During the tenure of Rev. Llwyd (pronounced like Lloyd), Grace reached its highest membership numbers, peaking in 1939 with 733 confirmed members. Mr. Llwyd died suddenly in April 1941. A tribute in the Muskogee Phoenix stated, “He was a good man who will be missed in the community he loved and served faithfully.”
The parish continued to flourish through the 1940’s, and in the early 1950’s an annex to the Parish House was constructed. Parish membership, while still strong, began to decline slowly.
The Rev. James Lawrence Basil Williams became rector in September 1958. Beyond Grace, Mr. Williams had a vision for Episcopal churches in the area and established two new missions. The first was St. Lawrence, on Muskogee’s east side, and the second was St. Basil’s in Tahlequah. Establishment of the St. Lawrence mission had an immediate effect on Grace. Overall membership fell by about 200 and a financial crisis loomed. Mr. Williams’s resignation quickly followed in February 1961.
The Rev. Canon F. Grover Fulkerson arrived in Muskogee in April 1961 and immediately began work to restore the parish to a harmonious whole. During Mr. Fulkerson’s years Bixby Memorial Chapel was constructed and membership remained well above 600 baptized and confirmed persons. Debt was reduced. Sunday School enrollment peaked at 149 children.
January 1972 marked the start of another lengthy tenure for a Grace rector. Fr. Edwin L. Hoover served the church for more than 14 years. In April 1973, Grace agreed to house daytime GED classes. MONARCH, Oklahoma’s major treatment center for women victims of alcohol and drug abuse is a spin-off of the ministry of Grace Church. Fr. Hoover retired in 1986.
Fr. Drew Wales followed Fr. Hoover until 1990. His tenure was relatively short as often happens following a long pastorate such as Fr. Hoover’s. Membership declined somewhat during this period.
The Rev. Max B. Berry, Jr. took over the position in November 1990. Fr. Berry was very well liked and served the parish well until he retired at the end of 2004. During Fr. Berry’s tenure membership remained steady, showing a slight increase overall. Two new outreach programs, Meals on Wheels and Servings of Grace, began during his tenure, as well as the much-anticipated printing of “The History of Grace Episcopal Church” by parishioner Marj Paxson.
In January 2003, Fr. Kirk Woodliff was hired as assistant priest during his curacy year. His duties were to develop ministry among newcomers, young adults, and youth, as well as assist the rector. Upon Fr. Berry’s retirement, Fr. Woodliff was selected as the new rector and started in that capacity in January 2005. Fr. Woodliff immediately followed a long-tenured and much beloved rector. As often happens, a rector in this situation will of necessity be short term. Fr. Woodliff accepted another call to a parish in Nevada in 2008. Supply priests and our deacons served the church until The Rev. Jenny Pratt, an ELCA Lutheran minister, was called to serve as Interim Rector for about eighteen months until the arrival of our new rector, the Rev. Bob Wickizer, in March 2010.
Grace Episcopal Church is located within the boundaries of what has recently been designated as the Muskogee Downtown Historic District, and has been identified by the Muskogee Historic Commission as an anchor structure to this locally designated area. As the earliest documented religion-oriented property in Muskogee (1905), Grace is also one of only three surviving churches in Muskogee built prior to statehood, and is the only church in Muskogee that has maintained its original religious affiliation and name since statehood.