Lloyd Wineberg

Lloyd W. Wineberg (1896 - 1987) by Mrs. Isabell Wineberg Johnson
My Dad was the oldest of seven children. His father and mother were both saved and in assembly fellowship in Punxsutawny, Pa. His father was a rural mail carrier for years. Dad attended school, which stood adjacent to their property. At the eighth grade he took a test to go to high school in the center of town. He took courses in typing and shorthand (which he used throughout his life or until his daughters could help him with his typing). He also took bookkeeping which helped him to land his first job as a bookkeeper for U.S. Steer in Pittsburgh, Pa.--about 60 miles from home. He then applied for a government job as a clerk for the War Department in Washington, D.C. in 1915. He transferred to the General Accounting Office.

He met my mother who grew up a few miles from him. He invited her to go to a series of special gospel meetings. They walked to and from these meetings and it was the next to the last meeting of the series when she told him she had gotten saved the night before on May 7, 1913. She had known enough that she was going to tell him the final night that she would have to stop seeing him when the Lord in His omniscience brought my Dad under conviction and saved his soul through Ephesians 2:8-9. Well he came back to Punxsy to get married by the Justice of the Peace at Brooksville, Pa. on September 1, 1917 and they started housekeeping in an apartment on E St., N.W. He had found a small assembly meeting in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Fillmann (Bill Fillmann's parents). This is where Thomas A. Hall came when he arrived here from Ireland.

Well, World War I came along and my dad was drafted into the Army. He was stationed at Hoboken, NJ and, since he had clerical skills, he was kept there in office duties rather than being sent overseas. He type the orders for all the other draftees and also typed the letters of condolence to the parents of those killed in action. After the war, he returned to Wash., D.C. to resume his government position. On April 5, 1922, Samuel Francis was born, named for his two grandfathers. Two years later, April 18, 1924, Robert McQwown was born (McQwown was my mother's maiden name). July 15, 1927, was the birth of David Joseph. Then on March 15, 1930, Elizabeth Jane was born, named after her two grandmothers.

My dad saw where he was going to be stymied in his position if he didn't pursue a college education. So with his family increasing, he started taking college courses after working his 8-hr. job, coming home, studying and many a morning hearing the milkman delivering milk in the insulated box on the back porch when he would lay down and rest for an hour or two before starting the regimen of another long day. The nights he didn't go to class he still had studying to on top of his family responsibilities.

They had rented the downstairs of a brick row house on Illinois Ave., N.W.(2 doors from Mr. and Mrs. Ruehsam). The story handed down to me was that Dad studied to become a lawyer on the dining room table and the children were all there for the sake of no place else to go! Sam would ask him a math problem, Bob would interrupt him with a history question, Dave would be running his little cars across his papers, and Jane was pulling at his pant legs trying to climb up! Dad said that was the best training he ever could have because it made him concentrate and it helped to ignore all kinds of interruptions that come when you're trying to keep your mind on the case you're pleading before the judge. Dad graduated with a Bachelor of Law Degree (LLB) and then decided to go on for a Master's Degree in International Law from Southwestern University. In order to complete his studies, he had to write a thesis and he chose the subject "Law in the Bible". (I was only six weeks old when he graduated and my mother was hesitant to take me to the graduation at Constitution Hall in Wash., D.C. They said that I drew more attention that the graduates afterward!)

