Dear Church Members,
My greatest honor I shared with our church’s 140th birthday celebration on August 24, 2025. I was honored for having taught the Four-Year-Old Sunday School class for fifty years (in only three different rooms as our church was building on).
The altar table at the front of the church had been replaced in memory of my late husband, Doc Dodson, and two beautiful candleholders were made to match the altar table and presented to our church in my honor. What a gift it was!
The table and the two candleholders represent 62 years in First Methodist Church of Midland. Doc and I were married in our church in 1963, our two girls were baptized here in 1969 and 1971. Doc taught the 9th Grade Sunday School class for 25 years while I was teaching the four-year-olds for 50 years. Doc discovered the First Impressions Team by giving up teaching and stationed himself as a “greeter” in his red sport coat! Therefore, the First Impressions Team was founded and now wear red shirts instead of sport coats!
The 140th birthday celebration was the greatest day in our church with the music, the orchestra, the acolytes, Erin Black’s testimony, and the recognition of two former retired pastors, Lane Boyd and Dr. Tim Walker. Another special recognition was that seven out of thirteen church members 90 years and older were present that day!
Pastor Steve asked all to stand who were in my Sunday School class or connected with it in the 50 years as children and parents. There were several parents that I had taught, as well as their children! It looked like half of the congregation stood!
As I told Beth Garza, it was so wonderful, fantastic, and overwhelming how sensational the music service was. I celebrated my own 86th birthday on August 26, 2025, and still was in awe of our church’s birthday.
I was thrilled to see the memorabilia displayed as beautifully as it was. It brought memories of the full year I helped a former devoted and dedicated older church member, Frances Walker, who asked me to help her “dig out” our church history from a closet. After that, I was asked to be the Historian, which I accepted. Later on, Jim Collett appeared and soon I was history! I gladly gave him my title, and you know the rest of the story!
Last, but not least, Debbie Markley was my assistant in Sunday School for 29 years and she is still teaching! When I was told that we had to have two teachers in Sunday School the coming year, I told the administration I didn’t want help nor needed it! They told me I had to follow the rules! I did, of course, and Debbie (and her family) was one of the best things in life to ever happen to me! It was the best rule that I never broke. I gave her my title several years ago, and what a good feeling to leave my 50 years in such good hands.
The children that I taught each year of that “50” were precious, kind, loving, smart, and just plain wonderful and unforgettable. Four-year-olds love Jesus and you! I thank each and every one of them and their families for allowing me to teach them to know and follow Jesus, and to have some influence on their lives. They certainly enhanced my life, and having known each of them “my cup runneth over.” As time moves on, I shall always remember the children singing our favorite “Jesus Loves Me” and all that they taught me to go with it.
Gayle Dodson
Sunday School 4-year-olds Class Teacher
1974-2024