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A History of the Chelsea Branch/Ward 

(Updated September 2022) 

February 4, 1973:  A dependent branch of the Church was organized to serve Chelsea and the surrounding areas in association with the Jackson Ward.  Don Pierson was the first Branch President and Carroll Buck the branch clerk.  Sacrament meetings were held in the Buck home for a short time.

February 5, 1973:  The first set of missionaries were assigned to the Branch.  Elder Castleberry and Elder Wilson lived in an apartment in the home of Carroll and Gladys Buck on Main Street.  After the elders, sister missionaries arrived, and the Carty and Sibley families were soon baptized.  A short time later the branch secured a meeting spot at the Rebecca Hall on M-52 Chelsea (the current home of Palmer Ford truck lot).  

April 6, 1973: The first baptisms in the Chelsea Branch took place — Larry and Gayle Gorton were baptized in Sugar Loaf Lake at the home of Brother and Sister Welshans.

Summer 1974: The branch moved into St. Barnabas church on Old US 12.

Sometime 1974:  Dennis Cochran became Branch President.  

August 14, 1977:  The Ann Arbor Stake was created and boundaries of the branch were changed.  Carroll Buck became the presiding elder of the Chelsea branch, serving as a third counselor under Bishop Scott Fisher.  A few months later the branch was dissolved and absorbed into the Ann Arbor Ward.  

Spring 1978:  While a part of the Ann Arbor Ward, the branch members grew in testimony and spirit.  During this time, the Schultes, Bergmans, Cartys and Poes were all sealed in the Washington DC temple.

Later in 1978:  The Chelsea Branch was made an independent unit of the Ann Arbor Stake.  Jerry Larson was called as Branch President.  For several weeks the branch met in the basement of the Larson’s very small home on Wilkinson Street.  Still later the branch returned again to the Rebecca Lodge and created cardboard walls to divide the basement for both Sunday School and Primary.  The building was not air conditioned, had wooden floors, folding wooden chairs and a very old upright piano.

About 1980:  Tom Schulte was made Branch President.  That same year the Wayne Winzenz family joined the Church. Around this time, the Elephant Ear wagon was purchased and operated to provide the early financial needs of the branch before church unit finances were centralized.  An appropriate site was located and Salt Lake approved the construction of a permanent meetinghouse for the branch. Groundbreaking was in 1984.

March 1985:  Wayne Winzenz was made Branch President just prior to moving into the “Phase One” building.   Later the building was expanded, and a story about that was related by former Stake President and now Stake Patriarch Kim Cameron at the September 2022 Ann Arbor Stake Conference.  The “Phase One” building included not much more than the classrooms — the branch would have to average a sacrament meeting attendance of nearly double that number.

Everyone pitched in.  Patriarch Cameron was the high council representative to Chelsea at the time, and they had seven children.  Once a month the nine of them would attend Sacrament Meeting in Chelsea to help get the numbers up so they could qualify for a building expansion.  Within about three years, the branch succeeded, moving into the Phase-II building in the spring of 1990.  Now the challenge was to continue to grow!  

Melvin J. Ballard, grandfather of the present acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve — M. Russell Ballard — once gave a talk that began with the question: “Why is it that sometimes only one of a city or a household receives the gospel?  It was made known unto me that it is because of their righteous dead who have received the gospel in the spirit world exercising themselves, and in answer to their prayers, elders of the Church were sent to the homes of their posterity, that the righteous might be taught, that the gospel might be taught to them, and through their righteousness they might be privileged to have a descendant in the flesh do the work [in the temple] for their kindred dead.”  Sister Wendy Nelson, the wife of President Russell M. Nelson, echoed this in her book Covenant Keepers by noting that: “Those on the other side of the veil are eager — no, actually they are desperate — to receive their saving and exalting ordinances.  They know when and where their ordinance will be performed.”  And President Wilford Woodruff, citing the prophet Joseph Smith, once stated that he believed “there are ten times more angels in this [sealing] room than people.  When eternal ordinances are performed, when eternal events occur, they are always witnessed by those on the other side of the veil.  You can be assured that they know you are here, although you will not see them.”

