This Week in Texas Methodist History May 30

 

Texas Conference Looks to End of an Era, June 1-5, 1959

 

As the Texas Annual Conference of the South Central Jurisdiction convened on June 1, 1959 in First Methodist Church Houston, they were very aware that the end of an era was approaching.  Bishop A. Frank Smith was presiding over the annual conference as he had done so since 1934—an amazingly long tenure for a bishop.  Adding to the historical significance was the fact that Smith had been elected bishop while serving as pastor the church in which the conference was meeting.  Even more striking was the fact that Smith stayed in Houston after his election in 1930 and was assigned to Missouri Conferences.  There was no requirement that a bishop live in the episcopal area to which he had been assigned, so from 1930-34 Smith presided over Missouri churches while living in Houston. 

 

But in June 1959, everyone knew that mandatory retirement would mean just one more year for Bishop Smith.  His long tenure made him one of the most recognizable celebrities in Houston and the only bishop than many Methodists ever knew. 

 

How should this long tenure be celebrated?  Naturally there would be a retirement banquet and gifts.  There would be glowing tributes and humorous anecdotes, but the Conference had something more lasting in mind---a published history of the conference and a biography of Bishop Smith.  The Chair of the Conference Historical Society (the precursor of the Commission on Archives and History) was C. A. West, and he reported on the desire to publish the two book, and a third one, a new history of Texas Methodism from 1900-1960. 

 

West presented a resolution for the first two of these books, asking that the Smith biography be a joint project with the Southwest Texas Conference.  Smith also presided over the Southwest Texas and Rio Grande Conferences.   West notably omitted the Rio Grande Conference from his resolution even though several of its members such as Alfredo Nanez and Oscar and Minerva Garza were deeply involved in Texas Methodist history. 

 

All three of the books were eventually published.  West is listed as editor for Texas Conference:  Methodism on the March 1814-1960.  It was ready for distribution in 1960.  Demand was overestimated so there are still unopened boxes in the Texas Conference Archives.   It is a committee work rather than a unified interpretive history and included a photo directory of pastors. 

 

The Smith biography went though some growing pains as the personal originally contracted to write it, collected materials, but did not finish.  It was written by Dr. Norman Spellman of Southwestern University as Growing a Soul.   (1979)

 

The third historical volume was Olin Nail’s  History of Texas Methodism: 1900-1960. (1961)

 

 

Nail had just published the centennial history of his home Conference, The First 100 Years of the Southwest Texas Conference, 1858-1958    (1958)

 

 

We are grateful for C. A. West, Olin Nail, Norman Spellman, and the other Texas Methodist historians of the mid 20^th century for their work.