Trinity Lutheran Church Celebrates 50 Years

On Nov. 15, Trinity Lutheran Church in State College celebrated its 50th anniversary by recreating its first service.

The Rev. Ronald C. Miller Jr., pastor of Trinity, and the Rev. Michael Rhyne, bishop of the Allegheny Synod, shared the pulpit while following the original bulletin from 1965.

Joyful Voices, directed by Donna Weller, Geron Davis and Marty Parks, opened with a lovely arrangement of “Holy Ground.” James Rearick provided the beautiful organ music that filled the sanctuary with jubilant chords and runs. A new banner in the narthex, made by Karen Aubuchon, celebrated the anniversary.

Books commemorating Trinity’s 50 years were available for all in attendance. The books were filled with pictures and descriptions of the early church, as well as essays from various groups within the church, including Bible studies, the quilt group, Trinity Wheelmen, the annual yard sale commitee and others.

Sue Mayer, in her writing, said, “Trinity has prided itself by providing Sunday School to its members for preschool through adult classes. As the class sizes have changed, the offerings and the types of classes have evolved over the 50 years. Vacation Bible School has been held most summers over the 50 years.”

Many know Trinity Lutheran, located at 2221 N. Oak Lane, as the church with two steeples and an unusual shape.

The first sanctuary, built four years after the first service in 1969, was a small hexagonal-shaped structure topped with a simple cross, adjoined to a Sunday school building. Both were designed by a well-known central Pennsylvania architect Jack Risheberger.

By 1994, new classrooms, office space and a new hexagonal-shaped sanctuary were added. The original sanctuary became the fellowship hall, but the old steeple remained, and now Trinity is the church with two steeples.

Trinity’s 50th Anniversary Planning Committee consisted of Dick and Dee Frisque, Lou and Susan Mayer, Pastor Miller, Duane and Marla Moberg, chair Megan Orient and Christina Pillot.