Church of the Ascension History

The place of worship which has become the Episcopal Church of the Ascension was, not that long ago, a wooded lot owned by Herman W. Hewitt Sr. and his son, Herman Jr.  The elder Hewitt had been a vestry member at St. George’s Church in Valley Lee for 37 years. The Episcopal Diocese of Washington had gathered a small mission congregation in the new post-WWII town of Lexington Park.  While that little congregation was meeting in the Administration Building at the Cedar Park Trailer Park, Mr. Hewitt thought he could share his land along Great Mills Road with a larger Kingdom purpose.  He responded, and offered what he had to the diocese.  That was still a few years before a building would be built, and it wasn't at all certain that Lexington Park -- and the Patuxent River Naval Base -- would last many years beyond its immediate need in the Second World War.  That small group of Christians had been meeting since September of 1949, first at Old St. Andrews Parish Church on St. Andrew’s Road and then at the trailer park office. This trailer Park was owned by Larry Millison and occupied what is now known as Millison Plaza.

Mr. Millison offered this room for our use without cost of any kind for over two years. It was shared with a small Hebrew congregation which observed the Sabbath on Saturday evening and left the premises for the new congregation to use on Sunday morning. Harry Patzig built an altar out of a box. The box was filled with all the essentials of Episcopal worship. During the week it was placed against the wall. Altar Guild Chairman Anita led a dedicated group of early risers in emptying the box, placing the altar where it belonged, and in a half hour a place of singular beauty had been created. Flowers were on the retable, prayer desks, and an altar rail (also built by men of the group) were in place. All was in readiness for seminarians Stewart Labat, Jim Burney, and Dan Sapp to arrive from the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria. These men took turns. They got valuable experience and the love and gratitude of the congregation.

To back up a little bit, it took some doing to get the Bishop of Washington, the Rt. Rev'd Angus Dun, to approve of the establishment of a Mission Church in Lexington Park. The Washington area was growing explosively in the years following WWII. Churches were needed everywhere. St. Mary’s County already had six Episcopal parishes and seven Episcopal churches, three of them beautiful Colonial structures and all built before 1900. “They can use the churches in Leonardtown or St. Mary’s City,” said the bishop. “Doubtless they can, but they won’t. Besides, this is where the people are,” replied Roberta Hayden Gough (Lois Gough ‘s mother) and Harry Patzig and others. The bishop finally agreed.

First he sent the seminarians. Then he established the Lexington Park Mission on July 1, 1951. Then he sent the newly ordained Charles R. Daugherty to be deacon-in-charge, and later the first Rector. Daugherty’s impact was swift. At his first service in the Trailer Park on June 22, 1952 there were ten people. The next Sunday there were six! From that point, there was no way to go but up. Ascension was the first of seven units built or strengthened by the Diocese. Ground was broken in February of 1954 by Benjamin Unkle, builder. The first service was on September 19, and the dedication by Bishop Dun was on October 17. The church cost $40,000 and was the gift of the people of the Diocese.

A wing was added in 1968 for the Sunday School and a Family Room was built in 1978. Altogether four years of work parties were given in the process of building the Church, the Sunday School wing and the Family Room.

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Father Daugherty, who wrote the above, retired as Rector in 1986, and remained active in Ascension’s life until he entered God’s greater life in 2012. Ascension was served by the Rev’d Rona Harding, rector from 1987 to 2009. Rona’s fine ministry was marked by an unrelenting emphasis on assisting our community neighbors, leading the congregation to acknowledge that Lexington Park was no longer a suburb but had become an urban community. Called as Ascension’s third rector in 2011, the Rev’d Sherrill Page was a pastoral, healing presence for the Ascension and Lexington Park community. Although her ministry was sadly cut short by her sudden death in early 2015, Sherrill helped Ascension begin to explore collaborative possibilities with neighbor congregations. The Rev’d Melinda Artman served as Priest-in-Charge from 2015-17, guiding Ascension’s discernment toward a collaborative ministry call with St. George’s Church in Valley Lee. Church of the Ascension called the Rev’d Gregory Syler as its fourth rector in late 2016, and he was installed in November 2017.  Ascension's parish, Patuxent Parish, merged with William & Mary Parish (St. George's) in January 2021, becoming the Resurrection Parish of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington -- one parish, two church campuses: Ascension & St. George's.