The Rev. Harry C. Sherry is celebrating his 50th year anniversary in the ministry.

He preached at Calvary United Methodist Church yesterday on the theme “It’s About the Gospel” to mark the occasion.

“I love the church. The church is changing and some of the change is good,” he said. “The big generation — my generation — was strong in the church. We’re getting less and less. Can the following generation carry on?”

He is married to the former Naomi Lowmaster and has three sons, two daughters — one deceased, 13 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

His interest in the ministry is life-long.

“I was always involved in the church. In 1956, I felt the call to the ministry,” he said. “The call is a conviction that God wants you to come. I wrestled with that for three years. I was always queasy about sickness and death. I had a family of three to support. But I thought the Lord would provide. His grace is sufficient.”

Sherry said his mother told everyone he would be a minister.

“She died at age 47. That helped me somewhat in dealing with the sickness and death,” he said. “Then we had a 9-day-old daughter who died. The people in the community were outpouring in their love.”

Sherry played football and was in the band at Punxsutawney High School, graduating in 1947.

“I give credit for my music appreciation and singing to Esther Jane Davis, my choir director,” he said. “I like to sing. Music is my strong suit. I’ve been singing 50 years in the men’s chorus.”

Sherry worked in coal stripping as a bulldozer operator. He served in the U.S. Army, starting at Camp Atterbury, Ind., where his first son was born. In November of 1951, he went to Germany, returning to the U.S. in 1952.

Sherry said it took him six years to finish college. He began studies at Indiana State College, driving 28 miles for morning classes and returning home to go to a coal stripping operation to run a bulldozer until midnight.

“My wife has said she married a stripper, not a preacher,” he said, laughing.

At the Western Pa. Conference in Wilkinsburg on May 15, 1958, he was appointed to East Freedom, a three-church charge near Altoona. He was advised to transfer to Penn State’s Altoona campus for one year, then continue to the main campus. He car pooled that 60-mile trip three days a week. But with church and family responsibilities, he was exhausted. He decided to take two literature courses while pastoring the churches.

Sherry was appointed to New Salem, a charge of four churches and he transferred to Clarion State College. He did student teaching in senior English at Clarion Limestone High School and graduated with a bachelor of science degree in education in January 1964.

Five months later, he was assigned to two churches in Lockington, Ohio. He commuted to United Theological Seminary and finished study in November 1967.

“I wanted to stay in Ohio. They were great farm people,” he said. “I ran a combine.”

He had financial trouble in his second year of the seminary and he was able to get financial aid.

“I don’t know how the seminary students do it today. Mine was just pennies compared to today,” he said. “The shortage of ministers and combined churches is because pastors coming out of seminary are $30,000 in debt.”

The Sherry family was reassigned to Rector on Dec. 1, 1967, and on May 15, 1968, he became an ordained elder.

Sherry served in three churches before retiring in 1994 and helped at churches in the Harnedsville, Listonburg and Silbaugh area until 2004.

“I’m still a traditionalist. I have the same faith in the one Lord,” he said.

He keeps a treasure chest with notes from people during his years in the ministry.

Betty McGee, a member of Calvary UMC and friend of Sherry’s, said she was impressed that he would go into the church early in the morning and sit in the pews the parishioners sat in on a regular basis or in the choir loft.

“He would pray for the people who sat there,” she said. “Especially if they had a problem going on in their life.”

She also remembers he was her secret prayer partner at one point in her life.

“I was going through a tough time and I had no idea he was my prayer partner,” she said. “He would call and we’d share our thoughts. I could feel prayers for me, but I didn’t know where they were coming from until the prayer partners were revealed.”

On balance, Sherry said his time in the ministry has featured more good moments than bad.

“After 50 years in the ministry, I can say there was more good, more joys than heartache and pain,” he said. “I overcame that fear of sickness and death over the years and I think ministering to people who are distraught is my strength.”

He said pastors are often reappointed to a new church in a new area, uprooting the family.

“If it wouldn’t have been for my wife, I never would have made it. She has been very supportive. The kids also put up with me,” he said. “The kids had some difficult times with moving. It’s an adjustment. But they’ve done well.”

He’s involved in Camp Allegheny. He remembers being a counselor in the camp his second year in the ministry and one night after a candlelight service, a young woman committed herself to the Lord and became a missionary.

“I’ve enjoyed a lot of those kinds of experiences,” he said.

Sherry is a member of Somerset Ministeries and served as its president. He is one of the original members of the Meals On Wheels and Food Pantry boards. He is chaplain of the Pa. State Association Family Campers and RVers and is president of the Mount Davis Maple Leafs chapter. He has missed only two camp conventions since 1972. Sherry is part of an overseas travel with educational opportunity program.

“We’ve taken more people to the Holy Land in 30 years than anyone. We’ve never had an incident,” he said. “We don’t go into the hot spots.”

Sherry himself has taken 10 European trips, including three to Israel. His next journey is July 7, 2010, and will include the Oberammergau Passion Play in Germany and an extended week in Israel.

Sherry enjoys golfing. He plays golf with the Northwinds Seniors and helps to coordinate with Marlin Miller, the Camp Allegheny “Saints and Sinners” Gold Tourmanent in July.

“My one disappointment is I have never met Arnold Palmer personally,” he said. He volunteered for last year’s U.S. Open and a couple years ago during a seniors tournament he got to drive Gary Player to where he was staying.

He also promotes himself as the “most rabid fan of University of Pittsburgh football and basketball and enthusiastic fan of the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates.”