The Conference Years (1952-1960)

The Beginnings

Our history begins in late 1952. Two monthly meetings of unprogrammed Friends had been established in the Texas-Louisiana area: Austin and New Orleans. These meetings arose, in large part, from the interest and activity of the American Friends Service Committee, which opened an office in the area in the mid 40's, and from the desire of unprogrammed Friends relocating from the East and Northeast to form worship groups and then monthly meetings. There were also several smaller, loosely affiliated groups of Friends meeting in Baton Rouge, Little Rock, Dallas, and Fayetteville . The service committee and the Friends Fellowship Council kept and traded lists based on contact from members of these small groups as they sought others of like concern in the area.

There existed as well a fully developed component of programmed Friends, under the Kansas Yearly Meeting (now Mid-America Region of the Evangelical Friends), with the equivalent of quarterly direction coming from Friendswood, near Houston. Friendswood Friends celebrated their 100th anniversary in July of 1995.

In December 1952, the following item appeared in the NEWSLETTER of the Austin Monthly Meeting (Vol. I, No. 3):

Austin and New Orleans Friends have looked forward to getting together for fellowship, worship, and discussion. Plans are now being made for a weekend gathering in Houston the end of January. . . . One feature of the program wil be a report by Marvin Fair of New Orleans, who attended the Friends World Conference last summer. A special meeting with a visiting speaker arranged in coorperation with the American Friends Service Committee is also contemplated. Participation is open to other interested persons outside the two meetings. Hospitality can likely be arranged.

The published agenda for the first Conference was as follows:

Saturday:	3:00 p.m. "Oxford and After"--FWC report by Marvin Fair
	6:00 p.m. Supper and reports from local meetings
	8:00 p.m. Relations of Southwest Friends to American Friends
	Service Committee projects, led by Olcutt Sanders of Austin
	8:30 p.m. "The Christian Witness in the World Crisis"--Bernard C. Clausen, Baptist minister, member of the Wider Quaker Fellowship
Sunday:	9:00 a.m. Small group discussions with report to total group (on RE for Young Friends, relations of pastoral and non-pastoral meetings in Southwest, and approaches to worship)
	11:00 a.m. Worship, with lunch at noon.

Although we have no minutes or reports in the archives from the first meeting of the Conference, the Austin newsletter reports that approximately 40 people attended from Houston, Friendswood, New Orleans, Austin, San Antonio, and Brownsville. The event was so well received that the Conference appointed a coordinator to plan the next Conference to be held in approximately one year in Houston. Walter Whitson was appointed clerk of the Conference and Houston Friends took responsibility for recreation.

Some Milestones

In 1955 the group felt a sufficient sense of solidarity and continuity to assume an official name and appoint several officers. The name Friends Southwest Conference was adopted, and a General Chairman, Associate Chairman, and Clerk were appointed. Business largely centered on continuing the Conference, getting speakers, arranging programs, etc. The first Conference newsletter came out in February 1955. The attempt at having a relationship with pastoral Friends at Friendswood had pretty much failed; when someone suggested running news from Friendswood in the new newsletter, it was decided that such news would be meaningless without personal fellowship and meeting together.

Children were included in the Conference for the first time in 1956. Although there was a certain amount of rather fierce objection to having children participate and the program was little more than babysitting, the innovation was a success, with 46 adults and 23 children attending the ‘56 meeting. Not including children in the Conference was never a consideration after 1956.

In early 1957 "Meeting for Business" first appeared on the Conference agenda. Five officers were nominated: a clerk, associate clerk, secretary, treasurer, and newsletter editor—with one person acting as secretary and newsletter editor. The officers of the Conference constituted a "Steering Committee" authorized to act between Conferences and given the power to make replacements if an officer could not complete a term of service.

In addition to business necessary to ensure the continuity of the Conference, a contribution was made to FGC and a "guide"—not to be seen as an assessment—of $1 was suggested for groups wishing to affiliate with the Conference. A resolution concerning school integration, prepared by the AFSC in Austin, was discussed and the Conference decided to write a letter to the Governor of Texas with copies to legislators and send news releases and copies to churches, organizations, etc. After the resolution passed, Ralph Rose expressed concern that the letter did not arise from within the Conference but was presented from outside. It was decided that a time for bringing concerns of individuals and Meetings before the Conference would be included in the next year’s agenda. Much other business, as we think of it, was conducted at this meeting, including raising a question as to whether the Conference name should be changed to Yearly Meeting. It was generally felt that the Conference needed a greater sense of obligation on the part of member groups and a greater sense of commonality before making such a change.

