BOVINA COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER Sponsored by the Bovina UP Church Volume 7, Issue 3 September 2014 September 17 After-School Program begins @ 3:15 PM. October 4 Bovina Fire and EMS Chili Supper 5-8 PM October 11 Steve Burnett Art Exhibition at Livestock Headquarters, Bob Hall Rd 7-9 PM. October 31 Halloween Party at the Community Hall 7-8 PM. November 4 Election Dinner at the Community Hall. November 26 Pie Sale at the UP (contact Amy Burns tomnamy@delhitel.net for pre-orders). December 7 Santa Claus visits the Fire Hall 1-3 PM. December 24 Christmas Eve Service and Pageant @ 7 PM. A letter from the pastor In July the youth of our Presbytery took a mission trip. We traveled to four different cities: Cortland, Nineveh, Delhi, and Oneonta. We worked on four different missions: volunteered at an animal shelter, filled hygiene kits and school kits for Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, cleaned a portion of a rail trail, and performed skits, sang hymns, and visited with the residents of nursing homes. It was a wonderful blessing to be on this trip. We have some wonderful, hardworking, caring, and dedicated youth in our midst. In the midst of all the negative news our news corporations report, these kids give me hope. After the trip, Bovina s youth representatives, Jack and Alex Stanton were asked about the trip. They shared with me that they were anxious about sleeping with strange people and in strange places. This made perfect sense to me. There were two of them and fourteen other youth from across the Presbytery who was sleeping between pews and in fellowship halls. This doesn t sound like the most comfortable of trips. Though they feared it at first, having one another and know some of the other participants from school made this unfamiliarity not too bad and they were able to overcome this anxiety. Both Alex and Jack enjoyed volunteering at the animal shelter the most. The fact that they scrubbed walls and floors to clean the kennel did not deter the amount of enjoyment that come from cleaning and playing with the dogs. Alex had to leave before we volunteered at the nursing home, but Jack added what a joy it was to see the smiles on the faces of the residents as they performed the skits and interacted with them. The trip was a great joy. Thanks to you all for all of your prayers and your support. Thanks to all who donated supplies for the hygiene and school kits. We are looking forward to this upcoming year of youth group. If you or someone you know is in grades 6 12, please feel free to join us. Our first meeting is September 28th. We will meet after worship and head to Little Pond State Park in Andes for a picnic, games, and boating. God Bless,
Page 2 Bovina Community Newsletter Vacation Bible School 2014 This year the theme of VBS was the Workshop of Wonders. We learned that God takes the ordinary and makes it extraordinary through lessons that taught us to Imagine with God like Esther, Build with God like Zerubabel, Grow with God like the mustard seed, Work with God like the child with two fish and five loaves, and Walk with God like the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Thanks to all the volunteers who helped make this a special week. What would we do without the Bovina Ball-field?
Page 3 Bovina Community Newsletter Bovina UP Church News The Bovina UP Church welcomes you to worship with us Sunday mornings at 10 AM. If you are interested in joining the church, please contact a member of the Church Session. Session members are Amy Burns, Jack Burns, Norma Gabriel, Mark Schneider, Tom Hilson, and Mike Worden. Sunday worship @ 10 AM. Please come join us! Sunday School for Children preschool through 6th grade during worship (during the school year). Communion served on the 1st Sunday of every month. Session Meeting @ 7PM on the 2nd Tuesday of every other month. Fellowship Coffee Hour following worship service on the 2nd Sunday of every month. Joys and Concerns Please continue to keep Agnes Burns, Millie Reinhertsen, and Travis Batey in your prayers. We re thrilled to have two new(-ish) Bovina families back in town: Mary Pelletier and James, Marco and Andre Shaw, who moved into the Pelletier home with long-time resident, Jan Pelletier, and Gary, Suzan, and Emma Robson, also moving back to Gary s home after living in Downsville. Welcome!! Also, please welcome Riya Desai, a foreign-exchange student from Vapi, Gujarat, India, who is staying with the Hilson-Schneider family this fall and is attending Delaware Academy. We re looking forward to learning many new things from Riya as she shares her culture with us! If anyone would like to share Joys and Concerns with us, please contact bovinanewsletter@hotmail.com or Elder Jack Burns (jjburns@delhitel.net). Piano Dedication We had an opportunity to enjoy some of Bovina s amazing musical talent in celebration of the installation of our new piano! Marena Vittorio organized an entertaining night of song and music that will not soon be forgotten. The purchase of our piano was made possible by the generous donations from all of our dedicated supporters, far and wide. Thanks so much to the church Memorial Committee for organizing the post-concert dinner and a very heartfelt thanks to all of you for celebrating with us!