Then Dad passed the D.C. Bar and took a two-day test to be able to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States. The nine judges asked whatever questions they wished on his thesis. He received a diploma with the privilege to take a case from the lowest court clear up through the Supreme Court of the U.S. Another privilege which he did take advantage of was to use the Supreme Court Library. Only the judges, Congressmen and those attorneys able to represent a case before the high court can make use of this library. (Dad thought so much of the Supreme Court that we had an 8x10 picture of the Supreme Court that hung in our dining room all through the years! He worked for 42 years for the U.S. Government. When World War II broke out he was transferred to New York City as his home base but he traveled over the entire northeast portion of our country. He had a pass to go into every plant that was manufacturing equipment for the war effort to check that their contract was being carried out properly. His title was Zone Senior Chief Cost Auditor. As I recall, there were maybe 8 of these Zone Senior Chiefs across the country and they were called back to D.C. every so often to the main office. Practically every visit Dad and Mom would invite all these men out to our home for dinner. They always seemed to enjoy that evening and said they would look forward to the next return to D.C.! No matter what city he was visiting, if there was a mid-week service and he was able to get to it, he was there. Sometimes he made meetings four nights a week. As became better acquainted, if he arrived in time, the brethren would give the meeting over to him.

Of course, he spent more time in N.Y.C. and he roomed with Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Bradford. (it was Mr. Bradford who went with brother Samuel McQwown to preach the gospel throughout Virginia, holding meetings in a tent and existing on wild berries or whatever they could find). He was given the midweek meeting whenever he could make it at the 73rd St. Assembly in Long Island, N.Y. He started messages on The Lord's Prayer and it took two years for completion. Dad only got home about every 6 weeks arriving Friday night and leaving again Sunday afternoon. He had to change jobs in order to get back home. He went with Army Ordnance at the Pentagon.

A few highlight cases he worked on were the total restoration of The White House and a special observation of a mini atomic bomb alongside Werner von Braun. He had a lunch with him as well, and then flying out to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and bringing back a check to the U.S. Treasury for several million dollars. It could only be used by an Act of Congress. ( He felt he had helped his retirement which lasted thirty years). The restoration of the White House was quite interesting. Dad had responsibility to see that the contracts with the various contractors were carried out properly. He is one of the few people who can say he was in every room of the White House, including the roof and several subbasements. The contractors tore out the walls to the outside facade but first taking molds of everything, even the friezes over the doorways so that the updated version was an exact duplicate of the original White House.

Dad was sent down to Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama where they had built observation booths in front of a large lake. The mini atomic bomb would be set off on the other side of the lake. When the bomb was set off that whole lake dried up instantaneously. Dad also had the opportunity of seeing first-hand some of the Japanese survivors that were brought over here for medical treatment.

Now to change the subject over to what he was able to do for the Lord as a result of his commitment to the Lord and his education which enabled him to advise and help any Christian that heard about him and wrote asking for his help. He was constantly writing letters to answer their questions. (Imagine what he could have done with a computer!) When he was in N.Y.C. he started helping Christian Missions In Many Lands, Ltd. with any legal problem that arose or for an individual missionary that was having difficulty obtaining a visa, for instance. Then he made a landmark case when he represented our missionaries and preachers to get them Social Security when they came to the age of retirement in spite of no definite income over the years. This case could then be cited by any other denominations to get their pastors and ministers approved.

While he was Legal Counsel for CMML he realized that the Assemblies had four other organizations that were more or less performing the same services and so Dad suggested if they would come together and form one corporation, there would be a larger impact on government representatives. So a meeting was called to meet and discuss the possibilities of this change. They agreed and thus my Dad had his work cut out for him again! He had to dissolve all the different corporations and since CMML was a Limited corporation, he suggested, and they approved, getting it as an Incorporation, the American form of corporation. He had to get approval of the new corporation with the Attorney General of the State of New York. However, right at that time CMML located a beautiful piece of property over in New Jersey and, amazingly, they were chosen by the Catholic representatives in spite of a lower figure than others who were interested, so the Lord again intervened and brought it about. This meant then that Dad had to dissolve the N.Y. corporation after he received approval from the Attorney General of the state of New Jersey. By the time all the paper work was done, Dad had a stack of tissue paper copies about a foot and a half high! Then he had the new Articles of Incorporation and By Laws to write anew. He presented these documents at a special meeting held at the Kenilworth Assembly to the President of CMML, Mr. Fred McKenzie.

