Memorial service held as Ivanhoe church closes doors
Sunday to be last service for struggling church

By Staff reports

For more than 40 years, Norman Warren, now 85, has made the 18-mile round-trip drive from his home in Visalia to a small community church in Ivanhoe.

Once there, Warren would deliver a Sunday sermon to those who had gathered.

"I probably have driven a million miles," said Warren, who has served as the church's preacher for 43 years.

But on Sunday, Warren will make the trip for the last time, and the church will close its doors forever.

"I'll miss everything, but at the same time, I'm going to wonder what to do on my Sunday mornings," Warren said.

For the church, it has been a struggle. Thirteen years ago, Warren wrote a history of the church, which was founded in 1942. The 90-page story details the church's struggles.

"Our Bible study classes are averaging about eight, and in the morning assembly hour, our attendance runs from 10 to about 14. Within the near future, we will be forced to do something we've never done before," Warren wrote in 1991.

In addition Warren chronicled a tough decision made by the church in 1991. The church, often plagued by graffiti , paid to put up a chain-link fence to deter spray-can graffiti.

"We have finally decided to build a 6-foot fence, which changes the looks, but protects the property.

"We are frustrated, angered and confused," Warren wrote.

Despite early trouble, the church continued to hang on for 13 more years, but numbers continued to dwindle. New members were not coming into the church, and longtime members were dying.

"It's not unusual to have three people at the services," Warren said Friday.

Despite everything, Warren hopes the last service will draw large numbers and invites the community to share memories of the church.

"We are just going to laugh and talk about the church and those who used to be," Warren said.