Entry 2: 5 AM Mass
In the not too distant past, Saint Mary’s had a five A.M. Mass on Sundays. As I recall, it served mostly the railroad workers who worked at the Panhandle Division of the Hocking Valley RR, and the little old ladies of the parish. There were some special procedures that altar boys and Assistants pastors had to learn for the early Mass. John Leister, class of ’37 describes one of the procedures, “raised at 111 Sycamore St. when Fr. Lappan, Fr. Dresler, or Fr. Burkley did not have a server for the five o’clock Mass, in their vestments, they would walk around the corner and toss pebbles at the 4 boys back bedroom.” The four boys being John, Joe, Paul and Bob Leister. This same technique was also used by the altar boys when the Assistant priest, who had the five A.M. Mass, would oversleep. The Assistant who had the five A.M. Mass always slept in the sunporch over the rectory back door. A white towel was hung out the window to show the servers which window to throw pebbles at. We were also asked to “please don’t tell father Burkley.” If it was real late you would see the “little old ladies” marching up the driveway demanding to know why the church was locked.
