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In her unpublished memoirs, Irene Haag, longtime English faculty at Temple College, recalls an errant feline of dubious parentage that would regularly join First Lutheran Church’s services in the late 1920s.
Her father, the Rev. I.J. Haag, was the church’s pastor from 1925 to 1948. Miss Haag recalled that the devout feline would slink through an open window in those pre-air-conditioned days, when the church was located at 701 S. First St.
The cat would hunch itself near the organist and choir loft, its tail gently tapping. Occasionally, the critter would drum in time with a rousing rendition of “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.” Then it would casually slither out from whence it came as the Rev. Haag began his sermon.
However, for absolute missionary zeal, nothing can outdo the liturgical dog at Christ Episcopal Church in the early 1900s.
The church’s rector, the Rev. E. Cecil Seaman, was called to another pastorate in 1909, but he wrestled with the decision to leave Temple. He eventually declined, perhaps because at Christ Church he was assured of at least one congregant - a dog named Fritz.
Fritz’s owner was H.W. Smith, grandfather of H. Tommy Strasburger. The dog faithfully followed Smith to church every Sunday
morning and right into worship. Although Smith would dutifully put the dog out, as soon as the narthex door opened, the dog would prance right in again.
Even on Sundays when Smith, a railroad conductor, was out of town, Fritz heeded the Lord’s Day. As soon as the church bell pealed, he trotted over from Smith’s house a few blocks away and right into church.
Fritz was even responsible for at least one parishioner to mend her errant ways. Daisy Leake, grammar school principal, started to attend church more frequently. Her reason was simple: “If that dog can go to church every Sunday, so can I.”
pbenoit@temple-telegram.com