BOVINA NEWSLETTER COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER Sponsored by the Bovina UP Church Volume 7, Issue 2 A letter from the Pastor, by Garrett Schindler June 2014 July 3 SOS begins @ 7 PM (every Wednesday in July at the ballfield). July 19 Bovina Day August 4-8 Vacation Bible School 5-7 PM. August 17 Piano Dedication @ 3 PM at Bovina UP. August 18-22 BHS Schoolhouse Day Camp. August 23 Open Barn & Studio Day (details @ cometobovina.com). August 31 Bovina Farm Day at the Weber Farm. October 30 November 6 Scotland Trip with Ray LaFever. Colossians 3:15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. P-A-S-T-O-R. Seeing these six letters before my name still shocks me. It s a humbling place to be. As a kid I never imagined I would be a pastor. I wanted to be a fighter pilot, a farmer, a police officer, or any and everything else. Yet, here I am, in this community, having it proclaimed and accepting it that I am a pastor. Considering the journey that has led me to this place, not just the physical location but my vocation as well, I am in awe. I always imagined myself helping others, but never did I imagine in this way. After childhood on my way to adulthood I imagined myself as a teacher or missionary in some destitute place such as a third world country or in the ghettos of our cities. Yet, here I am in the pristine foothills of the Catskill Mountains doing work that didn t enter my consciousness until my junior year of college. Like each and every one of us has had to do in our lives, when I first heard the calling to be a pastor I had decisions to make. Today, its obvious the decision that I ultimately made. Along the journey, however, there were multiple stops along the way that didn t always point to this end. Many paths opened up before me and I didn t always know which way to go, at least not until my last year of college during a prayer service. I was having a difficult time making a decision about what is the next step to take. Graduation was creeping up on me. Within a month I would be homeless because I was living on campus and they are ready to kick you out the very moment graduation is over with. I didn t know if I should continue schooling to work towards becoming a pastor. I didn t know if I should continue looking for jobs that I would be suited for with my degree. I also struggled with the idea to join the armed forces so I could have served our country in the same manner that my grandfathers did. I was bewildered. During the prayer service, I shared with the pastor of the church all of these concerns and he shared with me these words, Let the peace of Christ rule in your heart Garrett. Whatever decision you make should bring peace to your spirit and you ll know then you are doing the right thing. From that moment on, being at peace, letting the peace of Christ rule in my heart has been my measuring stick for making decisions. Following the decisions that I have made with peace in my heart led me back to my hometown after college working on a dairy farm for two years. Following the decisions that I have made with peace in my heart led me to seminary. Following the decisions that I have made with peace in my heart has ultimately led me to these mountains. Every decision wasn t easy. Every decision wasn t free from pain. But having peace, no matter how difficult the decision was, has been worth it. (Continued on p. 2)
Page 2 (Continued from p. 1) I don t know what every one of you may be dealing with right now in your lives. Everything may be going just as you planned. Then again, everything could be going awry or you re somewhere in between. Wherever you are, whatever decisions need to be made, may I offer the advice that was offered to me, Let the peace of Christ rule in your heart. Whatever decision you make, let it bring peace to your spirit. God Bless, After-School Update The After-School Kids raised $260 for Heifer International with their Easter Candy Fund Raiser. They decided to purchase a goat and a flock of chickens as well as purchasing shares of a heifer, water buffalo, llama, pig, sheep, and fish. Special thanks to Amy Burns for leading this fundraiser and helping the kids of our community learn the importance of giving. Also, special thanks to Marie Burns, Marena Vittorio, and Monica Liddle who have stepped in and led the After-School Kids during my vacations and continuing education events. The after school program concludes on June 18th. We pray the kids have a safe and fun-filled summer. Youth Group Update Congratulations to our graduating seniors this year: Katie Aikens, Joe Burgin, Heleena Hilson, Brandon Molé, and Katherine Roberts. This summer, youth from our community and throughout our presbytery will join together for a Rotating Mission Trip from Wednesday, July 30th through Saturday, August 2nd. We will begin in Cortland on Wednesday night meeting new friends, new brothers and sisters in Christ. After a night of food, fun, and fellowship, we ll sleep, wake, have breakfast, do mission work in Cortland, travel to Nineveh Thursday night and repeat the process. Friday night we ll be in Delhi and on Saturday we ll conclude with our mission project in Oneonta. If you know of any interested youth, please let me know. Call me at (607) 832-4340 or email me at bovinaupchruch@gmail.com. Registration ends on June 30th.
