USA > Maine > Kennebec County > Gardiner > Christ Church, Gardiner, Maine : antecedents and history > Part 16
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17
In 1940 extensive repairs to the ancient spire are reported. Our spire, as is not always realized, is an eight-sided cone of brick beneath its shell. "Large oak beams have been installed at intervals throughout to keep the structure from 'weaving.' The weathervane also was repaired and gilded."
This year was a time of farewells that brought memories of great careers in Parish and Diocese. On October 13, Canon Plant entered into his rest, peacefully, at the home of his daugh- ter in Swampscott, Mass. Bishop Brewster pays his old friend a lovely tribute which reviews his whole career. I quote its con- clusion :
"Canon Plant was the oldest priest in the Diocese and had filled the longest ministry here. After he had been in Gardiner a year, Bishop Neely had spoken of the service when Mr. Plant was instituted 'with thankfulness for a new spiritual impulse, consciously received, to all good works.' In 1899 he had been made an honorary canon of the Cathedral, continuing in that office by successive re-election until his death."
Bishop Brewster himself must have felt "Time's winged chariot hurrying near," for at year's end he resigned his see. He was eighty years old and had been Bishop of Maine for twenty-four years. He died in early February, 1941. On May 13, 1941, the Rev. Oliver L. Loring was consecrated Bishop of Maine.
In 1944 the Parish suffered a sad loss in the death of our Senior Warden, Robert Hallowell Gardiner IV. After the death of his father in 1924, this son of the same name came to the fore both in Parish and Diocese. He became Junior Warden in 1925, and after the death of Judge Cooke in 1940, Senior Warden. We have no records from his pen, as we have in the case of his father, nor are there addresses connected with his
36
HISTORY OF CHRIST CHURCH
name. For one thing, he had a slight stammer, about which he was nervous, and I know that he was modest about his own attain- ments, after the great career of his father. But "Holly" Gardiner was well-balanced, intelligent, and mellow. He soon was a leader in the Diocese. Bishop Loring has told me how much he leaned on him, and that to him Holly was like a great oak. After the latter's untimely death, at sixty-two, the Bishop found himself repeating, "How are the mighty fallen."
I quote the final paragraph of a resolution by our good neighbor, St. Mark's Parish in Augusta, on Mr. Gardiner's death:
"Be it resolved that the Rector, Wardens and Vestrymen cause to be spread upon the records of St. Mark's Vestry this expression of our sorrow that a Churchman, kindly and genial by nature, whose friendships were legion, whose services were outstanding, has been removed from the ranks of the Church Mili- tant. Be it further resolved that our sympathy is extended to Mrs. Gardiner and other members of the family, and to the Rector and Vestry of Christ Church, Gardiner, of which Major Gardiner was for so long the devoted Senior Warden; also that we pray Almighty God to give them the comfort of Christian Faith with the assurance of reunion in the eternal joy of the Church Tri- umphant."
He is commemorated by the window in the gallery, given by his widow.
In the meantime, Christ Church had carried on, under the leadership of a valiant Rector who had suffered a most grievous loss. I am sure that he was comforted by watching his two fine sons as they approached the vigor of manhood. In 1941 a new Altar Guild, named St. Anne's, had been organized and, says the editor of the North East, "is doing a noble piece of work." During the summer the Vacation School has been particularly successful. In 1945, both the interior of the church and the outside of the parish house were painted. In the same year the Rector-Editor tells us that "Christ Church is rejoicing over an enlarged Church School continuing under the expert and de- voted guidance of John H. Daley and his faithful staff of teachers."
In 1946 began a happy period in the history of our church, when the Rev. Hazen F. Rigby, in semi-retirement after his work at Limestone, came to live at the rectory and assist the Rector
37
HISTORY OF CHRIST CHURCH
in the work of the Parish and adjacent missions. A companion was a godsend to a lonely man, as well as a great help in carry- ing the burden of a large parish with its missions. The two men were complements to each other, increasing the usefulness of both. On the one hand was the fire and righteous indignation of the Rector, who was literally a soldier of the Cross; on the other the steady, even glow of a saint's religion, "bearing all things, enduring all things." Father Tom had a temper, as what strong man has not.
I mention this to introduce a story which he enjoyed tell- ing on himself. What the occasion was, I do not know, but Father Tom was "proper mad," and voluble. When he paused, Mr. Rigby said quietly, "Have you taken your pill today?" The Rector's wrath evaporated in peals of laughter.
