Doing My Quasimodo Act

Got your interest? I'm just back from a visit to the attic and base of the belfry of the Bovina U.P. Church, thanks to the help of church trustee Mark Schneider. The attic was a bit of a challenge to walk around, but I was able to walk along the floor beams while holding on to the roof rafters. Mark had brought up a couple of portable lights to make that chore easier. I think I now have figured out where the 1859 addition to the church was made (towards the back).

We then climbed into the bottom of the belfry. Unfortunately, the bell tower itself is only accessible from the outside, but seeing the base was still interesting. We found a bit of graffiti, but not enough to figure out what it said. I'm hoping playing with the pictures on the computer will bring things out. We noted that there have been several repairs over the years to the belfry - we found plywood in some spots. We also saw what the original roof looked like.

Back in the attic Mark found this 24 x 36 wooden box that turned out to have four panels of stained glass. I wanted to try to remove one or two of the panels in the attic but Mark was concerned about attempting that in a space without a real floor. He managed to get the whole thing down the ladder so we could have a closer look in a space with a full floor and better lighting. It appears to be two sets of glass, two panels each. One set was intact but the other had one broken piece. We didn't attempt to take the other half of that panel out of the box. I have some contacts who can give us a better idea of how best to care for these. It is likely that these panels once graced the choir loft, where plain glass now resides. I suspect the main reason for the change was that simply they needed more light in the loft.

The one casualty of my visit was my camera. I had just got into the attic and heard something fall. The camera fell about 20 feet. Mark retrieved it and amazingly, I was still able to take photographs - as long as I held the battery cover tight. I was disappointed about damaging the camera but if it had totally failed I would have been really bummed out being in that attic without the ability to take pictures.

A big thank you to Mark for arranging this little adventure - and for single handedly getting that glass down from the attic. It was all greatly appreciated. And thanks to my neighbor Luke Dougherty for supplying the ladder.

Bovina U.P. Church Bicentennial - Sunday

It's after 3 pm and I'm at Russell's catching up on the blog. Today was the 10 am Bicentennial service at the Bovina U.P. Church. There still is some debate on the crowd, but likely at least 200 came for the service.

I started thinking about the centennial celebration in 1909 and though I didn't have the program handy, I was pretty sure that the role of women then was minimal. A check later of the old program showed that for the actual service, all the main parts were by men, though there were women in the choir and the pastor's wife, Mrs. H. B. Speer did a solo.

Today's service saw as the main celebrants Lay Pastor Judi Gage, former pastor Rev. Karen Green, former elder Enid Carter, and the Rev. Cheryl Ann Elfond, who is the Interim Executive Presbyter of the Susquehanna Valley Synod. The soloists were all women too. But the service did not lack men - former Bovina pastors Grunstra and Hammer participated.

I'll be thinking about posting some pictures on my Flickr and Facebook pages to summarize the event, but everyone was highly pleased with how well the weekend went. It was fun catching up with folks. And I got a couple of great leads for pictures and some more information about the first Bovina pastor, Robert Laing, from a relation of his. Some interesting stuff I'll share on the blog at some point. But I'm ready to go home and take a nap!

Bovina U.P. Church Bicentennial Saturday wrap-up

A final entry from yesterday – the history program commemorating the Bovina U.P. Church’s Bicentennial was held last night. We had a respectable crowd. The competition of a major wedding and the fact that it was cold last night didn’t make the crowd overwhelming, but it was decent. Two more former pastors of the Bovina Church showed up for this event. Maynard Grunstra and his wife Betty came and I was pleased how quickly I recognized him after not seeing him in 40 years. But before I could say hello to him, I got a big hello from somebody else and when I said ‘And you are?’ it turned out to be Grunstra’s successor as pastor, Bob Hammer. Given that I knew him probably the best of all our pastors and that he was easily recognizable, I was ever so slightly embarrassed.

I got very kind reviews for my presentation “The Reluctant Reverend Graham and other Stories of Bovina Pastors.” One feature of the presentation not planned was learning how to soldier on as one young attendee rather loudly expressed his displeasure at something – probably me, but who knows? Ministers are very familiar with doing that. Bob Hammer said I did fine dealing with it, but it did throw me a bit. As I’ve mentioned before, I will be putting at least parts of the talk on my blog. One part of my presentation was about Mason W. Pressly, and I’ve already blogged about him.

My cousin Colleen Burns Heavey then presented a very lovely 17 minute slide show, with music and pictures about the Bovina church over the years. That was all followed in the great tradition of the church, a dessert reception with a variety of homemade goodies. Then home to bed after a long day reminiscing.

Bovina U.P. Church Bicentennial so far...

I'm actually writing this in the 'upper rooms' of the Bovina U.P. Church, where everything right now is quiet. The events of this morning and afternoon went off well, in spite of the continuing cloudiness for the outdoor events (of course, it's sunny now). The bell ringing went off mostly as planned, but we were minus one bell. We were chagrined to discover the bell of the old fire house didn't function. We did get Carver Farrell to ring the bell from the old school and after a few rings, that was my cue to start ringing the town's largest bell, the one in the church. I took a video of my ringing and I really had to put my whole body into it, but I managed just under a minute and a half and it sounded respectable. Note: While Carver was ringing the school bell, the rope broke, so Bovina is down to one functioning bell!

