IOCO Church
IOCO Memories
Chapter 6
Emily Hyde (nee Hanson)
One time, at Sunday Service at the United Church, the minister was away and Mrs. McVicar was supervising the communion. She was very proper and had everything set up on a handmade white table cloth, including the Welch’s grape juice. The weather was warm and the door was open. In walked an orange cat. It jumped on the table and everything flew off. The congregation laughed hysterically. Eileen Walker was playing the organ and continued playing.
Before churches were built in Ioco, church services took place in available housing at the refinery and sometimes in a boathouse. Rev. J. G. Goodfellow was the Presbyterian pastor when the St. Andrew’s Church was built in 1924. The construction was done with volunteer labour and donations from the company and Missionary Society of the Church. In 1925, the pastoral charge joined the United Church of Canada and became the St. Andrews United Church. The two churches shared the same minister.
In 1991, St. Andrews United church decided that the two churches would separate and each became their own pastoral charge. The Ioco Church became a separate congregation with its own minister and its own name, Ioco United Church. Through the years it served the Ioco community. In 2019, Ioco United church merged with St. Andrews Church in Port Moody and they have come full circle to become one congregation again, with two buildings. Now named Inlet United Church it continues to offer church services to offer church services every Sunday Morning.
