A STAKE HISTORY BY KOY E. MISKIN

Lafayette Indiana Stake
1983 – 1992
Koy E. Miskin

The Lafayette Indiana Stake was organized May 15, 1983 from a division of the Indianapolis Indiana North Stake.  Elder Mark E. Peterson of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles was the presiding officer.  He called me, Koy E. Miskin, to be the first stake president.  I was shocked and overwhelmed and after calling me he asked me to go into an adjacent class room and select my counselors and High Council members.  He said, “Take your time but be back in 15 minutes.  Martin T. Pond became first counselor and Tom Savoldi became second counselor.  Les Hafen was the stake patriarch.  I was feeling so overwhelmed that I asked Elder Peterson if there was a handbook for stake presidents.  He grinned, patted his scriptures and said, “These are your handbooks”.

There were 1744 members when the stake was organized.  The stake was made up of the Purdue Ward, Lafayette Ward, Kokomo Ward, Crawfordsville Branch, Frankfort Branch and the Logansport Ward.  Purdue and Lafayette wards met in the old ward building located on Indian Trails Drive and there was no space for stake offices.  Jerry A. Wilson, the institute director, was kind enough to offer space for stake offices and high council meetings and that was where we met until the new stake center was built.

Purdue Ward: When the stake was organized Philip S. Low was bishop with F. Lee Wilson and Richard Johnson as counselors. Merle Pfeil and Paul Dixon also served as counselors to Bishop Low. In 1986, David Dibb was called as bishop and July 1988 Arwin Provonsha was called as bishop with James Maughn as first counselor and Tim Gibb as second counselor.  John Campbell and Ron Tate also served as counselors under Bishop Provonsha.

Lafayette Ward:  The bishop was H. Curt Christianson with Charles R. Cliff and Jerry A. Wilson as counselors when the stake was organized. Jerry A. Wilson became the next bishop in about 1984.  In 1988, Carlos Asay was called as bishop with John Clark as first counselor and Gary Allen as second counselor.  Pat Smoker and Dale Johnson also served as counselors to Bishop Asay.

Kokomo Ward:  Robert Adams was bishop when the stake was organized with Ron Knudsen as first counselor and Lyman Marler as second counselor. Bishop Adams later became a second counselor in the stake presidency when Tom Savoldi moved to New York.  Bruce Myers served as bishop from 1983 to 1987 with Jack Spicer and Charles Joray as counselors.  September 14, 1986 President Savoldi and I dedicated the new (extensively remodeled) Kokomo Ward building.  March 1987 Larry Rhoades was called as bishop with Lyman Marler as first counselor and Bill Pollard as second counselor.  Skip Name was called as Bishop in September of 1991 with Dennis Marler as first counselor and Maurice Richard as second counselor.

Crawfordsville Branch:  The branch president was Tom Savoldi with Malcom Patton as first counselor and Tom Swinford as second counselor.  When President Savoldi was called into the stake presidency, Tom Swinford was called as the branch president with Gary Allen as first counselor and Alvin Ray as second counselor.  In 1984, Crawfordsville Branch was made a ward, a new building was dedicated and Tom Swinford became the first bishop with the same counselors.  Then, in about 1985 Freddy Lewis was called as Bishop with David Hunter and Fernando Morales as counselors.

Frankfort Branch: The branch president was Phil Heavilon with Legrande Brough and Jerry Coffman as counselors when the stake was organized.  A new meeting house was built for the Frankfort Branch which was dedicated in February of 1984.  It was made a ward at the same time.  Kim Wilstead became the first bishop with Tom Hartman as first counselor and Herschel Walls as second counselor.  Robert Monn became the second bishop of the Frankfort Ward in November of 1989 with Steve Dircks as first counselor and Charles Hockema as second counselor.

Logansport Ward: This unit was taken out of the South Bend stake and added to the new Lafayette Stake.  The bishop at that time was Harry O. Jones with John McCullough as first counselor and Ray Norris as second Counselor.  The ward met in an old Baptist Church building.  A new building was built and they held their first meeting in it on 23 June, 1985.  August 11, 1985, the new building was dedicated.  Harry O. Jones was bishop at that time with Ray Norris as first counselor and Bill Truscott as second counselor.  Kevin Moser followed Bishop Jones as the next bishop with Mike Bodily and Ron Newcomer as counselors  Charles Pugh served as bishop after him with Ron Newcomer, Donald Oniones and later Ray Norris as counselors.

