MEXICO – Theresa Bernard Gallant was named after St. Theresa and was the first child baptized at the local church that bears that name. She was also married there and had all the sacraments conferred there.

This fall, St. Theresa’s Catholic Church is closing after 82 years, leaving Gallant very sad.

“I love my church, but I keep telling myself that it’s only a building.” she said Wednesday afternoon as she reminisced about her life in the church.

The closure is part of the restructuring of the Catholic churches in the River Valley area, now known as the Holy Savior Parish. St. Athanasius and St. John Church in Rumford and Our Lady of the Snows Church in Bethel will remain open, while the Mexico church and St. Joseph’s Mission in Dixfield will be or have been closed.

Gallant was the first child baptized at St. Theresa’s just a few days after her birth on Jan. 15, 1926. She has been a member of nearly all the church’s groups and has fond memories of Christmas Eve midnight masses, with the gold-encircled St. Theresa statue, and Feast Day processions with the decked out Knights of Columbus and the little girls wearing white dresses.

“I loved going to morning mass. They were so uplifting and spiritual, but I know it’s progress. I know it’s a necessity,” she said of the coming closure.

She continues to go to 8 a.m. Sunday Mass at St. Theresa’s, and sometimes the 9:30 a.m. Sunday mass at St. Athanasius and St. John Church.

“I kept thinking some kind of miracle would happen to keep the church open. It’s a small church, and like a big family,” she said.

The Rev. Angelo Levasseur, pastor of the Holy Savior Parish, said a committee will soon form to help parishioners deal with the closure, as well as with the steps needed to find a purpose for the building.

“I’ll accept whatever goes. Whatever will be, will be,” Gallant said.