Page 4 Volume 7, Issue 3 B O V I N A D AY! Worship at Weber Farm on Bovina Farm Day (Where Garrett competes with heavy rain and a feisty parishioner)... Thanks so much to the Weber Family for welcoming us into their calf barn and for all the efforts of Farming Bovina for putting on this event!
Volume 7, Issue 3 Page 5 COMMUNITY NEWS Bovina Fire and EMS, by Roberta Burgin The Bovina Fire Department would like to thank all who supported their annual Chicken BBQ this year, it was a great success and we enjoy seeing the community coming out to support our fund-raising efforts. Please mark your calendars for Saturday, October 4th for the Bovina Emergency Squad s annual All-You-Can-Eat Chili Supper. Also be sure to bring your kids for an afternoon of enjoyment visiting with Santa at the Bovina Fire Hall on Sunday, December 7th. We would like to congratulate this year s Fire Queen Ashley Stewart in being named Delaware County Fire Queen at the Delaware County Fair Parade this year. Ashley has represented our Department well in all three parades this year in Delhi, Andes and Walton. Congrats to Fire Queen, Ashley Stewart, for being named the Delaware County Fire Queen this year! What a wonderful representative for Bovina. Also, thanks to Ashley and the Bovina Fire and EMS crew for participating in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge to raise funds and awareness for ALS research. You guys all showed your goodspirit under that chilly water! Town News Update, by Mark Rossley If you need a Transfer Station permit, please call the Town Clerk, Cathy Hewitt (832-4302). Board meetings are open to the public and scheduled for the second Tuesday of the month at 6 PM in the Community Hall (NOTE: The September meeting will be held on Wednesday, September 10). Please attend with comments, questions, and concerns.
Page 6 Bovina Community Newsletter Bovina Historical Society Schoolhouse Day Camp
Volume 7, Issue 3 Page 7 Bovina Historical Society News, by Jan Bray Beyond successful Bovina Days, some financial gifts which we greatly appreciate, the museum openings, new members, and a beautiful 2015 calendar production featuring prints of Hugh Lee, we have had a most incredible event in latter August with a week-long day camp at the Bovina District #1 School House, where we fashioned our activities and curriculum around 1900. With Amy Burns as activities marm, Jan Bray as classroom marm and Peg Hilson as nurse, traffic monitor, and outhouse supervisor, eleven children totally opted for the experience, and were an inspiration to all of us. On the first day when children were asked who wanted to volunteer for the dunce corner, only one student raised his hand; after the first recess, again with the question posed, most students raised their hands. The hour following was, to say the least, chaotic. On the second and following days, there were no infractions calling for that experience. When asked Why? Their response was, we didn t want to miss anything. A project of this nature called for It takes a village. To fail to mention all of our helpers, in this case, would be remiss: Livestock Foundation for sponsoring the week, The Bovina Town Board and Jerry Wright for securing some ailing desk seats and covering the slide posts in the yard, Wayne Stewart for his generator for pre-event vacuuming, Evelyn Stewart for ordering a port-a-potty, Roxbury Arts Group, who loaned us appropriate apparel, Bob Morris for his wonderful tour of the former Johnson Mills, Tom and Winney Kennedy, current owners of that property, Celia Coulter for her donation of blankets from that mill (which students used for a hand stitching project), Margaret Hilson for mapping our flora and fauna, Ray La- Fever, Jean Mehrenberg, Rosie Stewart, Ann Liddle, Agnes Burns for their informational chats and material on early Bovina schools, Joe Dibble for contributing turkey feathers fashioned into writing quills, Jesse Hilson and Mark Schneider for putting up the Nurse s tent, Jack and June Burns, Ben and Betsy Bray, and others who supplied bow ties and/or suspenders, and Samantha Misa for taking an authentic (circa 1900) picture of the students and teachers with her antique camera and providing each student with a set demonstrating four processes for developing. We deeply appreciate Mel and Marni Greenberg and Wendy and John Finn for providing two student scholarships, and, lastly, to eleven students who have enriched the World, and their parents who totally bought into, and supported, the event with commitment and enthusiasm. This has been a major Bovina event! We always welcome new members and financial support for our continued support of Russell s Store (new sidewalk!) and our two other buildings, which need ongoing upgrading: The Bovina Museum and the old Bovina Fire Hall. See our Facebook page, Bovina Historical Society and Ray LaFever s daily blogs for lots of current information. One more reference to bovina history: the folks pictured here gathered in august to celebrate jim Hilson s 70th birthday (and they all look pretty good too)! They are (L-R) Frances burns, lois and loren Monroe, chuck mcintosh, gert hall, jim Hilson, tim mcintosh, lester stewart, chuck mole, janet stewart, roger mcintosh, john Hilson, marie burns, wayne hall, john mole, and tom Hilson.