Page 3 We enjoyed another beautiful Memorial Day service at the Bovina Cemetery this year, Joys and Concerns featuring two of our important Bovina icons: Janet Stewart, singing two of her powerful songs, and Ed Rossley, playing Taps at the end of the service. The American Legion Our thoughts are with the families of Helen Burns and Honor Guard and the reading of the Gettysburg Address added to this special Bovina UP Hugh and Pat Lee, who passed away this Spring. We will tradition. never forget these important Bovina residents. With great joy, we welcome the newest Bovinian, Asher Mercury Manning, who joined Becky, Pete, and Finnegan on March 25th. Congratulations go out to Edward Rossley (pictured below left,) who was inducted into the NY State Senate Veterans Hall of Fame this Spring. What a wonderful honor! Also, congratulations to our many High School graduates: Katie Aikens, Emma Berry, Billy Branciforte, Joe Burgin, Hunter Cika, Ryan Garcia, Helena Hilson, Brandon Mole, and Katherine Roberts, Taylor Simmons, Ryan Telian. Oh, the places you ll go! Bovina Seniors Please join us for lunch at the Church! On the 2nd Tuesday of Every Month @ Noon Contact Janet Stewart with questions (832-4316)
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Volume 7, Issue 2 Page 5 Bovina Historical Society News, by Jan Bray We remember Hugh Lee, our former Town of Bovina Historian. His contributions to Bovina are treasured. We continue to attempt to keep Russell s Store open and operating and are grateful to those who support it. Our Town Historian, Ray LaFever will be in our Museum on Bovina Day on July 19, and possibly a Saturday in August, date to be determined. And we continue to keep the Old Fire Hall on our agenda for maintenance and use. Continuing with our fundraising efforts, Livestock Foundation has graciously offered to sponsor a day camp for the Bovina Historical Society at District #1 Schoolhouse August 18-22 for children having completed first through sixth grades. Amy Burns and Jan Bray will take the children through a week of school designed around the late 1800s, early 1900s, right down to the outhouse experience (though port-a-potty regulations may disallow use of the Sears Roebuck catalog!) We recently were given, by Celia Coulter, blankets woven at the Johnson Mill, which will be shared with the children. We are grateful to Jean Merenberg and Pat Miele for transporting them down the tube to us. If you have information from those who attended the school, it will add to our wealth of already gleaned material. This is our first-time attempt to teach about those times through process and experience at the schoolhouse. We will, again, sponsor Bovina Day on July 19. Get your wares ready to put out on your lawns, and let us know if you d like to add an event. Our annual meeting will occur on Bovina Day, July 19 at 5p.m., location to be announced. We invite our new members, and those interested, to attend. Historical societies are not always on the top of the list for community action. Bovina remains a beautiful hamlet on the Historical Register of New York State because of quiet effort. We need active members who will roll up their sleeves, carry a box, make a sign here and there, and offer a voice. And, we always appreciate donations. Our e-mail contact is bovinahistoricalsociety@gmail.com and Facebook account is Bovina Historical Society. Bovina is a wonderful small community with a rich history. Help the Bovina Historical Society preserve this history. The society has its own e-mail address now: bovinahistoricalsociety@gmail.com. The Bovina UP is donating it s old piano (pictured below)! If you are interested and are able to transport it yourself, you are welcome to it. Contact Rev. Garrett Schindler with questions. Pictured on the right are Mark Rossley, Richard Barnhart, John Hilson, and Chuck Culbertson laying down our new playground mulch in early May. Many thanks to these gentlemen, the Playground Committee, and the Bovina Highway Dept. for their efforts!
