SGC’s Histories
Spring Glen Church (SGC) first gathered in 1929 and was formerly incorporated in 1930 in a former Milk House as a non-denominational Protestant church, emphasizing diversity of faith and serving the community, in the 1950s joining the newly formed United Church of Christ.
Racial Justice
Enrich our growing community.
- 1930 SGC is founded in a neighborhood that was explicitly & intentionally segregated
- 1953 SGC’s first known Black preacher, Rev Amugbe Shodekeh from Sierra Leone West Africa
- 1953 (February 22) Rev Everrett Parker guest preaches, he would later go on to collaborate with Rev Dr MLK to organize a campaign challenging the racist lack of representation on American TV
- 1955 (November 20) First Asian preacher, Rev Kiyoshi Tanimoto of Hiroshima, Japan
- 1960 (April 24) First recorded African American clergy preaching, Rev William Philpot of Community Baptist Church
- 1960 (June 4) Rev Buck Coe preaches “A New Creation” about the sin of racism & segregation, calling for integration of all institutions including churches, and calls out resistance to integration both in the South and in Spring Glen Church itself.
- 1961 In May, Former SGC member, Yale Chaplain, and Wesleyan Faculty John Maguire participates in the Freedom Rides
- 1962 Rev Forrest Johnson (who would later become Senior Pastor of SGC) was arrested on the Albany, GA courthouse steps while praying with Rev Dr MLK Jr. They fasted for 36 hours in jail. Prior to their arrest, Dr King had commissioned Rev Johnson to speak with local white clergy in Albany. Later in life, Rev Johnson would become an active member of PFLAG and an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights.
- 1965 Former Senior Pastor Buckner Coe marches in Selma;
- 1968 member & former interim minister Gaylord Noyce arrested as Freedom Rider;
- 1969 SGC & Community Baptist partner on interracial Vacation Bible School
- 1971 (May 9) Rev Thomas Scott preaches about the inequity of the bail system in the US
- 1974 First known instance of SGC sponsoring a refugee family when we helped resettle a family from Vietnam
- 1977 (June 12) Famed pastor Rev Samuel Slie preaches at SGC and again on September 4 along with YDS professor SGC member James Dittes
- 1981 Cecil Davis becomes the first known Black member of Spring Glen Church and first known interracial family with wife Susan and daughter Sally.
- 1986Sally Davis first known biracial Black person to be confirmed at SGC.
- 1988-1989 Paul Lee serves as seminarian “Parish Associate,” the first Asian American clergy on staff
- 1989-1990 Jennifer Ramirez serves as seminarian “Parish Associate,” the first Hispanic clergy on staff
- 1991 (January 20) President of the United Congregational Church of South Africa Rev Hendrick Pillay preached, at least the third time clergy or missionary from South Africa preached at SGC about apartheid
- 2000 Rev Nayiri Karjian serves as interim and first Middle Eastern woman Senior Pastor
- 2017Calvon Jones, first Black Member-in-Discernment ordained;
- 2018 Gabby Cudjoe-Wilkes, first Black clergy on staff;
- 2021Dawn Jefferson & JaQuan Beachem, first Black openly LGBTQ+ Members-in-Discernment Ordained
LGBTQIA+ History
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- 1959-1963 Ardith Hayes serves as Minister of Christian Education while attending Yale Divinity School. Later in life she would come out as gay and would marry the love of her life in 2008 when same-sex marriage was legalized after spending 28 years together.
- 1962 Rev Forrest Johnson (who would later become Senior Pastor of SGC) was arrested on the Albany, GA courthouse steps while praying with Rev Dr MLK Jr. They fasted for 36 hours in jail. Prior to their arrest, Dr King had commissioned Rev Johnson to speak with local white clergy in Albany. Later in life, Rev Johnson would become an active member of PFLAG and an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights.
- 1960s SGC holds a cross-dressing fundraiser event. Without more details though, it’s hard to tell if these were liberating events subverting gender norms akin to a proto-drag-show or repressive events that reinforced sexist stereotypes
- 1985-1987 David Shull serves two years as seminarian “Parish Associate.” He later came out and made headlines for breaking barriers as the first openly gay minister in multiple churches.
- 1994 Former SGC Seminarian Rev David Shull makes headlines with then-husband becoming the first openly gay Associate Ministers of University Congregational Church in Seattle, WA. Rev Bill Hobbs invokes Rev Shull’s story in a sermon calling on the church to acceptance of gay members to alleviate the fear they and their families feel at being open.
- 1997 (May 18) Vote to officially become Open & Affirming at our annual meeting at 4pm in the afternoon. That morning SGC member Dick Smith preached for Confirmation Sunday, Kathy Peters wrote a statement, scripture 1 Cor 12:4-13; Acts 2:1-21; Confirmation Sunday
- 2008 Rev Jennie Ott first openly gay woman ordained at SGC
- 2011 Rev Jeffrey Crews first openly gay Senior Pastor
- 2017 Chaplain Asher KolieBoi, first openly Trans preacher at SGC
- 2021Dawn Jefferson & JaQuan Beachem, first Black openly LGBTQ+ Members-in-Discernment Ordained
- 2022 Began partnership with Manantial de Gracia, the only Spanish-language Open & Affirming congregation in the state