Page 8 Bovina Community Newsletter "Fifty Joyous Years of Team-Life" - Golden Wedding Anniversaries in the 1920s by Ray LaFever, Town Historian In the winter of 1921, a magazine noted that among her country population of 800, Bovina claims five couples who have had their golden weddings. The article went on to note that nine of the ten persons are members of the Bovina United Presbyterian Church. From the clipping I cannot tell what the magazine is, but it appears to likely be a magazine of the Presbyterian Church USA. In February 1921, two couples celebrated golden anniversaries one day apart. On the 15th, Alexander and Nancy (Miller) Burns saw about 100 neighbors and near relatives come to their home to help them commemorate the beginning of fifty joyous years of team-life. There was a dinner at noon and there was music and social converse into the evening. Gifts included a gold watch to the bride and several gold coins. The next day, the quiet family party in honor of William and Alice (Russell) Boggs, commemorating their joyous journey of fifty years in double harness grew into a party of 125 people, caused by the desire of their neighbors and friends to congratulate them, creating an epidemic of good will and fat baskets At this party, four of the five couples who had passed their fiftieth anniversaries were present. As well as the Boggs and the Burns couples, also present were William Boggs brother Thomas and his wife, Jane Archibald Boggs, who had been married 55 years, and Gilbert Miller and his wife, Mary Jane Banker Miller, who had been married 52 years. (Who the fifth couple was I have yet to determine.) Rev. Crawford presented William and Alice Boggs, noted as being yet young in spirits and active in life an envelope of gold and a roll of bills. The article concluded that the parting question was, Who is Next? (P.S. They had their serenade that night, too.) Alexander and Nancy Burns would be married for another ten years, celebrating their 60th anniversary about 3 months before Nancy s death in May 1931. Alexander died in 1939. Alex and Nancy are the grandparents of Agnes Burns and also are the ancestors of the LaFever family. William Boggs was widowed two years after his 50th wedding anniversary with Alice s death in 1923. He would survive her by 10 years, dying in 1933. William and Alice were the grandparents of Don, Bob and Norrie Boggs. Thomas and Jane Boggs would celebrate 60 years of marriage in 1925. Thomas died the following year, Jane in 1930. Gilbert Miller was widowed when Mary Jane Miller died in 1924. He would live until 1931 (he was Bovina's last surviving Civil War veteran). The photograph shows William and Alice Boggs and Alex and Nancy Burns and was used in the magazine article. Our dear Historian just recently reached two cycling goals: 600 miles for the month of August and 2000 miles for the year! Good job, Ray!
Volume 7, Issue 3 Page 9 Bovina Library News As many of you know, Marjorie Miller is leaving us, so we want to send her off in style. Please join us on September 24th at 6 pm at the Library for a cupcake reception and to say Bon Voyage! ALSO Please Stop by this month to Welcome Mary Pelletier and Annette Corvelo as our new Library Director and Clerk (with many, many Thanks to Marie Burns for her years of service to the library!!) (P.S. SAVE THE DATE of November 8th for our Annual Farm Feast at the Bovina Community Hall, featuring products from our dear local farmers). Scenes from Open Barn & Studio Day & livestock music Festival Thanks to Mark Foster, John Finn, and Wendy Buerge for your efforts organizing these events. We were sure feeling some community pride on August 23rd!
NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE PAID COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER SPONSORED BY DELHI, NY PERMIT NO. 2 Photos and images in this issue were generously contributed by Bobbi Burgin, Amy Burns, Riya Desai, Pam Dorr, Julie Hilson, Ray LaFever, Garrett Schindler, and Mike Worden. Pastor, Rev. Garrett Schindler garrettschindler@gmail.com 607-832-4340 PO Box 26 Bovina Center, NY 13740 www.bovinaupchurch.com If you would like to receive our e-newsletter, please send a message to bovinanewsletter@hotmail.com Or view it on our website: www.bovinaupchurch.com If you have any news to contribute for future issues, please let Julie know (bovinanewsletter@hotmail.com or 832-4567)!