Bernard Drew’s Retirement Officially Announced

1. Church members had known about Drew’s plan to retire for more than a year.
2. Drew wanted his retirement to take effect when most of the members would be in town and not away on vacation.

1. Drew had been installed as minister on September 28, 1949.
2. Drew gave a nationally broadcast Easter sermon on April 11, 1972.

The Courant would interview Drew on March 21, 1973.

“The Rev. Dr. Drew saw his congregation through a transitional period when most of the church’s parishioners had moved away from the Hill area to the suburbs.  Around 1960, it was even suggested that the congregation abandon its historic structure and move closer to its parishioners in West Hartford.”

Drew’s tenure as minister at Asylum Hill Congregational Church was second only to Joseph Twichell's.

Unattributed, “Minister to retire in April from Asylum Hill church,” Hartford Courant, December 7, 1972, page 90.