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8-02-2007 By MICHELLE MILLER Staff Writer According to Katie Boardman, director of music at the church, approximately 125 families attend the church, but she said a lot more people will be coming from all over. The church’s congregation was founded in 1800 and the building was constructed on Aug. 6, 1807. "We are having the celebration this weekend because it is the closest weekend to the dedication date," Boardman said. Boardman said the Aug. 5 event will begin with a worship service at 10:45 a.m. The service will be later than normal because she expects a lot of people will be driving from a distance. Following the worship service, there will be a luncheon for members of the congregation, former pastors, former members and friends. Five former pastors and the current pastor, Rev. Dr. Patricia Schick, are planning to attend, said Broadman. The pastors who plan to join the festivities include Robert Herst, who just received the honorary position of pastor emeritus, Julia Sheetz Willard, John Best, Lynne Rohr and James Ulrich. Broadman said that there will be people with tape recorders capturing the joyful day that will be spent talking about and looking at things from the past. Along with countless photo and memory sharing, a quilted wall hanging, which was a family and community project, will be on display Sunday. The patterns of the wall hanging were adopted by Joyce Jones. Her grandchildren helped make the blocks and chose the colors and construction on their own block or blocks. Mother Nature had a big effect on the creation of the wall hanging. The production of the wall hanging started during the flood of 2006 and was worked on throughout the year with much of it getting done during the Valentine’s Day blizzard and again in the April 2007 blizzard. Boardman said some special music is planned for the event, including singing bicentennial hymns written by Tom Troeger. Troeger grew up in Cooperstown and was a member of the church. Troeger eventually went on to become a pastor himself and he is one of the leading hymn writers in the United States, said Boardman. Boardman said she is expecting a lot of people to attend the event, but said this is not the only occasion the church has had to celebrate its bicentennial. "It is like an extended bicentennial," said Boardman. "We have been using the entire year to celebrate." There have been many events this year to celebrate and relive the historic times the church has seen. There were "Fireside Suppers" in February, a Gala Organ Recital in May, and a Women’s Missionary Tea in June. |
Copyright 2007, Cooperstown Crier, Cooperstown, NY All rights reserved