Williamsport Branch:  We initiated discussions with President Wooley of the Champaign, IL Stake and it was decided that the members in the Attica/Williamsport area were closer to the Lafayette Stake and would benefit from having their own branch.  The Williamsport Branch was organized February 5, 1984 in Williamsport, IN.  C. Burr Smiley was called as the first Branch President with Robert Dawson as first counselor and Richard Jenkins as second counselor.  At first they met in the Methodist Church.  In just a couple of weeks a home was found that was adequate to rent for a meetinghouse.  Later we searched many possible sites to locate a new meetinghouse.  After a long day with the realtor we went back to the rented meeting house to confer about the possibilities.  I went to the kitchen for a drink of water and as I looked out the window I saw an open green pasture on the top of the hill with several beautiful tall trees.  I said, “That is where the building should be”.  The realtor said, “Oh No, not there, the man who owns it (I forget his name) is impossible to deal with.  I have tried before and I don’t ever want to talk to him again”.  President Pond said, “If that is where the building should be then talk to him and see what he says”.  She talked to him and to her amazement he was more than happy to sell the property to the church.  He said he was familiar with the Mormons and knew they would take good care of the property.   The new building was dedicated in April of 1985.  In January 3, 1987 Perry Bohn was called as the new Branch President with Robert Dawson and Neil Vanderkolk as counselors.

Purdue University Student Branch:  In early March of 1985 the stake presidency met with the LDS students at the LDS Institute of Religion and introduced them to the plan to organize the Purdue University Student Branch.  I think about 40 students were present.  It was explained that they would fill the leadership roles of the branch with the exception of the Branch President.  They were both very excited and frightened to realize what was happening and what was going to be expected of them.  March 15, 1985 the Purdue University Student Branch was officially organized with Don M Huber as the first Branch President.  Tim Newby was the second Branch President with Craig Ream and Paul Siebert as counselors. The third branch president was Bishop H. Doyle Thompson with the same counselors and also Chad Bastian.  The branch was so successful at sending out new missionaries and having so many new marriages that it nearly destroyed itself.  It has been so successful since its beginning that it has nearly destroyed itself every year.

Elder A. Theodore Tuttle of the Seventy was the General Authority that attended our first stake conference.  The conference was held in the Jefferson High School Auditorium.  There was no heat on the stage of the auditorium and I think there were one or more windows out being repaired.  We thought we would freeze and the Primary Children who sang nearly did freeze.  Elder Tuttle told us that we were way too small to be a stake but when Elder Peterson said to make it a stake – it was made a stake.  In about three months the membership of the stake dropped to 1687.  It was a great concern.

When the new stake center was dedicated in 1985 it was on the edge of a corn field.  Now it is surrounded by lovely homes.  I gave the dedicatory prayer and the Sacrament was administered to all members of the stake that were gathered there.

November 1987 the stake finally had 1994 members.  We had a 31.5 % increase in the number of baptisms and the number of temple recommend holders had increased by 160%.  One unit increased membership by only seven members but their attendance increased by twenty-seven.

At a Boy Scout leaders training meeting Ron Kauffman, stake YM leader over scouting, and I were goofing around a bit with walking sticks.  From this goofing around the idea was born to make a special walking stick for every boy that received his Eagle Scout Award.  We would call it the Presidents Eagle Scout Staff.  Ron would make them; put a brass plaque on the staff with the boy’s name and the date of his award.  He would also learn the boy’s favorite colors and would then braid special handles on the staffs.  The colors of the braid would represent some Indian lore reminders for the boy.  For example, blue might represent the blue of the heaven above, the place where the Great White Spirit dwelt and watched over him.  Green or brown represented the mother earth and gold represented the sun, the source of warmth and energy and so forth.  There is no limit to as to what the symbols the colors could stand for.  We started holding Stake Eagle Courts of Honor.  It became such a hit with the boys that they would get their Eagle Scout Award because they wanted one of those ‘sticks’.  The big payoff was that the stake began to get Eagle Scouts, and a good number of them, and the number of missionaries going out from our stake increased very dramatically.  It was just a small thing that paid very big dividends.