1947 was the centennial of the beginning of Bishop Bur- gess's episcopate in Gardiner, and much is said in a long article in the North East about the old church, but this hallowed ground has already been covered by Miss Gilmore. In the later account, however, the various rectories are mentioned together, and should be here recorded. The first was built of logs and stood on what is now Dresden Avenue. The second was the square house on a hill, still standing, No. 49 of the same thoroughfare. The third was at 2 Dennis Street, later moved to Danforth Street and cut into two houses, during the early years of Canon Plant's Rectorate. The fourth is the rectory of today, at 15 Pleasant Street, a noble house acquired by the Parish in 1905. I note that in 1947 the Rev. Edward C. McAllister died in Portland.
In this same year, in his account of the annual vacation school in Gardiner, the Rector says that "several families not previously reached by the Church became interested. One of these families, that their children might become members of God's family, requested that they be "dipped, not sprinkled." Five were accordingly baptized in Cobbossee Stream.
We are also told of the first confirmation in St. Andrew's, Pittston, early in the year. I find this ancient building then called a chapel-of-ease, an old-world definition for a building where it is more convenient for certain members of the Parish to worship than in the home church.
38
HISTORY OF CHRIST CHURCH
Again in this same account of the summer of 1947, our Rector-Editor says, "I would like to add to this article a word of appreciation of the faithful and self-denying service of Deaconess Trask and her assistant, Miss Gruntler. Their work has been outstanding and of invaluable assistance. During their first year and a half, they served the Church without any financial re- muneration whatsoever. . . From 1939 to 1946 they drove an old Chevrolet (1934 model), faithful, true and probably Baptist in its former history (the top always leaked). Now they have a new car. They are great missionaries and we are proud of what they have accomplished."
Let me here speak again of the inconspicuous but most beautiful term of Hazen Rigby at Christ Church. In 1949, the Rector announced his team-mate's retirement from active work, and that both of them relinquished responsibility for the mis- sions at Hallowell, Dresden, and Richmond, giving him (Ake- ley) more time for parish visiting. Fr. Rigby had been badly crippled by a broken ankle, which he had never had properly treated. His suffering must have been intense, but he never men- tioned it. In December, 1953, we held a special service to cele- brate the fiftieth anniversary of this modest priest's ordination as a deacon. At that time we gave him a gilded silver cross, which it was the writer's high privilege to present.
In 1955 Fr. Rigby was in poor health and went to live with his sister in Greenwich, Connecticut, who ministered unto him. He died on Christmas night, 1957. On December 27 there was a lovely service in his memory at Christ Church. Surely he is among the saints today.
Let me now speak of several important acquisitions in the forties and fifties, which have made Christ Church more beautiful or more efficient or both. The old organ bought at Newbury- port in 1846 was finally worn out. The constant repair was a heavy drain on parish funds. In this dilemma, the two Hazzards, father and son, and L. J. Sheaffer, stepped in to tide over the years till we could afford an organ worthy of the church. The three together gave a Hammond electronic organ. This instru- ment was dedicated August 15, 1941, and gave excellent service for over ten years, until it was replaced by the present organ. It stands now in the parish house, where it is occasionally very useful.
39
HISTORY OF CHRIST CHURCH
In 1951 two beautiful stained glass windows were given by the four Hazzard children, one of them in memory of R. P. Haz- zard, Sr., one of the great benefactors of Christ Church. Those gifts complete the six windows in the side walls of the church, these being the Clapp and the just mentioned Hazzard windows on the north side, and on the south the Stevens, Eliza Storrs and Frederic Gardiner windows.
May I now be forgiven for speaking in some detail of the acquiring of the organ of today, as I headed the organ commit- tee. In the Parish Meeting of January, 1950, it was decided to campaign for a new pipe organ, to be given as a memorial by all members and friends of the Parish who wished to contribute. The response was so enthusiastic that in September of the above year the organ was ordered from the Möller Organ Company.
