Breckenridge Texan

By Carla McKeown/Breckenridge Texan

If you’ve never been to one of the pie baking days at First Methodist Church of Breckenridge in the weeks leading up to the annual Turkey Dinner, it’s a sight to behold. Each year, a group of dedicated women gather for the two-day event, baking pumpkin and pecan pies by the dozens.

Shelia Tonne and Karen Duggan put pies in the oven on one side of the First Methodist Church kitchen, while across the counter, Rosa Leveridge and Kathy Hoffman take the already-baked pies out of the oven. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/ Breckenridge Texan)

It’s a combination of precision choreography and assembly line production with a lot of camaraderie and a little bit of high-jinks.

The volunteers who prepare the pies for the church’s Turkey Dinner are very much in a “serious business” mode when mixing up the pie filling, getting the pies in the oven and then checking them to make sure they’ve baked properly. But, once the complicated work is done, there’s time for visiting and laughter as they clean up and take care of other related tasks.

Although Oct. 23 and 24 were designated as pie baking days, there are many more things going on to get ready for the community dinner, which is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 14. The meal is served in the Christian Life Center for those who choose to dine-in, but many others get their meals to go. That means take-out containers have to be labeled and organized for the big day.

Last month, while one group was wrapping up the pumpkin pie production, several other women were measuring out sheets of foil and placing labels on styrofoam containers.

The pies and other Turkey Dinner components are cooked ahead of time and frozen until the big day. This year, they baked 44 pumpkin pies and 60 pecan pies.

Tickets to the Turkey Dinner cost $15 per person and are available in advance only from church members, at the church office and at Clear Fork Bank and InterBank. No tickets will be sold at the door.

In a moment of levity, Sheila Tonne and Beth Byerly laugh as Kathy Hoffman pretends to drink the last drops of pumpkin pie filling. The women are all-business until the pies are baked; then, there’s time for some fun. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

The Turkey Dinner will be held on Thursday, Nov. 14, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The meal will include turkey, dressing, gravy, potatoes, green beans, fruit salad, cranberry sauce, rolls and pumpkin or pecan pie. For those dining in, there will be tea, coffee or water to drink.

A bake sale will also be going on during the Turkey Dinner.

According to documents saved by the dinner’s organizers, including old newspaper clippings and typed notes, the Turkey Dinner was started in 1947 as a wrap-up to a fundraising bazaar for the church. To the best of anyone’s knowledge, the dinner continued annually through 2019, the tradition’s 73rd year. In 2020, it was put on hiatus due to precautions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, the dinner returned.

Back in 1947, Margaret Hallauer started the annual dinner when she was elected president of the Women’s Society of Christian Service, which was also known as the Methodist Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society, United Methodist Women, and United Women in Faith. According to her 1991 obituary, Hallauer was coordinating and supervising the Turkey Dinner until 1985, when she was 85 years old. An old newspaper article reports that one year she broke her hip just before the dinner, but thanks to her extensive advanced planning, the dinner went off without a hitch.

For more information about this year’s Turkey Dinner, call First Methodist Church at 254-559-8208.

Click here to see the Breckenridge Texan’s Photo Gallery from the pumpkin pie baking day.

On Oct. 23, volunteers at First Methodist Church baked 44 pumpkin pies for the annual Turkey Dinner. The next day, they baked 60 pecan pies. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

While the pies were baking, several volunteers worked on the take-out containers for the upcoming Turkey Dinner. Pictured, from left, are Martye Underwood, Ginger Dittmar, Linda Burdic, Elaine Goswick and Judy Hart. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

Cutline, top photo: From left, volunteers gathered at First Methodist Church of Breckenridge on Oct. 23, to bake pumpkin pies for the annual Turkey Dinner: Sharon Toland, Martye Underwood, Elaine Goswick, Sheila Tonne, Janice Smith, Beth Byerly, Rosa Leveridge, Karen Duggan, Kathy Hoffman, Ginger Dittmar, Judy Hart and Linda Burdic. Click here to see the Breckenridge Texan’s Photo Gallery from the event. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)