Los Angeles County
Biographies
DR.
WILLIAM JOSEPH HEMPHILL
“A
child who is Spiritually well adjusted is one who
knows what he believes and why. He
therefore will strive to do his best academically and be a happy, well-adjusted
child socially.” This is the philosophy
of education followed by the San Gabriel Christian Schools which was established
in 1949 under the sponsorship of the San Gabriel Union Church. Dr. W. Joseph Hemphill, pastor of the San
Gabriel Union Church, came to San Gabriel in 1949 as assistant to the pastor at
that time, Dr. Ralph E. Stewart, founder of the Christian Schools. Dr. Stewart died in 1956, whereupon Dr.
Hemphill became pastor the following January, and was responsible for the
building of the Stewart Memorial Building, a three hundred thousand dollar,
eighteen classroom educational plant completed in the spring of 1960. Dr. Hemphill also started the missionary
program in 1957, raising funds for foreign and local missionaries.
The
son of William B. and Letta (Woodfin)
Hemphill, Dr. Hemphill was born on February 5, 1924, in Asheville, North
Carolina, where his parents are still living.
His father is in the retail coal business, and both parents are active
in Parent-Teachers’ Associations, church, and community life. Dr. Hemphill has a brother and a sister. He attended Biltmore Elementary School in
Asheville and graduated from Lee h. Edwards High School there. Dr. Hemphill then studied at Bob Jones
College, in Cleveland, Tennessee, Biltmore Junior College, Emery University in
Atlanta, Georgia, and Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. he graduated from the
Marine Corps Academy serving as a line officer, was discharged in 1946, and
returned to Bob Jones College where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree and
his Master of Arts degree in 1949, at which time he came to San Gabriel. While assistant pastor at
the San Gabriel Union Church, Dr. Hemphill attended Fuller Theological Seminary
in Pasadena. In 1960 he received
honorary Doctor of Divinity degrees from Azusa College and Talbot Theological
Seminary of La Mirada. Under his
direction the church has purchased additional properties and now owns the
entire block on which it is situated at Las Tunas Drive and Pine Street, except
for the service station.
On
the San Gabriel Valley Civil Defense board, Dr. Hemphill is also a social
member of the San Gabriel Chamber of Commerce, and has served on Community
Chest programs.
Dr.
Hemphill is on the National Board of Directors of the National Association of
Evangelicals and is on the executive committee of its Southwest region. He is on the board of directors of the
Greater Los Angeles Sunday School Association, and is on the advisory board of
the World Evangelical Fellowship.
Married
on December 20, 1946, to the former Marta Jean Eavey
of Xenia, Ohio, also a graduate of Bob Jones College with a Master’s Degree in
Speech, Dr. Hemphill is the father of a daughter, Elissa
Christine. Mrs. Hemphill teaches a
Sunday School class at the San Gabriel Union Church in
the college department.
The
history of San Gabriel Union Church can be traced to 1849 when Mrs. Victoria Corona,
the first Protestant Spanish woman to set foot on California soil, came with
her husband from Mexico and settled where the town of Corona, named after the
family, now stands. A few years later
the Corona’s moved to San Gabriel where they purchased one hundred sixty acres
of land on the north side of Las Tunas Drive, including what is now Bradbury
Park and the Washington School grounds.
A devout student of the Bible, Mrs. Corona committed large portions of
it to memory, and part of each Lord’s Day the Corona household was devoted to
worship, Bible study, singing, and prayer.
When she was well on in years, her son-in-law met the Reverend Moss A.
Merwin in Pasadena, a retired Presbyterian missionary from Chile who spoke
Spanish fluently. He was a guest at the
Corona home, and Mrs. Corona’s last wish was “…that Reverend Merwin might open
a church for Spanish speaking in her San Gabriel home,” promising the
assistance of relatives.
The
history of the church continues with Reverend Merwin organizing a congregation
in the Corona home in 1889; the following year a church building in Los Nietos was offered the congregation. The Southern Pacific Railroad transported the
building free of charge, and it was placed where the Presbyterian Church of San
Gabriel now stands. Reverend Merwin
served as pastor until shortly before his death, for close to twenty years conducting
the preaching services in Spanish. In
1892 Mr. and Mrs. M. W. Crowell opened an afternoon Sabbath school conducted in
English in the church building, and in 1902 Dr. A. J. Compton of Pasadena
organized an English speaking church in connection with Mr. Crowell’s Bible
school, calling it the Church of the Good Shepherd. However, two years later, aid from the Home
Mission Board being discontinued, the church was dissolved by the Los Angeles
Presbytery and the congregation was placed under the care of the Alhambra
Presbyterian Church; a number of consecrated workers helped in carrying on the
work with the Spanish speaking.
Meanwhile in 1909, the English speaking services were transferred to the
old Masonic Home for the benefit of the many children living there, and the
name was changed to San Gabriel Union Sunday School. When the Masonic Home was moved to Covina,
the congregation moved to Lincoln School where Mr. Charles Sprout, sent by the
Bible Institute of Los Angeles, acted as pastor until his ordination, when he
was sent to Africa as a missionary. On
January 9, 1918, the people of the Union Sunday School decided to organize the
Union Church, meeting at the home of Mary Wilson and led in the meeting by John
Stevenson, then a student at the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. Preceding the first Communion Service on
February 13, 1918, six adults were baptized and the charter membership of the
church stood at twenty-five members.
The
San Gabriel Christian Schools, an interdenominational school with a staff of
credentialed and dedicated Christian teachers, is under the direction of Dr.
Joseph Hemphill and C. Elwood Wilson, and has an enrollment of four hundred thirty-five
students from kindergarten through eighth grade. The educational and spiritual objective of
the school board and the Board of Deacons of the San Gabriel Union Church are
to maintain high academic and moral standards, with spiritual emphasis on the
evangelical teachings of the Bible to be pre-eminent throughout the curriculum.
Transcribed
by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Historical Volume & Reference
Works Including Alhambra, Monterey Park, Rosemead, San Gabriel & Temple
City, by Robert P. Studer, Pages 460-462,
Historical Publ., Los Angeles, California.
1962.
© 2013 V.
Gerald Iaquinta.
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BIOGRAPHIES