Traditions on
Grindstone are like the grass. They spring up in their season as regularly as
the day, a part of the natural order. At the Sunday service on July 12, Doc
rose to say he didn't know if the church supper scheduled for Saturday, July
18, was going to become a reality -or not - since no one had called to take
responsibility for the work. Several seconds elapsed, but Erma, with no
fanfare, said, from near the back pew, "We're going to have it."
And we did. Erma
ordered the turkeys and all the food. Manley Rusho brought it over from
Clayton. Margaret Taylor, Phyllis Schwartz, Debbie Marra, Chris Matthews, and
Mary Lou Rusho came with Manley and Erma to the carriage house early Saturday
morning to stuff the turkeys and cut up vegetables for salad. If Erma hadn't
been caught twice checking her ingredients or the mashed potatoes and the salad
dressing, it would be hard to believe she was "taking charge." That
seems to be one of the marks of Grindstone Islanders: for an outsider, it is
hard to see who is "in charge." People here have apparently, lived so
long with the weather taking charge that they have learned to "do"
simply as the moment permits. It is a gracious way of life.
And that's the way
the dinner was on Saturday night - gracious.
"Sis"
Matthews had the flu and Erma sent her a plate of food. Her rocking chair stood
empty, but if she had been sitting in it with her clean apron on, she would
have been proud of the next generation. She would have been assured that life on
the island would go on as naturally as the grass grows. She would have approved
of the desserts, too. The pies - lots and lots of pies berry, rhubarb and
strawberry, apple - were homemade,
fresh out of the ovens around the island! People sat around the tables a long
time after the meal, drinking coffee and talking.
And after it was all
over, Elaine Brooks stayed faithfully at the turkey pans until the last one was
scrubbed butler-clean and every dish or piece of flatware was back in place
ready to be used next Sunday, July 26 for Old Home Day.
But, of course, the
evening wasn't over. By nine o'clock the young people had decorated the Dodge
Memorial Hall across from the church with crepe paper streamers and the disc
jockey was playing "Happy Birthday" to Mike Brown, and crowds of
teenagers and young people were dancing amid all the noise and rhythm that
youth - in great, joyful gobs, produces. Chris Mattews held Jamie Brown's
ticket, and delighted him by presenting him with the 50-50 prize. The disc jockey,
John Morrow, will be with us at least once more this summer, and he made the
party enough fun so even —the-old folks, the square- dance crowd, will welcome
him.
On Sunday morning,
July 19, the Rev. Alexander Meakin was again the minister. His wife, Janet, to
the pleasure of the congregation, came to the island with him (and even, in an
emergency, helped Collect the offering).
The memorial service reminded us, once more, of the diversity of the
Grindstone Church, of the joy and grace people in its congregation share with
each other, and of our faith, "the assurance of things hoped for, the
evidence of things not seen."
Polly and Milton
Rusho were there. When a congregant said to Milton "It's been a dreadful
year, hasn't it?" He answered, casting a glance at Polly recovering from
her bone transplant and anemia, "No, It's been a wonderful year." One
of the things, he said, that made it wonderful, was the faithfulness and love
Doug and Virginia Cook had shown them when Polly was in the hospital in
Atlanta. "Doug" was minister in the Grindstone Church in the 1950s,
and lives now in Atlanta where he is chaplain at Emory University. He stopped
in to comfort Polly and Milton almost every day, and Virginia, whose smile must
have been a motherly comfort, came as often as she could. "Faith is the
assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
Doug and Virginia's
children, Debbie, with her husband David Neuroth and grandchildren, Mariah and
Matthew, Jerry, with his own three-year-old daughter in a backpack, Dakin, and
Rebecca with her husband, Bobby Vines, paid a short visit to their old
"camp" - The old Emmet Dodge property, and to Norvin and Jean Hein
and John and Aminta Marks. If we can't see Doug and Virginia, seeing the next
generation is certainly a pleasant second best! Debbie and David are moving to
Oklahoma, Jerry and his family live in Atlanta (where Doug and Virginia are),
Dakin is working in a hospital in Bolivia, and Rebecca and Bobby teach school
in Nashville. They play and sing with a band on weekends.
Courage and the
nobility it brings forth are always in abundance if one looks. Anne Binhammer,
still suffering from her disabling stroke of a year and a half ago, though hurt
by the news that her beloved Grace Johnson died this year, hurt to tears, could
also smile mischievously that she had dared the old car to give up on the road
to church! It didn't. It got her there, with Bob and she had every faith it
would carry them back to their little farmhouse on the south side of the island
where they've spent 50 summers.
During the sermon,
Anne's nieces, Robin Davison and Carol Davison Pierce took the children up the
road to the cemetery where they made rubbings of the gravestones and traced the
relationships of the Lashombs, Garnseys, and Slates, from one of their roots,
Howard Slate.
We all await a visit
from Debbie Smith who now is visiting her father Bob. She is back for a short
time from her home in Burundi, Africa.
Next Sunday, July 26,
the Rev. Garrie Stevens, Northern
New York Methodist Conference Council director, will be minister. He plans to
spend the following week in the parsonage, and we will all delight in having
the house spring to life. He will also preach on Aug. 2.
Old Home Day is July
26! So Grindstone Islanders - once an islander, always on islander - will
gather for the traditional picnic -ham, homemade pies and all - at Potter's
Beach to talk of good times gone and yet to come. Marie Moore's daughter and
two sons are here this week. We hope many more children, aunts uncles, grandparents,
nieces, nephews, connected kin, and old friends will gather together next
Sunday in a tradition that springs up each year like the grass.
If you like to hear
poetry read, Aminta and John Marks will read from Sweet Water and Polar,
Poems from the Length
of a Marriage, at 11 a.m. at the Thousand Islands Craft School on Thursday,
July 23.
Latest report on the
Jeff Marra twins: Matthew at 6 Ibs. 11 oz. has nearly caught up in weight to
Jeff, 6 Ibs. 11-1/2 oz.! Both are happy at home. So it is.