Lake Park Cemetery Trustee Mark Luke, left, stands with Dr. Charles Wilkins, a newspaper letter writer who wrote about the Gospel hymn “The Old Rugged Cross” and its Youngstown native author — the Rev. George Bennard.

YOUNGSTOWN — Motorists driving on East Midlothian Boulevard toward the Interstate 680 overpass this morning may notice the wooden cross near the pond at the front of Lake Park Cemetery.

The cross, which has special significance during this holy season, has a Mahoning Valley connection in relation to the popular gospel hymn “The Old Rugged Cross.” The author of that hymn was a Youngstown native and later became a traveling Methodist evangelist around the Midwest, singing and preaching God’s word.

The 22-foot-high structure set up on a bank at the large pond is a memorial to that author, the Rev. George Bennard. The cross also is the gathering place for an Easter Sunday sunrise celebration headed by the local Salvation Army. The 7 a.m. solemnity is held each year under the cross to mark Christ’s resurrection and ultimate sacrifice for mankind’s sins.

Pastor Felix Torres of the Salvation Army’s Youngstown Corps organized and led today’s service.

‘GROWING UP’

MEMORIES

Bob Trube authors the “Bob on Books” website and in his Feb. 19, 2022, reflection on “Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown,” he writes that as a young boy, he first remembered seeing the Old Rugged Cross at the local cemetery when he was with his grandparents.

Trube grew up on Youngstown’s West Side and graduated from Chaney High School in 1972.

“I believe we were visiting Lake Park Cemetery where one of my father’s brothers, who died as a child, was buried,” Trube writes. “My grandmother, a very religious woman, loved the fact that there was this Old Rugged Cross, right by a pond, visible from Midlothian Boulevard. She loved the hymn that inspired this memorial.”

Trube said he later drove by many times on the way to his girlfriend’s home in Brownlee Woods. After earning a degree from Youngstown State University in 1976, Trube’s girlfriend became his wife of 43 years.

The composer of the hymn, “The Old Rugged Cross” — the Rev. George Bennard — was born in Youngstown in 1873. He moved away as a young boy going to Iowa, according to cemetery board member Mark Luke.

As a young man, Bennard converted to Christianity under the preaching of the Salvation Army.

He married while in the Salvation Army but later left that ministry to become a traveling evangelist with the Methodist Church. That is when Bennard wrote the first verse of the “The Old Rugged Cross.”

According to the story, he evidently felt downtrodden because of his preaching being met with ridicule at a 1912 revival meeting in Albion, Michigan.

This is the first verse plus the chorus:

On a hill far away, stood an old rugged Cross

The emblem of suff’ring and shame

And I love that old Cross where the dearest and best

For a world of lost sinners was slain

So I’ll cherish the old rugged Cross

Till my trophies at last I lay down

I will cling to the old rugged Cross

And exchange it some day for a crown

GAINS POPULARITY

The remaining verses were composed on the last night of a Jan. 12, 1913, revival meeting in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. That night, Bennard was joined by Ed E. Mieras in a duet.

On June 7, 1913, a choir of five at a small church in Pokagon, Michigan, took up the entire song with Charles H. Gabriel, a well-known gospel composer helping with harmonies. The hymn gained popularity through the evangelistic campaigns of Billy Sunday.

Bennard had a long career as an evangelist, traveling the country with his wife. In addition to “The Old Rugged Cross,” according to historical websites, Bennard wrote 350 hymns during the course of his ministry.

In 1952, the song was introduced to a new generation when singer Ernest Tubb recorded it as the title track of a gospel album.

Bennard retired to Reed City, Michigan, where he died in 1958.

THE LOCAL CROSS

Shortly thereafter, in honor of Bennard, a drive was organized locally, and $2,500 was raised to erect the 22-foot cross, using timbers from the Veach Methodist Church established in Hubbard in 1829.

According to Trube’s website, William H. Fiest Jr. of Stambaugh Hardwood Company performed the mill work on the timbers.

A dedication ceremony took place April 5, 1959, at the cemetery. The event drew about 3,000 with the Rev. Paul Gauss, then leader of the Youngstown Council of Churches, as the main speaker.

Ted Connor, a Valley radio / television personality of the time and chairman of the cross committee, introduced Bennard’s widow, who shared stories of her husband.

During her remarks, Hannah Bennard pointed to the cross, saying: “Let’s remember the one who hung on the first rugged cross.”

The program for the event included messages from then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower and popular evangelists Norman Vincent Peale and Billy Graham.

Today, there is an Old Rugged Cross museum in Reed City, and its director, Kathy Yost, is aware of the Lake Park Cemetery cross in Youngstown. Yost also said a similar cross was erected and dedicated in 1954 at the Bennards’ old home in Reed City. The museum contains mementos and relics from that home, Yost said.

TRIBUTE

Dr. Charles Wilkins, a medical doctor who belongs to Trinity United Methodist Church, gave tribute to the cross and Bennard in a recent letter to the editor.

“For all Christians, Catholic, Orthodox and Protestants alike, as you pass the cross on Midlothian, please remember Our Savior’s sacrifice for us, and while in prayer, hum or sing the song.”

Luke said a few people are around who remember that 1959 dedication service.

“The stories that stick with me … about the cross is that the present cross is its third edition,” Luke said.

The present cross was built by the cemetery staff, Luke said. The original was struck by lightning and a second one was built afterward.

“That second one was replaced a few years back when its base rotted and was brought down by a windstorm,” Luke said.

While the present one was being built, Luke said, many passersby noted the void at the front of the cemetery.

“We kept all the letters asking, where did the cross go? And why was it taken down?” he said.

Luke said he is glad the cross has been replaced and is proud to be its caretaker.

“We don’t do anything special, we are just stewards of the cemetery and that special cross,” he said.