The History of the Beaver-Butler Presbytery
In 1958, two denominations, Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. and the United Presbyterian Church of North America joined to form the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. On January 20, 1959, what had been four presbyteries under the former organization merged into a new presbytery known as Beaver-Butler Presbytery. The merged presbyteries were Beaver (Presbyterian), Beaver Valley (United Presbyterian), Butler (Presbyterian), and Butler (United Presbyterian). Another merger of the southern and northern expressions of Presbyterianism occurred in 1983 to form our current denomination, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Today, our Presbytery is comprised of 63 PC(U.S.A.) churches within the bounds of Beaver and Butler counties.
In September, 1968, Rev. James G. Manor was called as the first General Presbyter, now known as Executive Presbyter. Other Executive Presbyters who served the Presbytery are Dr. Stephen Polley, Rev. Tim Jones, and Rev. Alan Adams. Interim Executive Presbyters who served the Presbytery are Rev. Helen Cochrane, Dr. Robert Frazier, and Rev. Carolyn Jones. Rev. Dr. David Oyler is currently serving as Temporary Part-Time Executive Presbyter.
The Presbytery offices have always been located in the Zelienople, PA area. The first location was opened in the Mellon Bank Building in Zelienople. The next year, the office moved to the Butler County News Building on Route 19S. In 1981, the office was moved to the basement of the Zelienople Library, and in 1997, the Presbytery purchased and moved into a building at 134-B South Main Street, where it is still located.
The building accommodates the Secretary/Reception area, the Accounting Office, the Executive Presbyter’s Office, the Resource Center and two conference rooms. Here, the staff is available to serve the churches and their members.
Moderators of Beaver-Butler 1959 – 2019
| Merger of 4 Presbyteries January 20, 1959 | ||||||
| Rev. E. G. Montag (Senior Moderator) | ||||||
| 1959 | Rev. James G. Manor | 1990 | Rev. Deane Lavender | |||
| 1960 | Rev. Richard Davis | 1991 | Rev. Robert B. McCrumb II | |||
| 1961 | Rev. George W. Carson | 1992 | Elder John Towns | |||
| 1962 | Rev. C. Kenneth Hall | 1993 | Elder Mark Ruppert | |||
| 1963 | Rev. Ray A. McCreight | 1994 | Elder Deborah Ihlenfeld | |||
| 1964 | Rev. E.G. Montag | 1995 | Rev. John C. Peterson | |||
| 1965 | Rev. William K. Liebler | 1996 | Rev. Dennis Burnett | |||
| 1966 | Rev. Harold Byers | 1997 | Rev. Judy Angleberger | |||
| 1967 | Elder Robert S. Kerr | 1998 | Rev. Thomas Clyde | |||
| 1968 | Rev. John L. Brownlee | 1999 | Rev. William Jamieson | |||
| 1969 | Elder Raymond Why | 2000 | Rev. Judith McBride | |||
| 1970 | Rev. James S. Seaman | 2001 | Rev. Stephen Cahoon | |||
| 1971 | Rev. Harvey O. Johnson | 2002 | Elder Peg Marshall | |||
| 1972 | Rev. T. Neil Severance | 2003 | Rev. Thomas Thornton | |||
| 1973 | Elder Mark B. Maharg | 2004 | Elder Thomas McMeekin | |||
| 1974 | Rev. Crea M. Clark | 2005 | Rev. John Rickloff | |||
| 1975 | Elder John Davison | 2006 | Elder Michael Helms | |||
| 1976 | Rev. William H. Hudson | 2007 | Rev. Gary Weston | |||
| 1977 | Elder George Kehrli | 2008 | Elder John Stokes | |||
| 1978 | Elder Carmine R. Garcia | 2009 | Rev. Connie Dunn | |||
| 1979 | Elder James K. Donnell | 2010 | Elder James Powers | |||
| 1980 | Rev. William J. Lightbody | 2011 | Rev. Peter deVries | |||
| 1981 | Elder R. James Ihlenfeld | 2012 | Rev. Judy Angleberger | |||
| 1982 | Rev. Jean H. Henderson | 2013 | Elder Ray Why | |||
| 1983 | Elder William Meyer | 2014 | Rev. Allison Bauer | |||
| 1984 | Rev. William A. Jamieson | 2015 | Elder James Ihlenfeld | |||
| 1985 | Elder Marian Starr | 2016 | Rev. Dr. Mary Kitchen | |||
| 1986 | Rev. Walter Radulovich | 2017 | Elder Thomas McMeekin | |||
| 1987 | Rev. Wayne M. Bell | 2018 | Rev. Dr. Thomas Harmon | |||
| 1988 | Elder Earl W. Dunfee | 2019 | Rev. Randall Clow | |||
| 1989 | Rev. Robert Mathias | 2020 | Rev. William Mumaw | |||
