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Frederick C. Hasskarl
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St. Mark's Pastors
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Pastor Hasskarl officially joined St. Mark's on January 17, 1955, and was installed on February 6 of that year. His tenure at St. Mark's matched that of his predecessor, Rev. Houser - twenty-six years. He retired in 1981.
As part of the ongoing plan of expansion, Pastor
Hasskarl and the Church Council began to plan
for the construction of a new church on property
to the north of the church, acquired some years
before. A decision was made to continue to be a
downtown church rather than
During 1959 the construction continued and in that year the pipe organ was carefully removed from the old church and returned to the Moeller factory at Hagerstown to be rebuilt to fit the new church. October 25 was the laying of the cornerstone. Pastor Hasskarl and Pastor Paul Bosch placed the historical items in a copper box and set it in place.
The years of the 60’s and 70’s saw an increasing emphasis on the outreach mission of the church. Church Council elected to become a part of the Center City Cluster of churches and so began a program of bulk buying of fuel oil, some supplies and a sharing of Good Friday services, workshops and the like.
The 125th anniversary of the church was celebrated in 1977, and the following year the Rev. Dale Johnson was called as associate pastor. New hymnals and a new liturgy challenged the congregation to learn a new service. Pastor Hasskarl was active in the civic life of the community serving on the boards of the Community Concert, Loyalsock Kiwanis and regional Home Health Services (then Visiting Nurses Association). He was active in the Center City. Cluster Churches and at the synod level. During his twenty-six years, Pastor Hasskarl compiled the following statistics: Baptisms - 728, Weddings 424, Funerals - 837, confirmation classes - 25 (about 400 young people). His impact on the congregation was significant and long lasting. Pastor Hasskarl died Feb. 9, 2003. Read more:
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The Pulpit
Committee that twice visited Pastor Hasskarl at the Emanuel Lutheran
Church at Burnholme, near Philadelphia consisted of George F. Lamade,
George E. Hartman, Kenneth Miller, Kimball Miller, Harry J. W.
Kiessling and Charles Schreyer. The committee reported that Pastor
Hasskarl had “served nine years in the ministry, was 36, married and
had two small sons and that all six members of the committee were
unanimously favorable to him.
move to another
location. During 1957, an intensive building
fund campaign was conducted and after receiving
pledges of some $400,000 and the actual cash
receipt of one-half of those funds, ground for
the new St. Mark’s was broken on July 20, 1958 and actual construction was begun shortly
thereafter. Groundbreaking Sunday was a joyous
occasion. A large crowd watched as Pastor
Hasskarl turned the first spade of earth from
the spot marked with a cross where our present
altar stands. Assistant Pastor Paul Bosch and
Doctor Houser also participated.
On February 21, the last service in the old
church was conducted with much sadness; at the
same time, there was anticipation for the next
week’s move to the beautiful new church. A week
of celebration followed the dedication and
featured the return of both Pastor Houser and
Paul Bosch, who had since accepted an assignment
at Syracuse University.
Several
assistant pastors served during these years: the
Rev. William E. Hershey Rev. Robert A, Miller
and the Rev, Jesse G. Houck.