Centennial Gospel Hymnsing In Winona
A “Winona Centennial Gospel Hymnsing” will be held at the Winona Lake Grace Brethren Church, 1200 Kings Highway, in Winona Lake, at 6 p.m. Sunday, June 9. The hymnsing is free and open to the public and features the hymns and gospel songs that were published by the Rodeheaver Hall-Mack Company and that made Winona famous as the center of the gospel publishing world for many decades.
The town of Winona Lake was incorporated June 2, 1913, and the gospel sing is one of a series of centennial events planned to mark the 100-year anniversary of the historic town. The evening will feature narration excerpted from the “Winona’s Heritage of Sacred Music” chapter of the recently-published centennial history “Winona at 100: Third Wave Rising,” written by Winona Lake residents Terry White and Steve Grill.
Sunday night’s program will include such Rodeheaver favorites as “If Your Heart Keeps Right,” “In the Garden,” and “Beyond the Sunset,” which was written in Winona Lake by Virgil and Blanche Brock. Also included will be “The Old Rugged Cross,” a Rodeheaver copyright which sold more than a million copies as recorded in 1913 by Homer Rodeheaver and Virginia Asher.