In 1872 in a “forlorn section of the Diocese of Saginaw” St. Elizabeth Church was born. Established as a mission church on the grounds of the present-day St. Elizabeth Cemetery on Block Rd in Saginaw County. St. Elizabeth was ministered by the parishes of Sacred Heart and St. Mary’s in Saginaw. Twelve years later, St. Elizabeth became a church “on the move” as parishioners put the church on logs and moved the church across the county line into Reese, Michigan. Now as a parish, with our first resident priest Father Thomas Hennessy, St. Elizabeth began to serve missions of its own.

Our association with neighboring parishes is not new. From 1896 until 1925, St. Elizabeth served Caro Sacred Heart and, later, St. Frances Parish in Vassar. For 43 years, St. Elizabeth Parish had its own priest. In 1993, we again began to share a priest, first with St. Joseph in Mayville and St. Norbert’s in Munger. Currently, St. Elizabeth shares our priest with St. Frances Cabrini in Vassar.

In 1947, under the leadership of Father Neil O’Connor, our parish grade school opened. The school had its beginning in a building brought to Reese from the Lutheran church site in Richville. With four Sisters of Mercy and 91 students, St. Elizabeth School began to provide Catholic education in Reese. In 1956, through much sacrifice and commitment and a generous bequest by the Ed Trombley family, a new school building was erected on Center Street in Reese (now the site of Old School Apartments).

At the beginning of the 1970s, the parish purchased land on M-81 and a new church and rectory were built. The expansion of the parish continued with the construction of the parish center in 1988. Thanks to the generous bequest of the late Ada Mayberry and the sacrifices of our parishioners, ground was broken for the present educational facility in 1997. When school opened in 1998, we were once again fully back in Saginaw County.

Stewardship has always been of utmost importance to our parish. Our history tells us that back in 1912, the church was funded by farmers bringing in one load of sugar beets to the church. A horse was also raffled off to support the parish! In 1968, we learned to “Walk by Faith” led by the hand of Father Joe Castanier. Since then, we have been a stewardship tithing parish, sharing a weekly percentage of our income with the larger church and world.

God has truly blessed us!