The Church of Annunciation at Broad and Diamond St during the 1970s

Every Sunday morning, my mother would get me dressed early to go to church with my father and get there in time to attend Sunday school before the morning service. My father was a member of the Church of Annunciation at Broad and Diamond St in North Philadelphia during the 1960s and 70s. He served as the Rector’s Warden under the late Father Hoffmiester who baptized me when I was 5 years old.  I remember wearing a white lace doily pinned to the top of my head, my white gloves, stockings, and shoes. The altar boys would swing the balls of incense from side to side and we would all kneel at the altar to accept the body and blood of Jesus Christ. I would know the words to all the hymns we would sing every Sunday back then, but if I heard those hymns today I may be able to recite a few verses. Going to Church on Sunday mornings was one of my favorite memories. I was the days I got to spend time alone with my dad. It was just me and me, after Church he would always buy an ice cream sundae for us to split before we went home from church. 

The Church of Annunciation on Diamond St caught on fire years ago. Father Hoffmister passed away, and my father moved to San Francisco in 1991 to work as the manager of his younger brother's restaurant. My father passed away in 1998, and my brothers and I brought him back home to Philadelphia to bury him beside our mother. We arranged to have his funeral services at the new Church of Annunciation on Carpenter Lane off of Lincoln Drive. I believe my father would have been pleased with us for making sure his funeral services were at the Church of Annunciation. A place he called his second home where he worshipped the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and faithfully served his duties as the Rector’s Warden and the Episcopalian congregation he called his family. 

This is not a news story, this is the memories about how my father exposed his faith, religion, and spiritual values with me, his only daughter every Sunday as a baptized Episcopalian at the Church of Annunciation during the 60s and 70s. Thank you for giving me a place where I can share this memory of my father, the late Melvin Anthony Powell. 

Sincerely, 

Melva Marsha Powell