By Richard Kerns
rkerns@newstribune.info
tribune staff writer

REESES MILL — The hail storm that ravaged Patterson Creek valley early this summer was an equal-opportunity act of God, counting among its structural victims the Centenary United Methodist Church on Susan Fleek Road.
In addition to damaging the roof and siding of the 124-year-old church, the June storm dinged the  steeple, leaving dozens of pockmarks in the metal skin at the base of the spire. With no local firms able to repair the damage, the steeple had to go where the experts are, back to the Kentucky factory where it was built in 1989.
Early Tuesday morning, a crew from Campbellsville Industries, “The Steeple People” of Campbellsville, Ky., was at the church to transport the steeple on a roundabout journey to restoration. With a crane from Carl Belt doing the heavy lifting, the steeple was loosed from the four bolts holding it to the roof, lowered onto a trailer and sent on its way to  ... New Jersey.
Looking to knock out two jobs on one trip, the crew swung by West Virginia to pick up the Centenary steeple while delivering a larger piece to the Pitts Grove Baptist Church in Daretown, N.J.
“It’s going for a ride,” said Bill Umstot, a member of Centenary Church, who oversaw the work Tuesday morning.
Campbellsville is one of the premier firms in the limited field of steeple construction, shipping its products as far as Anchorage, Alaska, Saudi Arabia and Japan.
Tim Milby, one of two crew members from the company loading the Centenary steeple, said the skin will be replaced, but the interior structure preserved. In addition to providing a smooth metal finish, the steeple, which had grown somewhat discolored over nearly two decades, will be back to the same bright-white that marks the rest of the church. It is expected to be re-erected in early December.
Milby said Campbellsville builds its products to last, but repairs after severe storms are common. Among the areas his job has taken him  to was hurricane-ravaged Louisiana. “The building would be all blown to pieces, but the steeple would still be standing there,” he said.
Built in 1884, Centenary has weathered its share of storms from its hilltop perch among the rolling fields and woodlands of Reeses Mill, located about halfway between Keyser and Fort Ashby, south of Route 46. Members of the church claim the late Congressman Harley Staggers as a devoted congregant and patron. Staggers’ sister, Frances Snyder, still attends the 9:15 a.m. Sunday service.
“If it hadn’t been for him there wouldn’t be a church here today,” said Ray Umstot, Bill’s father.
Today, about 30 people attend the church from 10 or so families. It is a close-knit congregation, with most folks sitting in the same pews each Sunday.
“It’s kind of like a family,” Bill Umstot said. “If somebody’s sick, everybody knows it.”
Although small by modern standards, the old church has ample room for newcomers, who are always welcome. Pastored by the Rev. Mark Hickman, it is a mission church of the United Methodist Church in Fort Ashby.
“It’s a nice little church,” Ray Umstot said. “We try to take care of it.”