LOOKING BACK
Serving Up
Supper and Sermons
Circa 1947
Packanack Community Church’s first prayer service was held in the Packanack Lake Clubhouse on March 2, 1947,
before an actual church had been built. In September of that year, the church’s congregation was still
growing rapidly and its 250 Sunday school children could no longer fit in this temporary classroom.
Reverend C. Stuart Simmons, the parish’s full-time minister, approached Chris and Lou Knops, the owners of
the nearby Packanack Inn cocktail bar and eatery. The Knops graciously agreed to host the overflow of
children and their families every Sunday for the next four years until the church structure was built in 1951.
– Photograph provided by Donna Schweitzer and information from Kristi Vaiden
and Packanack Community Church
Do you have a great photo for Looking Back? Send your suggestions to wayne@northjersey.com.
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WAYNE MAGAZINE SPRING 2015