Well, the Chelsea Building was located right next to a cemetery.  The Detroit Michigan Mission President came to Chelsea and dedicated the cemetery, pleading with those buried there to affect their posterity so that they would encounter the Gospel of Jesus Christ, join the Church, and do ordinance work for them in the temple.  It had been some time since Chelsea had seen a convert baptism.  The next year, more than a dozen people joined the Church.  Branch President Sam Skidmore’s brother and several others moved into Chelsea and joined the Church.  President Skidmore was a 5th grade teacher and walked into his office one day where he found two junior high students who announced they had decided to join his Church.  Some parents asked Bishop Skidmore for a copy of the Church’s home evening manual.  The principal of the Dexter Elementary School called the sister missionaries and asked them to come to read stories to the children each day at noon.  These sweet children became exposed to the spirit of sister missionaries every day at lunch.  

Patriarch Cameron concluded by noting that: “Well, Chelsea is now the largest ward in the Ann Arbor Stake in attendance.  It has the largest youth program in the stake by a factor of almost two.  This is because those on the other side of the veil know you are here.  They want very much for you to attend the temple and do ordinance work for them.  They will assist you.  The Aaronic Priesthood holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and through that power spirits on the other side of the veil will intervene in and bless your lives.”

1990 – 1995:  Sam Skidmore served as branch president.

February 1995 - June 2000:  Gary Spooner served as branch president.  Members continued faithfully to love and support each other and efforts were continually made to strengthen the branch as well as to encourage its growth.  Several cherished traditions were established. The branch held yearly picnics that started at the church and eventually moved to Timbertown Park.  A staple was barbequed chicken over an open fire pit.  Baked Potato and Ice Cream was a wonderful time to fellowship during General Priesthood Meeting Broadcasts.  On Thanksgiving Day, many young men and adult brothers gathered at the church to play flag football, and famously referred to as the “Turkey Bowl”.  Branch members routinely prayed for baptisms and for members to move into the area. Missionary work was an important part of branch history during this time.

June 2000 – September 2006:  Sam Gines served as branch president. He served with counselors Jason Pierson, John Appleton, David Dyerly and Ron Kurth.  Relief Society Presidents who faithfully served during this time included Judy Carty, Margaret Skidmore and Kris Bergman. Primary Presidents who served included Lisa Steward, Nancy Ward and Kareena Horton.  Early morning seminary was held and led by amazing teachers: Kathy Adams (total of 8 years) and Debra Spooner (4 years).  Bishop Rick Adams served as High Priest group leader as well as Ed Hall.  During this time the ward continued to grow.  Real highlights were the Young Men and Young Women, who earned money for Scouts and Young Women camp by working all the shifts in the Elephant Ear wagon during the entire Chelsea fair week. It took a lot to set up and keep the wagon stocked and operating during that week!  The wagon was later sold to private entity who continued the tradition of allowing non-profit groups, like our youth, to work and earn money during Fair Week.

With a ‘Phase-II” church building, members faithfully set up chairs in the carpeted cultural hall for sacrament meetings each week (and stacked them up after meetings) in preparation for Wednesday night youth and other activities. During this time the branch was deeply involved with service activities such as firewood for Sister Sibley (cutting splitting and stacking) and extensive service projects at many member homes.  

For a few years the branch participated in Chelsea Fair parades, which included a float with “Families Can Be Together Forever” and “Temple” themes.  Gary and Karen Smith and experiencing many of the sites that were instrumental in the restoration of the Church. 

In the 2002 Priesthood session of General Conference, Elder Ballard challenged the young men of the Church to ‘raise the bar’ and become the greatest generation of missionaries.  President Gines held a youth fireside complete with a bench press machine, and challenged all the youth present that he could lift more than any of them. Many took turns. Strapping Mike Ward, a football player and the biggest young man, was the last youth to go.  He benched as much as he could, more than any other youth.  Then to the surprise of everyone, President Gines lifted what Mike did plus 5 lbs.  He then shared that preparation starting months before the fireside enabled him to do that, and that similar preparation, a little bit at a time, incrementally ‘raising the bar’, would enable those youth to do the same in their missionary efforts.

The faithful members of the branch were inspiring in their desire to serve missions and both youth and adult members, such as in July 2006, when eight members of the branch were simultaneously serving:  Elder Michael P. Ward, Elder and Sister Tom and Carol Schulte, Elder Gary M. Smith, Elder Daniel L. Schulte, Elder Joe Donnellon, Elder Nathan Skidmore, and Elder Jacob Thompson. This trend continued well after the branch became a ward.  This period of time saw the growth of the branch sufficient to be eligible to become a ward.

