Rev. Hugh Rose ~ 1954-1957

Installed November 19, 1954. Rev. Rose left Bethel to accept a call to Jefferson U.P. Church, Clairton, Pa. and served there until 1964. After leaving Jefferson in 1964 he served College Hill Presbyterian Church of Beaver Falls, Pa for seven years. It was very gratifying to see as may as sixty college students at each Sunday morning worship. The pastor has studied at the American School of Oriental Research, Jerusalem. Rev. Rose has been senior pastor of Cortland United Presbyterian Church, Cortland, New York since 1971. His wife Mary Catharine (Wayne) is full-time Christian Educator on the staff. Hugh and Cathy were married November 20, 1954 at Bethel. They are the parents of Hugh Scott, Jonathan Wayne, and Mary Kay.
The above information is all we had on Rev. Rose. We contacted Cortland United Presbyterian Church in Cortland, New York and ask if they could add to our history. We received the following from Bill Whiting the archivist of the Cortland Church. Our thanks to Bill for giving us permission to add this wonderful information about Rev. Rose to our Bethel Church History.
BY ANY OTHER NAME
Hugh King Rose 1971-1989

When our church observed its 175th anniversary in 2000, Hugh Rose was here to take part in the celebration and to receive the title of Pastor Emeritus – the first time it has been given in our church’s history. It was an apt demonstration of the claim made in the newsletter after Hugh’s death by John Wavle, whom the newsletter characterized as “a pillar of the church for many years, clerk of the Session and a member of the search committee that brought the Roses to Cortland: “To know him was to love, revere, and respect him.”
Hugh King Rose was born 23 July 1929 in South Kortright (according to his obituary) or Stamford (according to an article there when he came to Cortland) and spent his formative years working on the family farm, which his father fully expected him to take over some day. But when Hugh came home from Muskingham College upon completing his B.A. and showed his father a book of Robert Frost-inspired reflections, the elder Rose encouraged him to pursue further education, which took him to Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. There he met and married fellow student Catherine Wayne, intent upon completing work in religious education. “The two shared a profound love,” the obituary in the Cortland Standard recalls, “expressing the love as a team, in both their family and professional lives.”
Hugh held two previous pastorates before coming to UPC: at Jefferson United Presbyterian Church in Clairton PA and at College Hill Presbyterian Church in Beaver Falls, PA. (Trivia Question: which previous pastor of our church received a Doctor of Divinity degree from Geneva College in Beaver Falls, PA.?)
“Hugh was not a charismatic, flamboyant, back-slapping fist-shaking, pulpit-pounding evangelist,” wrote John Wavle. “He was the exact antithesis – a quiet man. He was a cheerful, thoughtful listener who cared for all of us. He was a compassionate, forthright, unassuming man of God. A close personal friend of his recently described High as a ‘sweet’ person, He was ‘sweet’ in the purest sense of the word.”
“Someone described his sermons,” said Janis Martin when naming him Pastor Emeritus during our 175th Anniversary Celebration, “as little packages wrapped with a bow and dropped in the laps of the congregation.” He was the only minister who never bought a car from John Wavle, she claimed, and recalled that he got down on his knees to beg Sue Bonne to be our choir director (for which we will be eternally grateful).
On the tenth anniversary of their arrival, a committee consisting of Warren Bartholomew, Adele Bement, Eleanor Blodgett, Gary Marsted, Eudene Steinfeldt, Rosemary Taylor, Arthur Rice, and John Wavle sent a letter to all the members of the congregation. “The past ten years in which Hugh and Cathy Rose have been with us have been most fortunate years for our Church,” it began. “Through their guidance and example our personal lives have been enriched and our will to work together in Christian service has been strengthened. Each one of us can think of special occasions for thankfulness or enlightenment through their ministry. As a consequence many have expressed a desire to put their gratitude into tangible form”
The “tangible form” was a vacation trip that sent them to Scotland to trace family roots and on to the Holy Land. “It was the easiest fund-raiser of all times,” wrote John.
Hugh was here for eighteen years, putting him right up there in the long-run category with Carl Scovel, Ralph Lankler, and James Robertson (who received a Doctor of Divinity degree from Geneva College in Beaver Falls, PA.). A press release announcing his departure said, “Rose’s gift for relating Biblical narratives to current situations has been a blessing to all who have heard him preach. The clear and concise interpretations he presents so vividly are without peer.” Hugh and Cathy died within the same year – she in October of 2001 and he in July of 2002. It was a sad time for the any friends they left behind in our church.