When John and Margaret Porter first moved from Fort Worth, Texas, 45 miles north to Denton, Texas, they didn't know of any other Mormons in the area.
The Porters got to work, said George Hubbard, who authored "When the Saints Came Marching In: A History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Denton, Texas 1958-2008."
"The Porters found missing people," Hubbard said of the Porters' efforts as they found LDS Church members in the area, including those at two local universities. Other members of the LDS Church had previously lived in the area; some had attended church in Fort Worth, and a Sunday School class met for less than a year in 1956 and 1957 after several of the families providing leadership moved.
"They personally gathered them in. … The Porters brought in families who were talented and had a lot to give," Hubbard added.
They organized a Sunday School class, and on Nov. 1, 1959, 23 people met for their first class in the Porters' home.
Now, 50 years later, there are about 10,000 members in nine wards and branches in Denton and the surrounding area, and they are celebrating a Jubilee Year, which includes service projects and missionaries who previously served in the area, including recently released General Sunday School President A. Roger Merrill and Stephen Dalton, husband of General Young Women President Elaine S. Dalton.
"We want to remember the pioneers of our area and honor the sacrifices they made to establish the church here," said Ann Andrus, a member of the steering committee, which has been meeting since last year to plan and organize the service and other activities, including the celebrations on July 24-25.
More than 600 have volunteered for a service project to help clean up and renovate parts of the Hills and Hollows Boy Scout Camp, and there are roadshows, a barbecue, firesides, a youth dance and entertainment planned.
In the early days of the church in the Denton area, there were many miracles that helped the tiny group grow, Hubbard said.
"The Porters would pray for people with specific skills, and those people would show up," Hubbard said. Those new converts later became patriarchs, stake presidents and mission presidents.
Then, a recently released mission president decided to return to the area, which provided some much-needed seasoned leadership in the group that had so many new members, Hubbard added.
"The Lord was really stacking the deck here in Denton," Hubbard said.
For information on the Jubilee Year celebration, go to www.dentonjubilee.org
e-mail: crappleye@desnews.com