We had chosen this instrument after much investigation, on the advice of Dr. T. Tertius Noble, an organist and choir mas- ter well known internationally, and with whom the committee had corresponded. Many of his tunes and adaptations appear in the present church hymnal. It was my great privilege to visit Dr. Noble at his home in Rockport, Mass., with the specifications suggested by the Möller people. I found him almost entirely blind but wholly cheerful. I read him the specifications, which he endorsed heartily, advocating one small change. Then I went with him to hear his Möller organ in St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Rockport. He carried his white cane, the badge of a blind man, and one of the Vestry walked beside him. The regular organist was to meet us at the church. I was surprised as I saw her coming, a tiny woman, badly disfigured by curvature of the spine. Then we entered the church, and Dr. Noble sat down to his instrument. That was a picture which I shall never forget -the blind "Maestro," so happy to be playing for us, and hover- ing over him, the adoring little hunchback, with a face as it were the face of an angel. Surely our dear Lord was watching ten- derly that afternoon in St. Mary's Church.
Well, the organ was ordered, and after delays, delivery was finally promised for Friday, January 4, 1952. The Rector and this Junior Warden took turns in watching for it, but nothing hap- pened, and we were really worried when on Saturday came the heaviest snowstorm of the winter. The Möller Company assured us by telephone that the organ should have arrived the day be-
40
HISTORY OF CHRIST CHURCH
fore, and that they knew no more than we. Father Tom and I visioned it in a ditch somewhere between Hagerstown, Maryland, and Gardiner, Maine! On Sunday, January 6, the organ came. The truck had broken down, and then had ridden out the storm in a barn near Worcester! The organ was completely installed by quarter past midnight on January 14.
The new instrument was dedicated by Bishop Loring on February 28, at which time George Faxon, then organist at the Church of the Advent in Boston, gave a beautiful recital. The organ cost was $11,184, and when paid for, we still had a balance of $370 for the cause of music. In the Memorial Organ book, beautifully inscribed by Mrs. Bernard Leighton, there are eighty- eight names commemorated, and a list of ninety-two donors, in- cluding several organizations. Thus ends the saga of our Möller organ!
Organs, windows, choir stalls-pulpits, fonts and lecterns! How beautiful and varied is the furniture of an old church! how many loving souls, how many broken and contrite hearts have spoken through these memorials! And if I should go further and chronicle the work of building committees and of committees on house and grounds-in church and parish house and rectory -my writing on these subjects would fill books. How many times has our venerable parish house, where there are always young and hurrying feet, been triumphantly rebuilt? How many of us have chipped away at the tar on Christ Church roof? How many of our womenfolk have toiled at curtains and hangings to make our buildings beautiful? May God bless all such workers.
But a history of a church is a history of spiritual adventures, manifested in the lives of men and women. So let me speak of them.
In 1951 it became evident that, with the Church School grow- ing and the Rector so busy with parochial and diocesan duties that he could not give enough time to the Church School, the moment had come for professional help in the latter. John Daley had done fine work as Superintendent at an earlier date, but with health not too strong and the duties of Senior Warden handled seriously and well, it was unthinkable that he should re- sume such duty. In this emergency it was voted to hire Miss Patricia N. Paige as Director of the Church School at a begin- ning salary of $1,500. She came that autumn and brought new
41
HISTORY OF CHRIST CHURCH
enthusiasm and new order into the school. Her Christmas Pageant for the youngsters was well trained and beautiful. She was a fine vigorous force in the Parish.
In 1955 she accepted a call as a student worker at St. John's Church, Northampton, Mass. To replace Miss Paige, Miss Jean Adams was called and took up her work with us in September, 1955. She was a lovely influence in the school and carried on successfully, though not with Miss Paige's force. She left us in June, 1957, to be Director of Religious Education of the Diocese of New Hampshire.
The Rev. Tom G. Akeley was Rector of Christ Church for twenty-four years. He was and is a fine figure of a man, and blessed with a fine singing voice. He never pretended to be a great preacher, not having the gift of clear arrangement of his thoughts. He knew his limitations and was never long-winded. Occasionally he attained true beauty and touched all our hearts. His great gifts were those of a Parish Priest. He was tireless in his visits to homes and hospital. As is the case with all true pastors, his mission was in large part to the Lost Sheep. I know of an alcoholic, and there were plenty of others with the same disease whom he succored, with whom Father Tom had a special arrangement. As this man fought to gain back his self- respect, the Rector told him that he would answer any call from him at any time, were it at two o'clock in the morning. And Father Tom did so.
