Guild House ministry celebration in Sunday spotlight

Guild House ministry celebration in Sunday spotlight

Sixty-six years of ministry to the University of Michigan and to the Ann Arbor community will be celebrated Sunday afternoon at Memorial Christian Church. The service will honor the Rev. H. L. Pickerill of Martinsville, Ind., and remember the late Rev. Katherine Pickerill, giving thanks for their years of work together.

Beginning at 2:30 p.m. with 30 minutes of music offered by organist Iris Murtaugh in memory of the musicianship the Rev. Katherine Pickerill used in her ministry, the service will feature participation by Guild House alumni from across the country.

Ingrid Deininger, Donita Fritze, Barbara Fuller and Margaret Long Matthews will remember the Rev. Mrs. Pickerill, who died in January, 1986. Sue Bates, former associate minister of Guild House, Ruth Berlow, and David Tyner will speak about the Guild House ministry during the Pickerill years.

The chancel choir, under the direction of Joel Beam, will sing a work by Guild House Alumna Rebecca Badger Horvath, “Go Down Death”, based upon a poem by James Weldon Johnson. The Rev. Mr. Pickerill will speak.

In connection with the celebration, the Rev. Russell M. Fuller, also a Guild House Alumnus, has arranged publication of a book, “To Help Individuals Grow”, describing the ministry of the Guild House.

The Rev. Mr. Pickerill was called to Ann Arbor in 1934 by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to be director of the Michigan Christian Foundation. In this position, he carried out responsibilities for campus ministries at the University of Michigan.

In 1941, the Congregational Church of Ann Arbor joined the Christian Church in a united program for students, and the Pickerills then devoted full time to the campus ministry centered at Guild House. Their ministry to University of Michigan students through prayer, work, social involvement, community concern, music, art and nature continued for the next 16 years until their retirement in 1967.

Revs. H. L. and Katherine Pickerill