MCGEHEE — St. Mary Church in McGehee shares a birthday. Both the parish and the town are 100 years old. On Sunday, June 18 about 70 members of the parish met for a noon potluck in the church hall to mark the centennial.
“We’ve been larger and we’ve been smaller,” said parishioner Bill Conway, who acts as a caretaker for the church, “but we’re always here.”
Originally established as St. Winand Parish, the church was dedicated in 1908 under the direction of Father Matthew Loettele, OSB. Building was almost a constant part of parish life with construction of a rectory in 1909, a combination school and residence for the teaching nuns in 1915, and a monastery for the Carmelites in 1917 when the Benedictines left McGehee.
The school and the convent were also enlarged that year. After the huge flood of 1927, a new parish school went up. The church, badly damaged in the flood, was extensively remodeled in 1946, then replaced in 1956. A new rectory was constructed the same year.
Betty Montgomery, a lifelong parishioner, remembers her first day at school in 1932.
“There were only two rooms for all eight grades and the rooms were full of students. Many were non-Catholic, even some Jewish children. At noon, one of the nuns asked who was going to stay to eat with them. I said, ’I will.’”
Montgomery said she didn’t realize that the nuns cooked lunch only for themselves and the few children who lived out in the country and couldn’t get home for lunch. Town children went home for lunch and that’s what Montgomery’s mother was expecting her to do.
“After we ate with the nuns, I was outside playing when my mother showed up,” she said. “I didn’t stay for lunch again.”
Her son, Greg Montgomery, was a sixth grader when the school closed.
“There were three of us in my grade,” he said. “I spent most of my time teaching the lessons to one of the other kids because it was very difficult for the nuns to teach four different grade levels.”
Grades one through four met in one of the classrooms and grades five through eight met in the other room.
McGehee was a thriving center for Catholicism in southeast Arkansas for nearly 60 years. Father Loettele cared for missions in Arkansas City, Watson, Dermott, Grady, Hamburg and Warren through the end of World War I. St. Mary continues to serve the community with an active food pantry ministry and work with Southeast Arkansas Home Rehabilitators. The parish hall and former friary at the parish are used by visiting missionaries working with the rehabilitators.
Today the church has about 100 members. It is a mission of Our Lady of the Lake Church in Lake Village. Father Theophilus Okpara is the pastor.