No one will ever know how many hard situations Tom Akeley tackled; how, like Canon Plant before him, he ministered to the poor and suffering. To one sick or discouraged or at outs with the world, what could be more invigorating than a visit from this robust, virile friend? Probably Tom Akeley did more than any other man to break down the old paternal way in which our church had been run. We had left too much to the Gardiner family! He finished what Nelson Bryant had begun. He was called the hardest working man in Gardiner. When we turned out to say goodbye to him and wish him Godspeed, the church and the parish house afterwards were packed to the doors with an outpouring of citizens of all faiths who loved him. I know that he was deeply moved, for he was the most modest of men.
Tom Akeley loved this parish, where he spent twenty-four of his best years. Every night before he retired, he looked over
42
HISTORY OF CHRIST CHURCH
both church and parish house, punctiliously. They, and those that used them, were his great responsibility.
In the summer of 1953 the Rector showed the strain of the heavy load he carried, and was perhaps in danger of a breakdown. It is no wonder, for besides his heavy parochial duties, he was one of the busiest men in the Diocese, on the Standing Commit- tee for many years, principal leader of the Youth Fellowships and Conferences both in the Diocese and in our Parish, a Canon in the Cathedral, a delegate to National Conventions, and serving on many committees, as well as being a chaplain in the National Guard. Since the Bishop felt strongly that he needed a real rest, the Parish gave him four and a half months' leave of absence, spent principally in England, though he visited the Continent too. On this vacation Father Tom did two notable things-he con- sidered himself an ambassador and invited controversy, doing his best to present the American point of view. And he looked up everyone he knew, soldier or civilian, who had had a previous con- nection with Christ Church.
During the summer of his absence we had the good fortune of a prolonged visit from the Rev. George Barrett of the General Theological Seminary, who spent his vacation with us. He did not attempt parochial work, but his preaching was memorable.
Here let me pick up a few loose threads in my story. The music of Christ Church has always been in good hands. When I was a piping choir boy, the choir and the organ were in charge of H. H. Combs and Frederick Winslow respectively. Both were capable men, and Fred Winslow had some ability as a com- poser. There will be gaps in my list, but I remember that Miss Augusta Gardiner still played the organ occasionally-she had been organist and choir director before I was born-and Mr. Harlow had charge of the choir for a few years. Charles Black was another competent organist, as was Mrs. Fred Robinson. At one period Prof. Walsh of Bowdoin College trained the choir. Edwin Lucas was also a fine director who enriched our services with his English background. Hope Jackson (Mrs. Hilliard Cooke) and Mrs. Gladys Marshall Berry were also organists be- fore the term of Don Ireland.
The two foremost names in the recent past, musically, are Donald A. Ireland and J. M. L. Bates. Don Ireland played our
43
HISTORY OF CHRIST CHURCH
organ for seventeen years. He was also a vestryman for eight years, and treasurer and collector for four. One of the best loved men in the Parish, it was a sad day for us when he moved to Massachusetts in 1943.
Jim Bates was another vestryman of long and devoted service. He was elected Parish Clerk in 1904 and continued in that office till he resigned it in 1945 to become Senior Warden, after the death of R. H. Gardiner IV. For many years he was choirmaster, he and Don Ireland making an excellent team. He was Senior Warden until his death in 1948 at the age of eighty- three.
Jim Bates was a shy and beautiful character, a man of extraordinary serenity and inward peace, with more than a touch of genius. Among the carols which we sing at Christmas, Rex Dormit, which he composed, to the words of Dr. Gertrude Heath, is one of the loveliest. He played several musical instruments well, and for years helped to train the High School band. I have read his translation of that archaic and ancient poem, Piers Plowman. It is a work of true scholarship. It was a happy privilege to paddle with him in his canoe to his little camp on Cobbossee Stream, where he had planted rare wild flowers which he loved. As Parish Clerk, he was faithful and most efficient. I have read his Parish Records, and greatly admired the neat- ness of his work, and the clarity of his impromptu composition. He is one of so many who have given their best to Christ Church. God rest his soul!
I have noted that in Lent of 1939, Mrs. Clyde Potter as- sisted in the musical services. When Donald Ireland left Gard- iner, she became organist and choir director, a position in which she has served brilliantly, ever since. At the moment, with two parallel morning services of equal importance, there are prob- lems in achieving satisfactory choir singing. If skill and devo- tion to duty can solve them, they will be solved.
