Dayton Methodists Honor 91 year old preacher, E. W. Solomon, August 1942 E. W. Solomon, a retired preacher living in Dayton was honored on his 91st birthday in August 1942 with a huge party. In addition to celebrating his birthday, he also celebrated the 70th anniversary of his entering the ministry. He was born in Alabama and had memories of the Civil War. He attended Auburn College (today Auburn University) and was a member of the Alabama Confernce for 16 years. He transferred to the Texas Confernce in 1888 and was appointed to Shearn in Houston (today First Methodist). He also served Austin, Texarakana, Corsicana, Lufkin, Huntsville, Bryan, and Marshall. Bishop Frank Smith remembered hearing him preach as a boy in Corsicana. He baptized Senator Morris Sheppard when the future senator was student at the University of Texas. He was also the presiding elder of 4 districts in his long career. Tributes and visitors poured in from all over the Texas Conference. Mrs Solomon was still livng and other family members were there as well as clergy and laity. His text for the sermon was “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed. . “ The Texas Conference Archives holds the guest book for this grand occaision, billed as honoring the oldest Methodist preacher in Texas (can’t verify that he really was). This event has a special personal resonance. That same summer, Dayton held a revial. As I have noted before, there were lots of gimmicks used to increase attendance. This revial’s gimmick was that the preaching would be done by a 91 year old and a 19 year old. The 91 year of old was Rev. Solomon. The 19 year old was my father, John Wesley Hardt. He was home for the summer from Lon Morris College and looking forward to entering SMU in the fall. His father was the preacher in Anahuac which was conveniently located to Dayton. A 91 year old and 19 year old sharing preaching for a revival---it probably won’t happen again.