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October 23 Today in OPC History

Frank and Mary Shillito Stevenson

 

On October 23, 1917, Frank H. Stevenson and Mary Shillito were married in Cincinnati, Ohio. Frank, pastor of Covenant-First Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati, supported J. Gresham Machen during the Presbyterian conflict and would serve as the president of the Board of Trustees at Westminster Seminary. He would die suddenly of a heart attack in 1934.

After her husband's death, Mary continued to support Machen. She helped to organize a Christian Assembly in Cincinnati in order to educate Presbyterians about the theological modernism that was overtaking the Presbyterian Church. Later, she helped to organize the local chapter of the Presbyterian Constitutional Covenant Union. Machen was thankful and said, "I am tremendously impressed with the opportunities in Cincinnati. It strikes me as one of the greatest privileges that I have had.

Mary attended Machen's General Assembly appeal on June 1, 1936, in Syracuse, New York. Ten days later the Presbyterian Church of America was formed. Mary and her sister, Beatrice, would become charter members of the new church as members of Trinity OPC, Cinncinati. Many believed that it was Mary and her sister Beatrice who encouraged Pastor Everett DeVelde to recommend the name "Orthodox Presbyterian Church" at the Fifth (1939) General Assembly when the church was ordered to change its name. She opened her home for presbyteries and assemblies and addressed ladies's meetings. She remained active in support of Westminster Theological Seminary until two years before her death on January 15, 1962, at the age of eighty-one.

 

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