Let me turn back to 1943, when for the second time in a generation the hurricane of war had struck our country, and young men and women had flocked into service. What could the stay-at-homes do? One answer was to give the old iron fence to the drive for much-needed scrap metal. The Vestry so voted. One hopes that the iron was useful; it is impossible to know.
44
HISTORY OF CHRIST CHURCH
Whatever happened, surely that gift of pickets and posts was a generous and beautiful gesture. But many missed the old fence, and when the war was over, a movement to replace it was started with a handsome subscription ($500) by a gallant lady, Miss Maude Robinson, who in older days had been the first leader of St. Margaret's Guild. Many have helped, but the sad fact soon became evident that building the fence over on the old model would cost at least ten times more than did the original. As I write, the old fence is back in part. May it not be too long be- fore it is completed, and dear Miss Maude's hopes be given com- plete substance. That cheerful, laughing church worker, always young, died in July, 1956, at the age of ninety-three.
The thought of Miss Maude recalls her contemporary, Mrs. J. Walter Robinson. Not only was she a generous friend to Christ Church, but to the library and hospital, in her own right and through the estate of her husband, who had died many years before, and who was a staunch friend of the House of the Good Shepherd, a fine churchman and a vestryman for many years. Martha Robinson was a great citizen. She had all the qualities which a queen should have: charm, great beauty, unselfishness, and all the social gifts in the best sense of those words. The Good Comrades, an organization of business women which she founded and of which she was the moving spirit for forty years, taught true citizenship and kindness to the lonely. At ninety, Mrs. Robinson was lovely and gracious as ever-she seemed age- less, but she died at that age a month after Miss Maude, as the result of a sad automobile accident.
As I continue to pick up stitches in the Akeley regime, I think of all the happy social occasions that raised money for good works, and still do-garden parties, suppers, fairs. Though they are completely secondary to our worship and our prayers, still they provide cheery employment to men and women. They have helped pull us together, and there was a thrill over the success of each one. Surely our Lord smiles at these innocent and helpful diversions.
I will mention particularly two performances of Pepete, an old favorite among operettas, given by the members of Christ Church choir, in the High School auditorium. This production was under the direction of Donald Ireland and Miss Louise Allen, with Edward Daley and Miss Julie Roberts in the principal roles.
45
HISTORY OF CHRIST CHURCH
Then there was a costume party in which George Barstow, a well loved citizen and vestryman, appeared as foreman for the an- cient town hand pump, and began his appeal with these memo- rable words: "Boys, the Tiger sucks air, and it ain't right!" More recent merry evenings have been supplied by three parish auc- tions in successive years, for which we emptied our attics and where we bid happily for what we probably did not need, under the shrewd and mirthful guidance of L. J. Sheaffer, who con- trolled us as surely as the leader of an orchestra controls his kettledrums and oboes! These auctions have been dropped, I hope only temporarily, to let our attics fill again! In 1954, Christ Church raised $1506 for the great "Builders for Christ" campaign, sixty-three dollars above our quota.
In the meantime, with Father Tom at the helm, the accus- tomed services and the parochial duties went on, with Auxiliary, St. Anne's Guild, Vestry and choir busy. The Christmas dawns, the Easter glories, came and went. Besides the Rector, Mrs. Ar- thur Gosline, Mrs. Frank Bull and John Daley have been con- spicuous in diocesan work.
There was more material progress too in a fine new heating system in the church, designed by a distinguished heating engi- neer, the late Charles Stilphen (who would accept no remunera- tion for all that he did), and a sprinkler system in the same building, under the guidance of Norman Gardner.
There have recently been several changes in the organization of the Vestry. In 1947 it had become a "revolving" vestry, members being elected for three-year terms, then dropped for a year, with the opportunity of being nominated again, after their "vacation." In 1950 the office of chancellor, with full status as a vestryman, was created to advise us on legal matters. Our first chancellor, and a very able one, was Philip E. Lamb, already on the Vestry. He died in 1958 at the early age of forty-four, well loved and deeply mourned. In 1951 the treasurer and the clerk were made regular voting members of the Vestry. The wardens, treasurer, clerk and chancellor continue to be elected annually. In 1952 the present Church Council was organized, corresponding to Nelson Bryant's "Cabinet."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.