Welcome to the Memories of Holy Dormition Church Site!
This website is a work in progress, as we strive to build an inspiring collection of remembrances of the Holy Dormition of the Theotokos parish and its people (or as it has sometimes been known, Holy Assumption, or simply St. Mary's). Please note that this site is not an official church website; we encourage you to visit the official parish website at HolyDormitionTheotokos.org.
While this site is technically "archival" in nature, seeking to preserve the facts of the history of the parish, memories of its parishioners, and related photos and media material as these are available, the approach of the site is primarily parish-centered and in some ways also "family-oriented" (i.e., being aware of family connections, genealogy, and events that can have a familial meaning as well as religious, such as baptisms). We hope that this approach helps make the gathering and display of memories on this site more personal and meaningful.
The historical orientation of this site has led to the presentation of past textual material when feasible. For example, the parish's Golden Jubilee anniversary booklet of 1957 has served as an indispensable resource regarding the founding and early history of the parish, and we have preserved some of that material here verbatim.
Since much of the parish history on this site deals with the first half of the twentieth century, some of the explanatory material used on this site is also from that era, in an attempt to have a sense of historical consistency. For example, some of our pages explaining the faith of the parish are excerpted from a book compiled by the Orthodox priest, Fr. Peter Kohanik, in 1932 to 1934. The concerns of that era and the phrasing of explanations expressed in that book likely reflect similar concerns and phrasing (in English) that parishioners in Slavic Orthodox churches in the early twentieth century expressed. Using these older texts also tends to minimize chances of anachronisms (projecting more modern connotations and concerns back onto the previous generations) when reflecting on the lives of these earlier parishioners. The potential drawback of using an older text is that it simply might not make available very relevant findings or discussions of later historical scholarship. In spite of this potential imperfection, we have elected to continue with the archival/preservation approach when possible.
Finally, the site is building a collection of personal memorial pages, whenever enough information is available on any one past parishioner to create one. This is a slower process, but can be made quicker and can be optimized if relevant information (and hopefully a photograph) is made available to us.
We hope the pages on this site prompt pleasant reflection, and that you find the pages to be interesting, useful, heartwarming, and inspiring.