FBC, Pahokee, closes after 82 years

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PAHOKEE (FBW)—A year of personal achievement for Uceba Babson has been marked also by bitter sorrow. Her beloved First Baptist Church in Pahokee, which had dwindled to about 20 attending members, voted recently to close its doors and to give its property to Big Lake Baptist Association.

“This has broken my heart,” Babson said.

The church was constituted in 1922 and, after the membership—including Babson’s parents—selected and cleared a site, a church building was built in only three days. The original building was heavily damaged in a 1928 hurricane that devastated the area. The present facility, including a sanctuary, two-story educational building and fellowship hall was completed in 1956 and remodeled about 12 years ago, according to the church’s 80th anniversary publication.

Sherrill Tillery, Big Lake director of missions, told Florida Baptist Witness that although the church had been in the Florida Baptist Convention revitalization program two and a half years, the mostly elderly membership voted to close in December. Tillery said the church property likely will be used to house an African American congregation.