Two Conferences were held in 1957. The Conference abandoned the January meetings in favor of meeting over Thanksgiving weekend, convening on Friday evening. Two business meetings appear on the agenda of the 1958 Conference. The Steering Committee was extended to include Mel Zuck and clerks of meetings which were not represented by having a member serve as an officer. An official Arrangements Committee was included in the slate of nominations. The secretary position was replaced with that of recording clerk and the editor of the newsletter also became the chairman of the committee on Publications (essentially for publishing the directory). Two of the many concerns addressed in the business of the Conference were caring for isolated Friends and unorganized meetings and a request that the program committee, in the future, make definite provision for all age groups.

Our Business Tradition

It is instructive to look at the agenda for the 1959 meeting in detail.

Friday, November 27, 1959

Registration
6:00  Supper
7:15   Opening Session
7:30  Anna Brinton (guest speaker)
8:15  Reports of Meetings
8:40  Presentation of Concerns and Appointment of Committees
8:40   Fellowship and Committee Sessions

Saturday, November 28, 1959

7:30  Breakfast
8:45  Meeting for Worship
9:30  Anna Brinton
10:30 Reports of Delegates from Conference (to Quaker agencies, etc.)
10:50 Business Meeting
12:00 Lunch
1:00  Committee Meetings
2:00  AFSC Committee Report
2:30  Report from "Frontiers" (Little Rock, Fayetteville, Baton Rouge)
2:50  Business Meeting
6:00  Dinner
8:00  Report and movies by Ken Carroll on his trip to England
9:00  Fellowship and Fun
Committee sessions

Sunday, November 29, 1959

7:30 Breakfast
8:45 Business Meeting
10:45 Meeting for Worship
12:00 Lunch and adjournment

What is interesting about these early meetings is the devotion to business exhibited by Friends. But just because the agendas don’t indicate that there is any off-floor fun going on, don’t think it wasn’t happening.

Ferner Nuhn, a speaker from Pacific Yearly Meeting at the 1953 meeting (the first meeting), gave this report:

I found Texan and Louisianan Friends a hearty and hard-riding folk, able to sit through almost continuous sessions, and on Saturday evening to go in for vigorous square dancing and other entertainment until a late hour. At twelve-thirty, I was told next morning, I, a visitor from California, was still the only person, at least among the men, who had taken to bed.

Meetings of the Conference

The following table lists venues, speakers, and programs for the conference meetings. In 1960, the conference approved a minute creating the South Central Yearly Meeting, to convene for the first time in 1961.

Year	Date	Place, Theme (if known), Speakers (KN=keynote), misc.
1953	Jan. 24&25	Houston, Unitarian Church and home of Adrienne Autrey, about 40 people; no theme--Ferner Nuhn, Pacific Yearly Meeting, and Wayne Conant, Friendswood, speakers.
1954	Jan. 29-31	Camp Bagby, Houston, 46 people (per person $8.25)
1955	Feb. 18-20	Camp Holden, near Ho. (formerly Camp Bagby)
1956	Jan. 27-29	Camp Cho-Yeh near Livingston. 69 attended (children first time). $9 per person; Ed Duckles with AFSC in Mexico spoke, no theme.
1957	Jan. 25-27	Camp Cho-Yeh, The Challenge for Adventure to Friends Today; KN: Young Friends—Ralph Rose; Challenge in the Life of the Meeting—Amelia Swayne
1957	Nov. 29-Dec. 1	Camp Cho-Yeh; A Call to Action for Peace;
1958	Nov. 28-30	Camp Cho-Yeh, Loving God and Loving Your Neighbor, KN Ken Carroll.
1959	Nov. 27-29	Camp Cho-Yeh, [No record of a theme. Agenda is given above.]
1960	11/25-27/60	Camp Cho-Yeh, Beyond Diversities to a Common Experience of God, KN Marshall Sutton, Assoc. Exec. Sec, FWC, Section of the Americas, Applications of Quaker Principles in Situations of Tension

to be continued . . .

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