Page 6 Ward Baker, America s Most Soulful Violinist and Bovina Resident by Ray LaFever, Town Historian [This article is a condensed version of one that appeared in the Bovina NY History blog over the winter.] In the summer of 1908, William Richardson (grandfather of Isabell Russell) sold his home at the bottom of Russell Hill Road at present day County Route 6 to Ward Baker from Wisconsin. Baker would own the house until 1916, using it mostly as a summer home (this is now the Ed and Bonnie Denison home). Baker was born in Michigan on January 28, 1880. He developed a talent and interest in the violin, but it was a struggle for him to get his career off the ground. His father did not approve of his musical bent, so he went to Chicago and worked as a janitor to save money for a violin. The World Newspaper from March 1905, in reporting his arrival in New York, noted that for his violin, he suffered, went hungry, was kicked and rebuffed, but through it all he remained true to his ambition, saying 'Why can there be any wrong in doing what is honest and honorable, and what you want to do?'" The paper also noted that he fiddled 1,500 nights to get an education. To afford his trip to New York, he stopped at towns along the way and earned money by concerts. This money making trip made enough of an impression by the time he arrived in New York that he was booked by agents for three vaudeville concerts in the city. He was often referred to early in his career as The Farm Boy or Farmhand Violinist and later as the Soulful Violinist. He traveled extensively in the United States and Europe to perform, including during the time he owned a house in Bovina. He made at least one appearance at Carnegie Hall. In 1915, Baker gave several programs in Delaware County and attempted to create a county-wide orchestra. The Otsego Republican and Farmer (Cooperstown) reported that Baker will accept some of the best talent from the various villages in the county to make up an orchestra of 75 pieces. He will go from town to town to train each group separately and then have them all meet occasionally for a grand rehearsal. In 1916, Baker rented out his house in Bovina and took a place in Margaretville. He still was traveling and playing and continued to receive favorable reviews, including from a New York newspaper, as later reported in the Catskill Mountain News for March 26, 1916: Ward Baker constituted the artistic hit of the show, the applause hit of the show and the deserved hit of the show. Later that year, Baker sold the house in Bovina to Douglass Davidson and was reported as going south for the winter. It appears that he never came back to the Catskills. By the 1930s, Ward had settled in California where he became a professor of music and was active in the Masons. He died on August 31, 1951 when he was 71 years old. As later reported in the September 6, 1951, Porterville Evening Recorder, Baker had only recently returned from a trip to New York and Salt Lake City.[where] he studied the music of the Mormon Church. He is buried in Porterville, Tulare County, California. (The image on the right dates from around 1910. It comes from Records of the Redpath Chautauqua Collection, The University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City, Iowa.)
Page 7 COMMUNITY NEWS Fire and EMS News, from Bobbi Burgin Bovina Fire and EMS is hoping all a very safe and enjoyable summer!! We would like to kick off the summer season by thanking everyone for their support through out the year! We will be holding our annual Fire Queen contest the last week in June, letters will be sent out to the young girls in Bovina between the ages of 14-19, if you know of any girls residing with in the Bovina Fire District that are of age and may be interested in running for the position of Fire Queen please contact Bobbi Burgin at 832-4857 to be sure they are on the mailing list. Keep your eyes and ears open for our fundraisers through out the year, our annual Fire Department Chicken BBQ will be held towards the end of August along with our annual golf tournament fundraiser, the Emergency Squads annual Chili Dinner is held the first Saturday in October. We always appreciate your support and look forward to seeing all of you. We enjoy seeing you all turn out for the parades to cheer us on and of course we love seeing all the children that come to the fire hall in December to visit Santa, so keep your schedules open and watch for the dates. The Fire Department would like to take this time and thank our community for taking extra caution this spring and adhering to the burn ban put in place by our local county officials. Being safe with fire during our high danger times helps to keep us all out of harms way. We also appreciate all the prior notifications we receive from you when you do plan to burn, taking extra precaution to keep us informed in the event of a random call from a passerby helps to keep us all safe in the time of a potential emergency. If you do plan to burn don't hesitate to either make contact with a department chief or make a call to the 911 center so they can notify the department, it is greatly appreciated and could help avoid unneeded chaos should someone observe your smoke and call it in. In closing, with Graduations and Fourth of July just around the corner, please be safe and everyone enjoy a Safe and Happy Summer season!! Bovina Library News, from Marjorie Miller Our Readers of the Year were crowned in April. They included Junior Reader, Rosie McPheeley, Adult Reader, Michele Owing, and Family Readers, Christine and Mike Batey. Congratulations on this prestigious and wonderful honor! Please remember to visit us on Bovina Day for our Annual Book Sale!
Volume 7, Issue 2 Page 8 Get Ready for BOVINA DAY July 19, 2014 (Until then, enjoy these scenes from last year)! Enjoy browsing the lawn sales during the day and spend the evening at the Town Picnic (where you might have a chance to win the pie-eating contest or the sack race)!
NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE PAID COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER SPONSORED BY DELHI, NY PERMIT NO. 2 Photos and images in this issue were contributed by Bobbi Burgin, Julie Hilson, Ray LaFever, Maureen Roberts, and Garrett and Marena Vittorio Schindler. Pastor, Rev. Garrett Schindler garrettschindler@gmail.com 607-832-4340 PO Box 26 Bovina Center, NY 13740 www.bovinaupchurch.com We re going for green-ness! If you would like to receive our e-newsletter, please send a message to: bovinanewsletter@hotmail.com Visit the Bovina UP on Facebook (www.facebook.com/bovinaupchurch) 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! Communion served on the 1st Sunday of every month. Session Meeting @ 7PM on the 2nd Tuesday of every other month. If you have any news to contribute for future issues, please let Julie know (bovinanewsletter@hotmail.com or 832-4567)!