Biography

Wakefield United Methodist Church is located at 569 Marshall Street, Cameron, Louisiana.

Methodist preachers first held services in Leesburg (as it was known then) as early as 1848 in private homes. Services were later held in the schoolhouse and the courthouse.

The first appointed minister on record is Rev. John B. Shearer in 1931. The church purchased property from Alexis Daigle and built their first church in 1933. The church property increased in 1944, when J. Austin Davis deeded two lots to the church. Construction on a parsonage began in November 1947.

New facilities, including a sanctuary, fellowship hall, and classrooms, were completed in 1948. The church was named the Wakefield Methodist Church in memory of George Wakefield.

A decade later, an annex was constructed (1957) that added classrooms and a kitchen.

But just a few months later, on June 27, Hurricane Audrey destroyed the church. While constructing the new church, the congregation met at the Wesley Foundation at McNeese State College and at the Cameron Parish courthouse.

By November 1957, the parsonage had been built; some of the materials from the old church were used in its construction. Property was purchased from J. A. Davis and Ashbum Rous for a new church. In February 1958, the education building was completed. The sanctuary was completed later that year, in October. A dedication service was held May 5, 1963 with Bishop A. G. Walton leading the service. In 1995, repairs and painting were applied to the church.

Source: Timothy Hebert, “The Historical Register of the Louisiana Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church,” (Louisiana: Louisiana Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, 2004), page LC-50.

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