church
By lisa loving of The Skanner News
H
alf a dozen local congregations will
join together in recreating an his-
toric march celebrating the
Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church
60th anniversary.
The Palm Sunday Procession, Sunday,
April 17, marks the 1951 community event
in which the church congregation paraded
down Vancouver Avenue to officially open
their new church.
“It’s huge,” said event coordinator and
church historian Raymond Burrell. “And
it’s an event that’s etched in a lot of peoples’
minds.”
“This year marks the 60th anniversary of
that historic march, and so we’re going to
be celebrating it in the same fashion that
they did back in 1951,” he said.
The Vancouver Avenue First Baptist
Church congregation was able to purchase
their historic building at Vancouver Avenue
and North Fargo in 1950.
“It was of huge significance because at
the time the African American community
resided in the lower south end of North
Portland, which is now known as Jump
Town, and they were in a makeshift con-
demned rooming house,” Burrell said.
The congregation’s membership had
grown extensively following the Vanport
Flood in 1948.
“And this was an area that was redlined,
so they were very limited in what they could
actually acquire and so when they were able
to purchase the building it was huge —
number one, because of the cost of the
structure, and two, the size of the structure,”
he says.
So the congregation rallied together,
found the funds to buy the church, and
chose Palm Sunday as the day to commem-
orate this milestone in the community.
“And they marched up Vancouver Avenue
by the hundreds and people from every-
where joined in,” Burrell says.
The Oregonian article from that day
includes pictures showing Vancouver
Avenue filled with two straight lines of con-
gregants in choir robes and Sunday clothes.
Beloved Rev. O.B. Williams – looking
youthful at the beginning of his many years
of service there – is pictured at the pulpit.
Ten years later Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr., spoke at that same pulpit, in his only
visit to Oregon.
The April commemoration starts with
breakfast at Albina Park on North Flint
Street from 9 - 10 a.m. The procession will
depart from the park at approximately 10:15
a.m.
Shuttle buses are being provided at the
church to bring people to the march loca-
tion.
“So people can park at the church and ride
the bus down to the starting point, have
breakfast, catch up with old friends and
have a great time in terms of fellowship-
ping, and then join the procession,” Burrell
said.
Wheelchairs are available for seniors and
the disabled, which can be reserved by call-
ing 503-320-4592.
Also participating are: Woodlawn United
Methodist Church, New Covenant Baptist
Page 6 The Portland Skanner February 23, 2011
PHoto By Jerry FoSter
Vancouver Ave. Church Re-Enacts Palm Sunday Procession
thelma m. Sylvester, Ora l. Brown-Nunley, marge white (Cannon), margaret J. Payne-
saacs, and Olharyn E. Rand, all participated in the original march.
Church, Calvary Christian Center, Morning
Star Missionary Baptist Church, and the
Greater Mount Gilead Missionary Baptist
Church.
The breakfast is being hosted by the Links
women’s association. Also participating are
the Prince Hall Masonic Lodge is involved
in the celebration, as is the St. Joseph’s
Grand Lodge.
“So there’s a host of religious and civic
organizations that are joining forces to real-
ly celebrate this,” Burrell says.
Clarence Borden
Passed Away
C
larence Leon Borden was born on Oct. 4, 1937,
to Julius Borden and Susan Wyatt (Borden) in
Victoria, Texas. He passed on Feb. 11, 2011.
Clarence completed grade school and high school
at F.W. Gross in 1955. Clarence attended Prairie
View A & M University for one year prior to join-
ing the United States Air Force in 1956. He
remained in the Air Force until he retired with over
20 years of service in May of 1976.
Clarence met and married Dahlia Maggetti in
1968, while stationed at Great Falls, Montana. They
were married for over 39 years and had a daughter
Monica Borden.
Services were held Feb. 17, by Terry Family
Funeral Home.