Rev. Ilda G. Wolford

Ilda Wolford was born June 12, 1924, in Onego, West Virginia, in Pendleton County and grew up in Whitmer, West Virginia, in Randolph County. One of eleven children, four boys and seven girls, Ilda was not raised in the church. Her first introduction to church came at the Church of God. She later learned of the Acts 2:38 message through Brother Robert Glass, the grandfather of Cumberland, Maryland, UPC pastor, Richard Glass.

On February 7, 1952, at age twenty-seven, Ilda was baptized in the river at Mount Savage in Cumberland, Maryland. Her husband, Arthur, was baptized with her. After fasting for six days, she received the Holy Ghost. Many in her family came to the Lord after hearing her testify of her salvation to them.

Sister Wolford started the Apostolic Pentecostal Church of Jesus Christ at Job, West Virginia, in 1965. The church became affiliated with the UPCI January 25, 1967.

The church was started in the old Job schoolhouse. In 1968, work began on a new church building on property they had donated. Sister Wolford’s husband, Arthur, bulldozed the land to prepare the site and six women dug the footers.

When God called Sister Wolford to preach she only had an eighth grade education and she told the Lord, ''I can’t read those big words.'' She said the Lord told her to ''preach the Gospel''. Sister Wolford removed her coffee table from her home and built the pulpit from the wood of the coffee table.

Reverend Lloyd Garlitz preached the first revival at the church. Sister Wolford was an ardent, faithful, financial supporter of all the projects of the UPC and the West Virginia District. When she retired, she was supporting six missionaries.

He passed from this life on November 2, 2011.