After the death of Father O'Neill, the Rev. Charles McCallister acted as pastor until Father George O'Keefe was appointed to the post by Archbishop Edward D. Howard in August, 1935.

In addition to duties as pastor, Father O'Keefe served as Archdiocesan Director of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine.

As the parish grew larger, he began a campaign of renovation, enlisting the aid of the men and women of the parish to help in refurbishing the church buildings, improvement of the grounds, and remodeling of the altar. Among the families who took part in this work were the Holbokes, Hendels, Smiths, Welches, Kemmers, Kaufmans, Hylands, Liebrichs, Fitzpatricks, and the Kluppeneggers.

But Father O'Keefe saw that a mere upgrading of the parish facilities was not the answer - the parish needed new and larger buildings to meet the needs of a growing congregation and a growing community.

Times were hard and the Catholic Church was having as difficult a time as the rest of the population making ends meet. So, when Father O'Keefe applied to the archdiocese for money to invest in land, he was turned down. But dreams die hard and the good priest didn't give up that easily.

St. Cecilia Church under construction in 1948-1949. Note the dirt roads, a problem during rainy weather.

In addition to being a man with foresight and an idea, he was a good businessman. Taking $1,000 of his own, he bought about three blocks of land in Beaverton. Then he went into the land business, selling off lots. When he had regained his original investment, plus a bit more, he still retained a large piece of property. He donated this to St. Cecilia Parish, the present church property.

Father O'Keefe wanted to build a church which would seat 700 worshipers, but the parishioners thought seating for 250 would be adequate - so they comprised on a church which would seat 450.


But he didn't stay in the parish long enough to build the church he envisioned - he was transferred to St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Salem in 1944.

Father George Sniderhon succeeded Father O'Keefe and under his direction construction on the present church was started. There were about 200 families in the congregation and 117 students in the school.

	Dedication of the new church.

The first High Mass was celebrated in the new church on March 27, 1949. The church was formally dedicated Oct. 30, by Archbishop Howard. It comfortably seated 500 people and when completed - it was not completely finished inside - would cost about $110,000. - The church was completely new - the only part of the old church retained was the statue of St. Cecilia which was placed in the vestibule of the new church. The statue was refurbished in later years.

The first baptism in the church was that of the Lawton baby and the first funeral was for John Schneider. First marriages included Bill Gosslin and Betty Stock, Jim Classen and B. Shell, Bernard and Eunice Heinrich, and Jack and Margaret Bernard.

Organizations in the parish at this time included an Advisory Board consisting of J. Jersey, N. Senz, J. Kemmer, J. Rigert, and D. Gosselin; the Holy Name Society with A. Byrnes, president, and V. Amell, secretary-treasurer; the Altar Society with Mrs. L. Lamberger, president, Mrs. N. Senz, secretary, and Mrs. R. Holland, treasurer; and the Catholic Daughters with Mrs. M. Wagenblast as Grand Regent.

Pastor Anthony Gerace