24 September 2006 the Chelsea Branch became a ward in the Ann Arbor Stake. Allen Hicken became the first Bishop, who served from Sept 2006 to 2013.  Counselors who served with Bishop Hicken included: Rick Adams, Travis Horton, David Read, Jason Dunn, and Doug Wrathall.  Relief Society Presidents who served during this time include: Margret Skidmore (Thiele), Karen Smith, Sonja Kurth, and Beverlee Walesby.  During this time the ward increased in size from a small to a larger ward, membership at sacrament meeting increased by about 80-100 members.

The ward building expanded to include a full-size permanent chapel together with more rooms (2008-09).  From Bishop Hicken: We had a groundbreaking celebration in front of the church.  President Hedquist offered a prayer and Gladys Kennedy offered a few words.  At the building dedication (September 20, 2009) Gladys again spoke, and I believe Sam and Sister Skidmore spoke, along with myself.  President Hedquist offered a dedicatory prayer.” There was a tremendous spirit of gratitude felt by all the ward

members, especially for those who were there at the start of our history, for such a beautiful spacious building to meet and worship in.

The spirit of service continued to flourish with implementation of “Service Saturdays” (the idea of Mark Taylor who was HP group leader at the time) — a chance for members of the ward to come together once a month to work together to serve members of the ward and community.  A sacrament meeting talk theme of “Why I believe” was started once a month — a chance for members to share their stories of faith and struggles.  It was acknowledged the great spirit of love and fellowship that permeated the ward, even in the midst of challenges.

2013 to 2019.  Douglas M. Wrathall served as Bishop.  Counselors included: Chris Edwards, Jason Dunn, Matt Gibson, Rob Juergens.  Relief Society Presidents who served included Kristin Stewart and Tanya Dunn.  The High Priest Group Leaders serving included Ed Williams.

From Bishop Wrathall:  In terms of meaningful experiences, here are some things that come to mind:

1. The first couple of years were marked by continued growth.  Many new and wonderful families continued to move into the ward – almost every week.  

2. The makeup of the ward resulted in a very large primary and over 60 young men and young women at one point.  We had a wonderful problem — each Sunday, we could not find classrooms that were large enough to hold our large classes.

3. When Chelsea was a branch and a small ward, there was a culture of service and love towards those who had needs.  This service orientation continued through the years even as we experienced growth.

4. In an effort to be more outward facing and to demonstrate to the community our belief in Christ, the ward hosted three annual evenings during the beginning of December.  Organized by Suzy Wrathall, the entire cultural hall was filled with Crèche displays brought from all over the ward and a special musical program was held.  The first couple of years, this program was led by Stanford Olsen, well known for his professional accomplishments.   The community participated as well as active and less active families. 

5. Starting in 2018 – when President Nelson became the Prophet – many changes occurred in the Church.  This gave the ward council and the Bishopric the opportunity to demonstrate faith and to assist ward members in adopting and understanding these changes.   Many of the new families that had moved in to the ward were instrumental in helping to reorganize the quorums and auxiliaries as well as shifting responsibilities of Bishoprics towards youth while teaching members to rely more on Priesthood and Relief Society leaders to directly oversee temporal matters of the adult ward members. 

6. Members of the ward began to embrace ministering programs to ward families and the new Come Follow Me curriculum to be home centered and church supported.

7. Through many challenges, changes, events, and learnings from our leaders, there were always tender mercies and spiritual outpourings that occurred on a regular basis.  

2019 to 2023: Bishop Garn Smith was called and is currently serving as Bishop of the Chelsea Ward.  Counselors who served with Bishop Smith include Rob Juergens, Curtis McNiven, Matthew Gibson, and Brian Andersen.  Relief Society Presidents who have served included Tanya Dunn and Kristine Juergens.  Elders Quorum Presidents who have served included Matt Adams and Dave Dyerly.  The Primary President now serving is Deborah Snyder.  Bishop Smith’s service has been challenging and very interesting due to Covid, which brought adjustments to church meetings, service and activities.

2024: Matt Gibson was called to serve as Bishop of the Chelsea ward. Counselors are Sam Gines and Brian Anderson. Alison Fredenberg is called as the relief society president.

updated: 28 Jan 2024