Sunday school teacher finds her chapel

Mary Johnson of Bend took a trip back in time last Sunday, April 5, to the little chapel where she taught Sunday school 50 years ago.

"I just knew it had to be the same school," Johnson said on her return to the Chapel in the Pines in Camp Sherman. "After seeing a newspaper article about the old Chapel, it had to be my old school."

In those not-so-long-ago logging days, Shevlin-Hixon lumber camps moved from area to area harvesting timber, Johnson recounted. The workers' houses were loaded on railroad flat cars and moved to their new location. The "chapel" was also moved in the same manner to provide for the spiritual needs of lumbermen and their families.

Mary remembers teaching Sunday school (on Wednesday evenings) both in Tumalo and in Sisters during the mid-to-late 1940s. The Sisters location was on the west-side of town where highways 20 and 242 meet. This isn't very far from some of the historic housing off Highway 242 that had been housing camps for past lumber operations.

"There would be three classes of differing ages going on in the old chapel" she said. "Meetings lasted about 60 to 90 minutes and were well attended."

Mary taught the youngest children and she continues teaching kindergarten today at Bend's Thompson Elementary School. During her career she has also been a missionary worker in Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.

The Chapel in the Pines has resided permanently in Camp Sherman since 1957. The building has been refurbished both inside and out. Mary Johnson was very happy to see how the changes looked at the chapel.

Services are still held 10 a.m. every Sunday at the non-denominational church. The church bell announces the start of service. Mary and her husband Vernon got their chance to ring that bell last Sunday.