preacher, with a horse that he drove himself at fairs hereabouts. This was not an ecclesiastical pursuit, but it gave him an earthy touch in a community which knew horses and respected a man who could handle them. Mr. Longenecker and his horses were a common sight in the Neillsville of 30 years ago.

His Old horse, Honest John - Mr. Longenecker’s love for horses and his skill in poetry came together in his poem "Honest John," which will be found elsewhere in this issue. (It was not available to copy it here). This poem was written by Mr. Longenecker upon turning a faithful old horse out to die, that horse had gone with the Longeneckers to Dakota and to Utah, and had brought them back to Neillsville.

The Longeneckers came from Michigan to Neillsville in 1897. They brought two small children with them, and added two more to the flock during their first residence here, ending in 1905. Mr. Longenecker then had the western urge. He and the family pulled up stakes and went to a homestead about 24 miles from Berthold, North Dakota. There they set out to farm, but the preaching business was never far in the offing. Even from Wisconsin Mr. Longenecker took a tent, purchased at an auction here, and set it up in the farm yard. There he held services, to which came the homesteaders from miles around.

A Preaching Homesteader - Presently the village of Plaza sprang up close by, and there Mr. Longenecker began to preach in a hardware store. Other business buildings were used until a church building was finally available. The farming business never was a thoroughly satisfactory career for Mr. Longenecker. So when August Roessler went to North Dakota from Neillsville and saw the Longenecker home, which was large for that time and place, being all of 20 x 20 and a story and a half high, the Longeneckers sold to him, farm and home and went to a pastorate in Minot. They were there from 1908 to 1910, after which Honest John was again called into service and the Longeneckers went to Provo, Utah, where they had a pastorate two years.

Then Honest John hit the eastward trail with the Longeneckers; returning to Wisconsin they first took a pastorate at Viola. They came back to Neillsville in 1916.

Upon their return Mr. Longenecker was still fractionally a farmer. The arrangement was that, in addition to his pastoral work, Mr. Longenecker might work the Fred Bruley place just north of Neillsville. He did this until the place was sold. Then Mr. Longenecker bought Sunset Point, long the family home, on the banks of Black River on the north side. There Mr. Longenecker made a large garden. Therein he grew many things, including fine melons, until not many years ago, his crop was ruined by nocturnal visitors. So, in his last years, Mr. Longenecker gave up melons.

He Was Not Mercenary - Throughout his associations with Neillsville and its people, Mr. Longenecker was anything but mercenary. His salary was never higher than $700; much of the time it was not far from $500. Much of the time there was an arrearage, but Mr. Longenecker never complained. He had from weddings and funerals an income about which he sometimes spoke with money matters came up, but that income could not have been large. His attitude reflected, not only the viewpoint of half a century ago, but also the sacrificial attitude which characterized his attitude toward the Christian ministry.

Though the income was small, Mr. and Mrs. Longenecker brought up their family at a time when the dollar was large and when there were fewer places demanding it. In her unpublished autobiography, which the editor of the Press was once permitted to read; Mrs. Longenecker describes the family entertainment in the North Dakota home. There, far from urban distractions and with no call of radio or movies, the Longenecker children gathered around their father and mother and listened to Mr. Longenecker read from the Bible and from the classics. While the modern way may have its points, it would appear that the old way did something, also as may be gathered from the list below of Longenecker children with their present status:--

Ernest, the oldest, is an industrial engineer, residing in Wauwatosa. He was recently honored by the University of Wisconsin for his outstanding success.

Mrs. Gladys Edwards, Wauwatosa, is a teacher in a vocational school.

William Longenecker is a professor of horticulture at the University of Wisconsin. He has charge of the arboretum and of landscaping the University grounds.

Lois, Mrs. Ray Orr, is wife of a professor at Berea College, Berea, KY.

The are nine living grandchildren

Following his resignation from the Neillsville pastorate at the end of 1945, Mr. and Mrs. Longenecker divided their time between Sunset Point and residence with their various children. Finally, with Mr. Longenecker unable longer to carry on around the home, they sold off their household goods and gave up their residence in Neillsville. Thus in a little more than five years the old minister of Neillsville has been, like MacArthur’s old soldier, "fading away." The end came quickly in a stroke at the home of his daughter in Wauwatosa.

Most notable event in the final years of Mr. Longenecker, after his resignation, was the publication of his book, "Sunset Poems." Thereupon, on June 4, 1947, Mr. Longenecker was honored by a community open house at the Congregational Church, at which selections were read and presentation of an autographed copy of the book, was made to the Neillsville Library.