Restoration Planned for UMH Bell Tower

by Megs Keir

Visitors to Huntington's Lower Village will see lots of activity summer at the historic Union Meeting House.  This stately town building, built in 1870 and now home to the Huntington Public Library, has been awarded grant money from the Vermont Division of Historic Preservation for the purpose of completing much needed repairs on the massive bell tower.  The grant for $13,000 requires matching funds, and these have been secured through generous contributions from the community and set aside in the Luke Palmer Fund. 

The bell tower work will involve removing and replacing all the deteriorated wooden sheathing and lead-coated copper roofing which protect the massive bell tower timber-structure from the elements. Bids have been solicited from approved experienced roofers, with just one contractor submitting a bid.  Randall Hoyt from Tunbridge has worked with the town through the process of estimating the scope and cost of the work, and it is expected he will be hired to do the extensive repairs.

The multi-tiered bell tower houses an even older historic bell, which was cast from copper and tin for the original Huntington Meeting House back in 1837.  The bell has seldom been heard in recent years, but was last sounded at Luke Palmer's memorial gathering in late 2005.  Perhaps Huntington will once again be able to hear it ring out after work is completed. The building's restoration will be celebrated with an Open House gala on October 4, 2008.

Meanwhile, the bell tower is not the only item on the agenda this summer.  Much else needs attention as well.  The exterior clapboards are a big project, badly in need of scraping and painting. Nat Grant has worked tirelessly with the Town to get this effort started, and the Library Board has sought support from the Selectboard. The Town agreed to budget $14,000 toward this effort in the current fiscal year, but estimates are coming in at more than twice this amount. The Selectboard has stood firm on keeping within its budget, so the painting will be spread out over at least two years. The unsightly south wall will get first priority, along with the new entranceway/addition in the back, which needs a finish coat over the primer and base coats. These areas are most in danger of weather damage in their current condition.

Completion of interior woodworking will also be happening this summer.  Pittsford Mills will be building and installing book shelves in the juvenile area, along with an audio-visual and computer area.  Trim work will be completed around the mahogany entranceway door. This will be done with funds that were specifically donated for this work.

The local community has done a tremendous job raising funds for the building over recent years, raising approximately $300,000 from grants and local fundraising. Another $150,000 was bonded through the Town back in 2001. Funds and volunteerism have been secured for many other areas of work, such as interior painting and restoration of the tin ceiling. Less visible, but mandatory for public occupancy, was the extensive work done above the tin ceiling, where timbers were reinforced with steel trusses to meet state engineering standards for the roof structure. Many hours of local volunteer work went into all these phases. State Historic Preservation funds were secured to cover half the cost ($15,000) for the restorative work on the eight beautiful rose-colored stenciled glass multi-paned windows.  Local carpenters built doors, trim, and an elegant circulation desk, with much of the work generously volunteered.

Huntington has been blessed throughout this whole process with a dedicated Library Board, whose members have persevered through years of grant-writing and fundraising. They are to be congratulated for their tremendous efforts on behalf of the people of Huntington. 

An added boon to the final completion of the restoration is the new Park & Ride lot behind the Library, where there is now plenty of parking for visitors.  The parking area and landscaping will be completed this summer as well.   The town has a treasure in this grand old building, which all can use and enjoy for many years to come.

Purinton Begins Guard Position

by Heidi Racht

After 30 years of standing behind a pulpit, Barbara Purinton will have a new view when she attends church services.

Sunday, April 27, was Purinton's final service as the minister of the Richmond Congregational Church, a position she has held for almost 20 years.

On April 1, Purinton started part-time in a new position as a Family Readiness Support Assistant to the commander of the 86th Brigade Combat team of the Vermont Army National Guard. Her office is at the Williston Armory, but she will be traveling all over the state to visit the units and help build strong family readiness groups.

Although Purinton's February announcement to leave RCC came as a surprise to most people, she began to sense a new call in the fall. She described this as a long process and her involvement with the Guard as the partner and parent of active members (her husband Charlie Purinton is the Vermont Army National Guard Fulltime Support Chaplain and daughter Caitlin is a Staff Sergeant in the same Guard unit) contributed to her interest in the tasks of her new position.

Said Purinton, “I had been thinking that I would like to be involved with the Guard after I retired from the church.” She was also considering following a different form of ministry than the parish after 30 years. The position became available in January and she put together a resume shortly afterwards. Everything happened rather quickly when Purinton was offered the job over a number of candidates. She said, “It was a quick decision.”

