By Winifred Tolliver, Facilities and Furnishings Correspondent

HOLLOWAY CROSSING — The tan vinyl accordion divider in the fellowship hall at Pine Hollow Fellowship Church was installed in 1974 to split one big room into two quiet classrooms. It did that job beautifully for 22 years. Then, on a Sunday in March 1996, it rolled to within three feet of the far wall, made a sound one witness described as "a shopping cart giving up," and never moved again.

"We pulled. We pushed. Somebody's husband sprayed something on the track," said church secretary Opal Brandvold, 71. "It's been three feet open ever since. We just stopped saying 'two classrooms' and started saying 'the room with the gap.'"

On the east side of the gap meets the Golden Years Sunday school class, 14 members strong, average age 79. On the west side meet the third and fourth graders, who number anywhere from six to 19 depending on whether there was a sleepover Saturday night.

For three decades, the two classes have held their lessons at the same time, at the same volume, about eight feet apart.

"You learn to adjust," said Golden Years teacher Harlan Moody, 83. "When the kids sing 'Deep and Wide,' we wait. When we pray for Eunice's hip, they wait. It's a very respectful arrangement."

It has also become an educational one. Brandvold said the third graders can now name all twelve minor prophets in order, mostly because Moody has been teaching the series since 2011 and is "about to start Haggai again." In return, several Golden Years members have become skilled at gluing cotton balls onto construction-paper sheep and have opinions about which brand of glue stick holds best.

"Mildred asked for the purple kind," said children's teacher Kayla Rourke, 34. "The purple kind goes on purple and dries clear. She found that very exciting. Frankly, so do I."

The gap has created its own customs. Snacks are passed through it on a cookie sheet. Lost crayons roll east. Lost reading glasses roll west. The kids are allowed to walk through the gap to use the drinking fountain, but only after knocking twice on the vinyl, a rule nobody remembers making.

Over the years, the property committee has tried to fix the divider four times. In 2001, a repairman from two counties over looked at the track, sighed and charged them for the sigh. In 2008, the men's breakfast group tried to free it with a car jack and a borrowed pickup, which moved the divider half an inch in the wrong direction. In 2015, the church priced a brand-new wall, then voted to spend the money on new hymnals instead. In 2023, a member suggested simply hanging a shower curtain across the gap, but the vote failed after the third graders lobbied against it with hand-drawn signs.

"They like the old folks," Rourke said. "And the old folks like the snacks. Nobody wanted a curtain."

The property committee has added "the divider" to its agenda for next month, right after "the steeple light" and right before "why is there a canoe in the baptistry closet."

At press time, Moody had announced the start of a new series on Haggai, and the third graders had begun quietly mouthing along.