By Mark Rosman
Managing Editor
FREEHOLD – Mayor Nolan Higgins and Councilwoman Sharon Shutzer will be honored by the Bethel A.M.E. Church during the house of worship’s Men and Women’s Day event on June 24 in Freehold Borough.
A gospel jazz brunch will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Aurum banquet facility, 17 South St. The event is open to the public and tickets are $45 for adults and $35 for children. The brunch will feature Men of Worship. For tickets, call 917-543-5276.
Men and Women’s Day was created so the church can recognize members who help to make a difference in the community by working with youths, the elderly and the sick, according to a press release from the church.
The female members of the church who will be honored on June 24 are Eva Sims, Emma Haynes, Carol Massey and Torna Brown-Bell. The male members of the church who will be honored are James Wilds, Robert Warrington, Stan Massey and Jerry Hill.
Non-members who assist the church in various ways are also recognized. This year, Higgins and Shutzer will receive that honor.
According to a history of the church, the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church was founded in 1848 in a small village in back of the St. Rose of Lima cemetery on Route 522 in Freehold Township. The area was known as Squirrel Town.
After a few years at that location, the church moved to Freehold Borough, where the congregation worshiped in a small building in an area called the Peach Orchard, now known as Avenue A, off Throckmorton Street.
In 1895, a new sanctuary was erected at the corner of Avenue A and Haley Street and that was the home of the Bethel A.M.E. Church, the focal point for activities in the surrounding black community, until a new church opened at 3 Waterworks Road on Sept. 28, 1986.
The Waterworks Road property is in Freehold Borough and Freehold Township.
The congregation continued to maintain the original cemetery in Squirrel Town where Civil War veterans and members of the founding families were buried.
The cemetery is believed to be the final resting place for black veterans from the Freehold area who participated in the Civil War, and their families. Many of the headstones bear the rank of the soldiers and the letters USCT, which stands for United States Colored Troops, according to the history.
Descendants of the founding families who are presently active in the church include Anna Straws, Patricia Duckenfield and Diane Duckenfield, Joanna Parks, Bigerton Lewis, his daughter Tracey Reason, granddaughter Kelly Guerra and great-granddaughters Nessa and Heaven.