Barbara Purinton also knows intimately the stresses of being a family with a member at the front. In 2004-2006, Charlie was deployed for 18 months, serving in Ramadi, Iraq while Caitlin was deployed to Camp Navistar, Kuwait, on the Iraq border.

She said, “When I was offered this job I realized that I wanted to be able to help people become resilient supporters for their soldiers. Having experienced the deployment of two family members, I realized first hand how hard it is to be a military family member in a civilian world.  On a military base, people all are in the same situation; they shop at the same commissary, their children go to the same school. Here, life goes on, but for a family member the support is not so evident.”

She noted that families need to be ready for something as simple as having a member go to training in Jericho for two weeks. Some of her work will be “walking a person through basic living like financial planning and 'who do I call when the furnace breaks?'”  Some of it is much more involved when a family member leaves or returns from deployment.

She described it as “a clear call, although I had not anticipated such a call quite yet.” Interestingly, it was in 1988 that Charlie was hired as the first Family Program Coordinator for the Vermont Army National Guard. He laid the foundation for the program which has expanded to include statewide Family Assistance Centers, and of course, this new position of Family Readiness Support Assistant.

Barbara Purinton will no longer be serving as pastor of the Richmond Congregational Church. She said that the service of farewell on April 27 “released me from my covenant with the congregation and I released them from turning to me as pastor. The church needs to be free to welcome their new pastor. I also know they will find a new spiritual leader to guide them into the next place of growth.”

She noted, “The church is in a really good place. It is a wonderful church and a committed congregation.”

Purinton marvels at the passage of time. She and Charlie will have been married 30 years on July 29, 2008. When they came to Richmond in 1989 from Danville, where she was the minister at the Danville Congregational Church and the North Danville Baptist Church, their three children Malcolm, Pamela and Caitlin, were 9, 7 and 5 years old. Caitlin, now 24, will graduate from the Maine College of Art (furniture design and art history) on May 11 and  Malcolm will receive his Masters Degree on May 2. The Purintons also have a six-year-old granddaughter, Makeda, who lives in California with her mother Pamela Purinton.

She reflected, “I look at the church youth group and realize that none of them had been born when I first came here. We have seen a whole generation grow up.”

For Purinton, the past two months have been full of remembering. She has tried to visit with as many in the church as possible. Over 18 years, there have been many shared experiences. Births, marriages, deaths. Services, vigils, chicken pie suppers.  All of the ways a community lives and grows together.  

The Purintons plan to stay in Richmond and Barbara hopes to be able to expand her participation in Richmond Rescue, where she has been a member for 18 years. She is hoping to get back on a regular duty schedule.

She and Charlie plan to offer their spirituality from the pulpit of other churches; at some point, they will decide which church they will join. Purinton was raised in the Society of Friends where, she learned, “We're all ministers. There's God in each of us. Each church home contributes to the growth of the spirit in us.”

She said, “I am taking a break from parish ministry, but I'll always be who I am. I will be ever grateful for the deep learning I have experienced here in Richmond.”

Soaring with Eagles: Local Scouts

Produce Projects in Two Towns

Working toward the rank of Eagle Scout several years. A scout must complete the requirements for five ranks, that each include scouting skills, scouting activities, a specified number of merit badges, and community service.

Upon completing the rank of Life Scout, a boy becomes eligible to work toward Eagle.

The rank includes having earned a total of 21 merit badges, having a project proposal with letters of support from the community accepted by a review committee, choosing an advisor, funding the project and completing it, having letters of recommendation, and going before a Board of Review where the project is reviewed and the scout is interviewed. The badge work and project and all the paperwork must be completed and submitted to the Boy Scout Council before the scout has his 18th birthday. Not many boys who get this far are turned down as Eagle Scouts, but it has happened on a rare occasion.

Many of the boys work at scout camps in the summer and continue in scouting after college. Some have joined Venturing Crews, a co-ed scout group for scouts up to their 21st birthday. Others, like Mason Rachampbell, continue to work as adult leaders with the younger scouts in their home troops.

While the Eagle project is a culmination of a young scout's progress, the Board of Review looks at the person, who will carry the rank and honor for his life.