In another notable case Dad was able to get approval after much work and negotiation to reunite a husband and wife here in the U.S. The woman's father over in China wrote to Dad asking help to get his daughter reunited with her husband who had come over as a student. Then it so happened that China fell under Communist rule. Thus, he was a man now without a country and she could not get admitted. She thought if she could get to England, she could get over here. One time she was able to get to Canada and they agreed to meet at Niagara Falls. This story was covered by Life Magazine in two installments. The couple could only kiss each other across the international border but they dare not step foot in either direction. Then my Dad visited several Congressmen and it was Congressman McCullock of Ohio that took an interest and was willing to sponsor a Special Act of Congress to admit the woman into the United States. They were finally reunited and eventually made a trip to D.C. where Dad was able to take them down to Congressman McCullock's office to thank him for his endeavor on their behalf. We have a photo of this meeting. Dad often said he didn't know why he took International Law but he knew the Lord did!

While he was in college, every time they were called upon to answer a question they were required to stand before they answered. This, he claims, was great training. This enabled the new attorneys to think on their feet when they were pleading their court cases. This training carried over in his ability to conduct meetings and conferences of the Christian Assemblies. He seemed to have a knack of speaking right up to the appointed finish time. He was adept at either extending his message or shortening it without it being obvious to the audience. When the Belmar, NJ Assembly were considering having one of the first conversational Bible Conferences, he was asked to be their moderator. After a brother gave his message three or four other brothers would be asked to come to a table so the audience could ask any question regarding the subject of that session. Cards were passed so any questions could be collected and given to Dad. He was able to read the questions, decide which brother would be able to answer it the best and keeping the subject flowing and watching the clock to wind it up on the minute! They all seemed to appreciate his efforts and eventually was presented with a gavel inscribed as "Permanent Moderator of the Belmar Conference".

When Dad decided to start a radio program, this expertise helped him tremendously. At first he went out to Wheaton, MD and broadcast live for 15 minutes every Sunday morning on the program he entitled "Your Bible and Mine". With so many invitations to speak elsewhere, it became necessary to start recording. The back bedroom at home became his recording studio! Then he decided to try and help his hometown to hear the gospel message. He arranged with the 50,000 watt station at Punxsutawny, PA to have a one-half hour program on Sunday afternoons at 1:00 pm. This went on for years and when one of the men in the station transferred to a station in Sutton, WV, he asked Dad's permission to have his tape sent to him after it was broadcast at Punxsy and he would have it put on the Sutton, WV schedule and then return it to him.

Another phase of Dad's legal activities were setting up homes, schools, and new assemblies, composing their Articles of Incorporation and By Laws. The Pittsboro Christian Home is an example. It was first opened for children but they finally decided to turn it into a home for elderly Christians. When the Hollingsworths retired and went to live near their son Dan in Augusta, Georgia, Dad was called upon again because a group down there wished to start a Bible school. He also designed the school logo or seal with Knowledge, Wisdom, and Understanding around the outer perimeter and the Augusta Bible School and year incorporated in the center. The men at the Dover, Delaware, Assembly came several times to Dad's home to get help in opening that Assembly. One other tidbit is that Mr. Neil Dougal was exercised to go into the Lord's work while Dad was speaking at his Assembly in Worcester, MA. Dad had a special love for children to try and influence them to come to Sunday School and to read their Bible.

He always tried to say something to get that person or gathering of people to consider their latter end. If anyone had a question, he had all the time in the world to try to help them understand. Dad used to like to shake up people by the way he would phrase things. He would say, "I've married many women--but only one wife!" My Mom and Dad were married 53 years, 5 months, and 11 days. I can't seem to say enough about my Dad because he was such an inspiration to me. He was so meek, yet strong, so talented and could handle himself well no matter whether he was visiting an Embassy to help a missionary get a visa, or a casual acquaintance, or a child on the street. He was such a thoughtful, intelligent man and above and beyond all, a man devoted to doing the will of his Lord and Saviour, and keeping His Word. He was a man of prayer.