The first seminary graduation had only two graduates.  That was not acceptable.  A great effort was made to make seminary graduation a major achievement.  A book signed by the stake presidency was given to each graduate and graduates were invited to dinner with the stake presidency.  In just a few years we had nearly all youth graduating from seminary.

Youth dances had become a problem.  The youth started staging “sit downs”.  They would just sit down and do nothing but complain how boring the dance was.  The YW President came in to High Council meeting and wanted to know what to do.  They wouldn’t dance, just complained.  I went to the cultural hall and told them I was sorry they were not having fun.  But we could only provide the opportunity for them to have fun together.  We could not make them have fun, it was up to them whether they had fun or not. So, rather than waste their time and the leaders time we would just have a closing prayer and go home.  I called someone to give the closing prayer.  It was truly amazing how quickly attitudes changed.  It turned into a fun dance after all.

On September 21, 1986 we observed that all the units in the Lafayette IN stake were now meeting in new meetinghouses.  A few million dollars had been spent in our stake in those three years.  This miracle was only possible because the saints here and throughout the world were keeping the commandments of God.  We never could have raised that much money in a hundred years.  This is not a wealthy stake of Zion.

As with all leaders in the church since the restoration of the gospel our stake presidency stood on the shoulders of the previous leaders.  President David V. Glover and his counselors Don Marsden and David R. Tree who had recently served as the stake presidency of the Indianapolis North stake did the ground work in preparing for the new Lafayette Indiana Stake and prepared building plans for the new stake center which is now located at 3224 Jasper St in West Lafayette, IN.  We reaped the benefits of their labors and had the blessing of breaking ground and dedicating the new stake center.

Under President Glover we used to make the long trips to the Washington DC Temple.  We would leave Thursday evening after work, drive all night (13 hours), do seven endowment sessions on Friday, then get up early and do three sessions on Saturday morning and drive all the way home (another thirteen hours).  It was grueling but always great experiences.  Then the Chicago Illinois Temple was announced.  The ground breaking was held on August 13, 1983 and the dedication was held on August 9, 1985.  What a blessing, a temple only three hours away.

DID YOU KNOW?

The Kokomo branch was organized in 1914, but by 1928 was mostly abandoned. It was reestablished in 1951, with young missionaries serving as branch presidents. This created a problem for the branch during the Korean War, when missionaries were scarce and therefore so was branch leadership. However, the Saints in Kokomo continued to grow in number despite their difficulties and became a ward on February 4, 1973. In September of 1986, the extensively remodeled building was dedicated, giving these faithful members a new place of worship of their very own.

The Crawfordsville ward began as a semi-independent Sunday School and priesthood group in January of 1969. Four years later it became an independent branch, and ten years later, on may 15, 1983, it became its own ward. In 1978 the ward sent out their first missionary, and in 1985 they had their first Eagle Scout.

Williamsport branch initially struggled to find a location for their meetinghouse. As former President Miskin puts it, “After a long day with the realtor, we went back to the rented meeting house [that Williamsport was using at the time] to confer about the possibilities.  I went to the kitchen for a drink of water and as I looked out the window, I saw an open green pasture on the top of the hill with several beautiful, tall trees.  I said, ‘That is where the building should be.’  The realtor said, ‘Oh no, not there, the man who owns it is impossible to deal with.  I have tried before and I don’t ever want to talk to him again.’  President Pond said, ‘if that is where the building should be, then talk to him and see what he says.’ She talked to him and to her amazement he was more than happy to sell the property to the Church.  He said he was familiar with the Mormons and knew they would take good care of the property. The new building was dedicated in April of 1985.”

Frankfort branch has seen many changes over the years. It began as a semi-independent Sunday School and priesthood group in the early 1970s. It was formed into a branch around 1973 and a ward in 1981, but has since become a branch once again. Lebanon branch was created from a division of the Frankfort ward.

The Purdue University ward has been so successful at sending out missionaries and getting people married that it as nearly destroyed itself every year. This ward enjoys a unique reverence during sacrament meetings as well as a distinct spirit, created by their commitment to learning, generosity, and growth. It is also the only ward in the stake to have couches along the back row at sacrament meeting, but these factors are probably not related.