Mike Buxton

Richmond scout Mike Buxton's Eagle project involved building a bridge for the local recreation path that runs along the Winooski River between the canoe access on Cochran Road and the Cochran Ski Area. He did a joint bottle drive with fellow scout Erik Wackernagel to raise money. They divided the money equally for each of their Eagle projects. Mike’s Eagle project was broken down into two days, one to fill the anchor baskets with rocks, and the other to build the actual bridge. On the first weekend, he needed to use the Scouts to help him fill these two large baskets (called gabions) with softball-sized rocks from the Winooski River rock bar. The second day was for the actual assembly of the bridge. With an overwhelming amount of help that day, Mike sent some of the younger scouts to do trail maintenance while the older scouts worked construction. The bridge has it all, from side rails along the edges to a bridge recovery cable that is attached underneath the bridge to ease the abuse by the flood waters in the spring.

Devin Collins

Devin Collins’ Eagle Scout project was building a path from the main entrance of Camel’s Hump Middle School to the playground and soccer fields.  The path was installed during the summer of 2005.  Materials for the project were donated by local area businesses.  The construction of the path could not have been accomplished without the enormous outpouring of effort from the scouts and leadership of Troop 23 in Richmond.  The path has helped keep the school’s carpet cleaner during mud season and has added to the aesthetics of the school, as well.  

Charlie Gilroy

Charlie Gilroy is an Eagle Scout from Troop 23 in Richmond.  He started scouting as a Tiger Cub. Charlie has always enjoyed backpacking on the Long Trail and is Eagle project was to pre fabricate two lightweight outhouses and then to install them on the Long Trail. The units were built and stained, then disassembled and packed (carried) into the David Logan shelter in Rutland and the second at Hazens Notch Camp in Westfield. Charlie is presently a junior at UVM where he is pursuing a biology /premed degree. He remains active in scouting, working as the camp medic at Mt. Norris Scout Reservation and has achieved the honor of Vigil in the Order of the Arrow.

Addison Graves

Addison Graves of Richmond’s Boy Scout Troop 23 completed an equipment storage shed at Camels Hump Middle School for his Eagle Scout Service Project. Starting in early January, he organized a bottle drive and used the proceeds to purchase supplies for the project. He then drew up a design, and with the help of other Boy Scouts during the April vacation, built the storage shed to hold playground and sports equipment for the school. It is located near the new basketball courts that were installed last summer.  CHMS Principal Mark Carbone is pleased to finally have an easily accessible storage area close to where the equipment will be used. Addison went through his Board of Review and attained the rank of Eagle Scout at the end of August.

Patrick McCabe

A member of Richmond Troop 23, Pat McCabe’s long-term interest in the Emergency Medical field was key to his Eagle project. He developed a community wide program to educate residents on the value of the Emergency Medical System (EMS) in the community. He worked closely with Richmond Rescue to develop his program and put together information packets along with "First Aid Response Kits" which were distributed to area schools. Pat also went to the pulpit in area churches to continue to get the message out. Here he handed out small first aid kits for people to put into their vehicles. Pat’s EMS involvement in this project led him to join Richmond Rescue while attending MMU and after graduation... to a career in the US Army training to be a nurse.

Kevin Miller

Richmond scout Kevin Miller’s Eagle Project involved the cleanup and improvement of the Memory Garden at the Ronald McDonald House in downtown Burlington. The Ronald McDonald House is a "home away from home" for families with seriously ill children who seek treatment at Vermont Children’s Hospital at the Fletcher Allen Health Care Facility.  Kevin has been volunteering at the House since he was a child.  This garden had originally been planted in memory of the many children who have stayed at the house while getting treatment, but now the garden was completely overgrown; it contained a series of paths that lead to a sundial in the middle, and neither the paths nor the sundial were visible from the outer edge of the garden.  In addition, there was no comfortable or convenient place in which to rest and admire its beauty.

Kevin started with a bottle drive to raise funds.  He planned to purchase more plants and hoped to raise enough to purchase a granite bench to place at the center of the garden. Fourteen volunteers helped that day, raising $526. 

Then, on August 19, gardening day arrived.  First, the 51 overgrown daylilies and irises had to be dug up, divided, and replanted. A total of 22 people, ages 10 to 74, showed up to help remake this garden, including four Eagles from Richmond Troop 23.  After finishing up with the daylilies and irises, many new plants were added to give the garden color all summer long.  Finally, the granite bench was installed in the center of the garden by the sundial, and gravel and mulch was added to finish it off.