Women’s History
Take support to the next level.
- 1961 Ruth Ann Dudley (having been a member for 2 years) joins SGC’s CE staff while attending Yale Divinity School. Ruth Dudley later became the first female executive on the Connecticut Conference Staff where she developed a ministry resource library for the Conference that was later named after her and in 2017 became part of the West Hartford Congregational Library.
- 1964 SGC Hosts cutting edge women’s health cancer screenings in the former Sanctuary, now Great Hall
- 1974 Women’s Fellowship helps found first US Hospice Center;
- 1977 (former?) Member Dolly Bond ordained, First SGC woman to ordained in New Hartford
- 1978 Ordination of Bonnie Kittel, wife of interim minister, first woman to teach Old Testament at YDS
- 1980 (March 2) Lewellyn “Lelly” Smith first woman ordained here at SGC, who had also been the first female chaplain at Yale
- 1982 (July 25) Rev Sharon Watkins is first ordained woman on staff, preaches for the first time
- 1984 (February 19) Rev Sharon Watkins is ordained, serves both as Associate Minister and Interim Senior, making her the first female Senior Pastor of SGC
- 2005 Former SGC clergy Sharon Watkins becomes first female President of Disciples of Christ;




Accessibility History
Enrich our growing community.
- 1969 SGC Youth run Easter Egg Hunt specifically for people with handicaps
- 1974 Installed Earphones in the front pews of the sanctuary to make worship more accessible
- 1991 (April 28) SGC prints an affirmation of different abilities in bulletin
- 1992 elevator, pew cutout, bathrooms, & ramp installed for accessibility;


Fun Facts
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- 1942 Famed Theologian Richard Niebuhr, and SGC member, serves as interim minister
- 1952 (September 28) Rev Dr Luther Weigle, the chairman of the Revised Standard Version (1946) of the Bible and Dean Emeritus of YDS guest preached.
- 1954 (January 31) First recorded Youth Sunday.
- 1955 (February 20) First interfaith guest preacher, Rabbi Samuel Kenner, director of the Hamden Jewish Community Center
- 1957 The current Sanctuary is built, hosting its first worship service on Palm Sunday. The theme for the capital campaign was “To the Greater Glory of God”
- 1966 (January 16) First recorded use of dance in worship, YDS student Mary Arnall Broach did a modern dance interpretation of Psalm 100 and the Lord’s Prayer
- 1980s Deacons start “Dinner Theater” fundraisers that eventually turns into the Theater Arts Ministry program
- 2008 SGC founds it’s two endowment funds after a successful capital campaign, one for building upgrades and the other for the vitality of our programmatic ministries
Women’s Ordination
WOMEN ORDAINED BY SGC OR WHILE CONNECTED TO SGC
- 1977 Dolly Bond
- 1978 Bonnie Kittel
- 1980 Llewellyn “Lelly” Parson Smith (first at SGC, first female chaplain at Yale)
- 1984 Sharon Watkins (would become President of Disciples of Christ, first woman to run a mainline denomination)
- 1986 Lynn Carman Bodden
- 1986 Anne Louise Weisenfluh
- 1993 Jennifer Ramirez Knutsen
- 1994 Kathleen “Kathy” O’Toole Peters
- 1999 Rosemary Baue
- 2003 Nancy Wilkins Strickland
- 2003 Ruth LeBar
- 2008 Jennie Elizabeth Ott
- 2009 Adele Crawford
- 2019 Jennifer McCleery
- 2020 Laura Kisthardt
- 2021 Dawn Jefferson
- 2022 Caryne Eskridge
Men’s Ordination
MEN ORDAINED BY SGC OR WHILE CONNECTED TO SGC
- Ellsworth Comins
- William G Fish
- Peter Skaife
- Donald Frey
- George “Cal” Calvin Hanson
- Michael Moore
- David Shull
- Andrew J Nagy-Benson
- Arthur Latimer
- Kurt Shaffert
- Calvon Jones
- Jack Mahoney
- JaQuan Beachem
LGBTQIA+ Ordination
LGBTQIA+ CLERGY ORDAINED BY SGC OR WHILE CONNECTED TO SGC
- 1987 David Shull
- 2008 Jennie Elizabeth Ott
- 2011 Jeffrey Crews
- 2021 Dawn Jefferson
- 2021 JaQuan Beachem
- 2022 Caryne Eskridge
BIPOC Ordination
CLERGY OF COLOR ORDAINED BY OR WHILE CONNECTED TO SGC
- 1993 Jennifer Ramirez Knutsen
- 2018 Calvon Jones
- 2021 Dawn Jefferson
- 2021 Gabby Cudjoe-Wilkes
- 2021 JaQuan Beachem