The remaining congregants of the Krocksville Sunday School recently gathered for their last service before closing the doors of their beloved building in Upper Macungie Township.

David Daniel, Mary and Dick Butz, and Don D. Frederick sat down with The Press to share their memories of having services in the old schoolhouse at Krocksville and Cetronia roads.

The Krocksville Sunday School, originally known as Schaeffer School House was built in the 1917 by the Upper Macungie School District, Daniel said. "Former members living in the village, with permission from the school district, used the old schoolhouse to hold Sunday School."

When the school district built the former Fogelsville schoolhouse in 1925, the district sold the small schoolhouse to the members.

"I always felt fortunate to be able to come to this Sunday School when my parents started bringing me, but I always felt I missed that little something because I didn't live in the village," Daniel said. "My dad did live in the village when he was younger."

The main thing he remembers about attending the Sunday School services was the Halloween parties when everyone dressed in costumes and marched around the basement trying to guess whom everyone was.

"Over the years, we have had a lot of different functions and programs," he said. "There was a youth fellowship for awhile Sunday evenings."

Members had banquets, homecomings from the 1980s to 2003, strawberry festivals in early June from 1976-90 and the ladies auxiliary was very active helping to raise funds.

"There was a big explosion of births right after World War II and that is what swelled the membership, but as the membership declined we couldn't do those big things anymore and we had to let them go," Daniel said. "The highest number of members was in the mid to late 1950s.

"Over the last 10 years, Mary and Dick Butz, Jim Bausman and myself have kept this building going."

Mary Butz said the three hoagie sales in the spring and fall is what helped maintained and keep the building going over the years.

Dick Butz said when he first started attending the church in 1986 there were only about 20 or 25 members.

"Mary and I stopped in one Sunday to try it and we came back the next Sunday," he said.

After the third time they attended, the late Frances Frederick said they were automatically members.

Mary Butz also shared fond memories of Frederick and her first introduction into the Sunday School services.

"She came over to me with her pencil and little card and said, 'I hate to tell you this but you are now a member," Mary Butz said. "I looked at her and asked what kind of Sunday School this was. She said it was nondenominational.

"Then, I asked who owned it and she said, 'We do.'

"The funny part of it was the first thing they asked me was if I could play the piano or organ.

"When I said, 'yes,' they all said 'Thank God.'"

Daniel said the members hit the jackpot when Mary and Jim Butz came to the Sunday School services because Russell Guth, who was the organist, was in failing health.

"I always felt God sent them to us because he knew we needed them, plus Russell was the only one who could play the organ," Daniel said.

The four remaining members cannot keep the Sunday School going, so they recently sold the old schoolhouse to Don Frederick, Frances' son and former member of the Krocksville Sunday School.

Frederick said his earliest memories of coming to the services goes back to when he was 6 years old.

"I have a lot of memories of my mother being a teacher here," he said. "I can tell you the teaching I learned from my mother.

"I am sure anyone who went here could tell you the same thing, quality was paramount with her."

He added it did not matter one's color or age, in her opinion, everyone was a child of God.

"I think that was the basis for those of us who learned here and I would like to think it became a big part of our personality," Frederick said. "We didn't have to stop and think, is it right or wrong. It is the concept. We don't need to hear you preach.

"We need to see your actions. I think in my personal opinion this is why this has lasted so long."

Frederick said he purchased the old schoolhouse to maintain his mother's memories.

She was such a wonderful, wonderful person and cared so much about humanity so that was definitely the motivation," he explained. "I also thought, God has been good to me. I have been very blessed by people and God and I could preserve a piece of history and that was my goal."