A Church Reviver

In the past ten years, he has done that for two churches in the Diocese of Kentucky. First, at Trinity, Owensboro, and later at Saint Matthew’s. He has a “spiritual architect’s” fondness for rebuilding churches.

A quiet, pensive man who breaks a solemn face with a boyish smile, the Rev. Mr. Myll has a friendly, disarming manner that enables him to work with equal effectiveness among children and adults.

Many of his parishioners, and those outside, think his name is William because most of them call him “Bill,” although his name “Wilfred” is a combination of his father’s William and his paternal grandfather’s Frederick. How the middle name, “Beauregard,” which is French, crept between two Germanic names is explained by his own choice. His mother had named him “Wilfred Burghardt,” but all three names were so Germanic that he took the name “Beauregard” when he was baptised.

In his. younger days, “Bill” Myll was fond of walking and took long walks on the lake-shores of his home-town. Even now, in the late summer when he takes his vacation he goes to the rugged hills of Wyoming and hikes among the Grand Tetons.

Yet, when “Bill” Myll goes to Wyoming for that month, he takes a “postman’s” vacation. For out there in the shadow of the Grand Tetons, he serves as supply minister at the Chapel of the Transfiguration.

“Bill” Myll goes to Wyoming because the missionary bishop of Wyoming is the Right Rev. Wilson Hunter, who formerly was rector of St. Andrew’s, Louisville. Under him, the Rev. Mr. Myll was assistant rector of St. Mark’s, San Antonio, Tex., one of the largest parishes in the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States. It has over 2,700 communicants.

For two years, from the spring of 1946 until September, 1948, the Rev. Mr. Myll was the assistant rector of St. Mark’s. His work at St. Mark’s, and his earlier work at Trinity, Owensboro, attracted him back to Louisville in September, 1948, to become priest-in-charge of the reestablished Saint Matthew’s Mission.

The Rev. Mr. Myll arrived in Louisville in September of 1948, on the second Sunday of the month, to take over services of Saint Matthew’s in the St. Matthew’s Woman’s Club. There were approximately 75 communicants. Within two years, he had helped Saint Matthew’s become a full-fledged parish, and today it has more than 340 communicants. It is one of the phenomenal

Rev. Wilfred B. Myll

rises among Episcopal churches throughout the country.

“I believe we have demonstrated here in Saint Matthews that a strong congregation can be built in a reasonably short time when there is sufficient eiicouragement and financial aid,” says the Rev. Mr. Myll. "I believe we have demonstrated also that the development of such a new congregation is an asset and not a hindrance to the elder con,gregations in the city. Each of the three parishes and one mission which are closest to us has had a healthy growth during the period of our existence.

The Rev. Mr. Myll was born in Detroit on April 26, 1906, the son of Frederick William Myll and Emilie Burghardt Myll. He was the youngest of seven children. He attended and was graduated from the Detroit public schools, receiving his diploma from Southeastern High School in 1923.

At the suggestion of an Episcopal priest, the Rev. William R. Kinder, who was priest-in-charge