Guests of the Ronald McDonald House will enjoy the Memory Garden for years to come.

Mason Rachampbell

Mason Rachampbell of Huntington Troop 645 completed his Eagle Scout rank in July 2006. His project was to make 10 Adirondack chairs out of white cedar: eight for Gove Hill Conference Center in Thetford and two for the gardens at the Huntington Public Library in the newly renovated Union Meeting House. The project involved four fundraising efforts to pay for the materials, as well as efforts from the boys and leaders of the troop, and especially from his advisor and grandfather Willis Racht and Huntington resident Dave Cozzens, who volunteered his woodshop and expertise to cut the 37 pieces that went into each chair  (scouts under 18 years are not allowed to use power tools).

The chairs have been delivered to Thetford, where they have been in use for over a year, and will be in place at the Union Meeting House when the work on the grounds is completed this year.

Erik Wackernagel

Richmond Free Library was the beneficiary of Erik Wackernagel's twofold project. The Eagle project consisted of design & build of acoustic panels to be installed in the community room of the Richmond Free Library and the improvement of the grounds outside. The funds were raised from a joint bottle drive that netted around $600 for two Eagle projects. The planning with Library staff and an acoustic engineer was central to the success of this project. On a very wet day in the fall, Erik coordinated the members of Richmond Troop 23, friends & adults in the landscaping improvement work that can be seen today at the Library.

More to Come

Currently, Troop 23 has another member at work on an Eagle project. Patrick McLaughlin is building picnic tables for Volunteer's Green.

In Huntington, four scouts (out of a troop of nine) are working toward Eagle. Abbott Rachampbell has almost completed a nature path with two benches behind Brewster-Pierce School. Atticus Cullinan is working on a gazebo on the green in the Lower Village. Devon Mendicino has a proposal in for a project at the Birds of Vermont Museum and Owen Rachampbell is waiting for his brother to finish his project, so he can begin work on one in Maplewood Cemetery.

Round Church Painting Supports Rotary

by Megs Keir

Mary Ellen Legault, a Quebec artist with ties to Williston, has offered her talents to help the local Williston-Richmond Rotary Club. The Club has launched a campaign to raise awareness and funds for its many worthwhile projects.

When asked to paint a Fall watercolor scene of the historic Old Round Church, the artist insisted on charging only half her usual rate, when she learned it would support the good work of this lcoal service organization.

Archive-quality reproductions of the signed, limited edition prints are now available for sale with proceeds to benefit the many programs and projects that Rotary brings to the community. 

Susan Turcotte, one of the Richmond Residents who has been a Rotarian since the mid-1980s, indicated that the local club is responsible for building handicap access ramps and other building repair projects in Jonesville and Richmond, including the final completion of the dugouts at Volunteer Green, where hundreds of local youth play every year. Said Turcotte about the Rotary, “We strive to support  educational and youth leadership programs, offering both vocational and academic scholarships to MMU students, and youth leadership training for the future leaders in our Community." She listed a variety of projects that the organization has worked on, including park benches at the Old Round Church,  just outside the Richmond Library and the Post Office; Thanksgiving meals and reading books for the less fortunate families, coordinated through the schools; a wonderful holiday dinner for Senior Citizens; and a winter fund-raiser aimed specifically at providing fuel assistance for those in need. She explained, "We strive to support the educational and youth leadership programs, offering both vocational and academic scholarships to MMU students, and youth leadership training for the future leaders in our Community. Rotary is also an international organization and, as one example of this, is responsible for raising funds for polio vaccines around the world."

Turcotte hopes to expand the local membership in the Richmond, Huntington and Bolton areas, so more great work can be offered to the local community. “We are a very vibrant and energetic group, but we need more members representing Huntington, Bolton, and Richmond.”

Prints of the painting are on sale for $60, which includes a foam backing and matting, and are available in Richmond at The Chubby Robin Gift Shop on Huntington Road, Toscano Bistro, and John's Shoe Shop North. For more information about the painting or about becoming a Rotarian, contact Susan Turcotte at 434-4292.

This is a sampling of the articles that appeared recently in The Times Ink, the newspaper of Richmond and Huntington. To subscribe, send a check for $10 (along with your name and mailing address) to PO Box 532, Richmond, Vermont 05462. Your subscription will be for one year.

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