The B'nai Israel College Hill Temple Congregation met in Williamson with a group from Huntington today for the last service in the Jewish temple.

The facility erected in 1928 when the Jewish community flourished in Williamson and surrounding Appalachia had become too much for the handful of families left to keep the religious structure up. There has been approximately four area Jewish families and a couple from neighboring towns who have kept the temple open for nearly two decades, members report. However, the congregation decided it can no longer keep the building on College Hill open.

Members of the B'nai Israel temple and a group from Huntington, including the Rabbi and the choir, united at the temple around 3 p.m. today for the last service, reading from the church scroll, one of which will be donated to the American Hebrew Academy in North Carolina, says Heddy Hess, who has attended the temple for 50 years. The songs of praise and prayer filled with gratitude, memories, and hope for a positive future without the temple's presence.

A more detailed description of the service, including words shared and from whom, will be in the Tuesday edition of the Williamson Daily News, as will a short history of the Jewish presence in the Tug Valley and the struggle to keep a local place of worship open.