Logansport branch was formerly a part of the South Bend stake, but was taken out and added to the Lafayette Stake when the stake was created. Their building was dedicated on August 11, 1985.

The Lafayette 1st ward could be considered the oldest ward in our stake, since it has evolved most directly from the original Purdue Branch organized in the 1940’s. The Lafayette 4th (Spanish) branch is the youngest in the stake, having been organized on April 14th, 2002.

LAFAYETTE STAKE: 30 YEARS AND COUNTING

THE EARLY DAYS

Lafayette Stake’s origins lie way back in 1947, when Bruce and Barbara Reese posted a classified ad, asking for all Latter-day Saints in the area to contact them. They were new on the Purdue faculty from the West and anxious for Church contacts. Three families responded to their ad and they met together for a picnic. It must have gone well, since in October of the same year, the Purdue Branch was formally organized. The tiny branch soon outgrew member homes and even its meetings at the YMCA, however. Church leaders like Edward Quinn and Leslie Hafen rallied members to fundraising efforts for a new building, and in April of 1959, ground was broken for the first phase of the Indian Trail location.

A month later, under the direction of Spencer W. Kimball, the Indianapolis Indiana stake was organized with
a membership of 2287 Saints. Purdue Branch also became a ward at that time, with about 185 members. Eventually, a fully complete meetinghouse was dedicated on May 21, 1967. By the following year, the membership had grown to 470. Stake membership was increasing 6-8% every year by 1973.

GROWING IN NUMBERS AND IN FAITH

On August 19, 1973, the Indianapolis stake was divided. The Indianapolis Indiana North Stake definitely needed a new building, since there were no buildings that would accommodate the membership for large meetings like Stake Conference. Over the next 10 years, the stake united in efforts to build, remodel, and add to several buildings throughout the stake. Inflation during this time ballooned to as high as 21%, serving as a real challenge for fundraising efforts, especially since in those days, the Church required units to raise 30-50% of the funds for building projects.  The members were not deterred, however; they pressed forward in faith and spent Saturday mornings on the “Pizza Project.” The pizzas they made garnered over $3000 in sales every month.

As the stake neared their funding goal and the end of the ten-year span, a miracle happened. The Church changed the 30-50% policy to instead require units to raise only 4% of the building costs, so long as the stakes filled requirements for tithing payers and worthy, active Melchizedek priesthood holders. The diligence of stake members allowed them to meet those requirements as well as having the funds to build several more buildings than they initially planned. Amidst these miracles, the Washington, D.C. temple was dedicated, the first temple on the eastern side of the United States since Nauvoo and Kirtland.

LAFAYETTE STAKE IS BORN

By 1982, membership in the stake had grown to 4750. A membership of this size became impractical for leadership and ministering, so in May of 1983, the Indianapolis Indiana North stake divided and the Lafayette Stake was born. This new stake had a much more manageable count of 1744. Buildings continued to sprout up throughout the stake, including our current Lafayette Stake Center, dedicated on September 22, 1985.

In the words of Koy Miskin, the first to serve as Stake President in the Lafayette Stake, “On September 21, 1986 we observed that all the units in the Lafayette, IN stake were now meeting in new meetinghouses.  A few million dollars had been spent in our stake in those three years.  This miracle was only possible because the saints here and throughout the world were keeping the commandments of God.” Saints rejoiced when the Chicago temple was completed in 1985, cutting driving time to the temple from over ten hours to around three. By 1987 the stake had 1994 members, at least in part due to a 31.5% increase in baptisms in the area.

WHERE WE ARE NOW

In the years since, the stake has demonstrated faith, helped in the community, and continued to grow. Members that have fallen ill have been strengthened by meals, prayers, and fasting from their ward families. Long-time members have welcomed move-ins and new converts to the fold with open arms. Thousands upon thousands of dollars have been donated to urban ministries and food pantries.

Most recently the youth gathered to serve children and youth with special needs by throwing a carnival for them and pairing with a buddy to play games, eat lunch, and choose prizes. We know the future of our stake is in good hands with these youth. We especially look forward to an even closer Indianapolis, Indiana temple currently undergoing construction. This has been an immensely blessed part of Zion, and will be further blessed in the future if we continue as we have started: with unity and in faith.