A brief ceremony was held to unveil the historic marker that was just put up yesterday (see my previous blog posting). Pastor Judi Gage and 80 year member Agnes Burns did the unveiling. We had good press coverage (there was an article in today's Oneonta Daily Star: http://www.thedailystar.com/local/local_story_283040048.html). We had photographers from the Catskill Mountain News and the Delaware County Times. Attending this ceremony were past pastors John Kloepfer and Karen Green.

The ceremony was followed at noon by a service, history talk and picnic at the site of the original church, about a half mile from the current building. So of course, it was about the coldest and windiest part of the day. None-the-less, 40 hardy souls, including Agnes Burns, came for the brief service, a brief talk by yours truly, and some reminiscences by Rev. Kloepfer. I'll provide some information about the original site in a day or so. We visited some of the old graves, including that of Bovina's first pastor, Rev. Robert Laing.

I spent the afternoon in the church parlors with a computer and scanner to scan any pictures people might care to bring. My cousin Helen Tyrell brought pictures from Bovina's 175th Brithday celebrations. We also had a number of people look at the list I created of all 2100+ members. I am discovering that the list is not completely accurate, so it's been a chance to start a project I hope to carry out this winter of creating a definitive list.

Ok, I need to head to my house to freshen up and get ready for my biggest part of this - the history program tonight at 7 pm.

Bicentennial Weekend is Here!

I may be posting a series of these throughout the day. Or I may not. Depends on what I'm doing and the status of my internet connection. I'm in Russells but will be going to the church shortly to set up a computer and scanner. Things start with the ringing of all three bells in the hamlet - I'm ringing the church bell. Yesterday, clerk of the Session and I put up the historical marker which will be officially unveiled just after the bell ringing. Here's a sneak peak at the sign. Putting it up was a piece of cake...because I only had to stick it on over the post. I imagine setting the post was a bit more involved.

Well, off to the church to get rolling on things.

Bovina United Presbyterian Church Bicentennial

Next weekend (October 10 and 11) will be the celebration of the bicentennial of the oldest institution in the Town of Bovina, the United Presbyterian Church. Founded in October 1809, with Alexander Bullions from Washington County preaching the first sermon, it was five years before the congregation had a regular minister, Robert Laing. It was another year before it got a permanent home at what is now the intersection of County Route 6 and Reinertsen Hill Road. Though the first church built by the congregation proved to be too small, sweltering in the summer and freezing in the winter, they used it for 34 years before moving into a larger structure located in the hamlet of Bovina Center itself. Expanded 10 years later in 1859, it was renovated in 1889 to basically its current appearance.

In the 200 years of the congregation, there have been 21 pastors, 108 elders and over 2100 members. Bovina's ministers have had varied backgrounds. The first two were Scottish born. A number of them came from the mid-west, including Illinois, Iowa, Ohio and Missouri. One minister was born in the Phillipines, another in Belfast. Ohio born James B. Lee was Bovina's third and longest tenured pastor, serving in the post for 32 years, from 1856-1888.

For next weekend's celebrations, we're heard that four of Bovina's former pastors are expected attend at least some of the events - Maynard Grunstra (1962-67), Bob Hammer (1968-75), John Kloepfer (1976-84) and Bovina's first female pastor, Reverend Karen Patricia Green (1985-1993).

A number of long-time members will be honored at the Sunday bicentennial service. The two longest served are Agnes Burns and Celia Coulter, who both joined the church on October 13, 1929, 80 years ago. Helen Blair Thomson has the distinction of having the longest membership ever in Bovina's church. Dying at the age of 107 in 1997, she had been a member for 0ver 93 years.

Next Saturday, I'll be doing a brief talk at the site of the original church, where a picnic lunch will be held. That evening, I'll be doing my main presentation - "The Reluctant Reverend Graham and other stories of Bovina pastors." I'll be posting these on my blog after their 'premiere.' During the luncheon after the service on Sunday, I'll give a brief history of the church. It's going to be a busy but fun weekend reveling in Bovina's past. Hope to see some of you there.

Murder Most Foul and Unnatural

Early in Bovina's history, in fact, in 1818, before there officially was a Bovina, an old man was found dead in his home. There were some suspicions whispered at the time about how he died. Neighbors noted the family's 'brutal conduct' toward him and his own apprehensions that his life was in danger. During the lying in, comments were made about the unnatural way the dead man's head lay on his shoulder. But nothing was voiced officially at the time. In April 1821, a coroner's inquest was held in Bovina. The inquest was triggered by quarrels within the family of the dead man in which the mother and her son and daughter traded charges of having done away with the old man. The body was dug up, testimony was taken, and the coroner's jury determined that the old man's son had broken his father's neck, with help from the old man's daughter. The son and daughter were arrested for the murder and jailed in Delhi.

So who were these people? And did they really do it? If you want to learn more, come to the Bovina Public Library at 10 am on October 24 to hear the whole story. And if you can't get to Bovina, stay tuned to this blog, where I will, once the official story 'premieres' at the library, fill in all the details (or as many as I've been able to track down....)