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Once upon a time, in 1972 as a fact, the Rector of Church of the Holy Spirit,
the Rev. David Johnston, and a parishioner of the young church took part in a
new tradition. The parishioner was Marilyn Woodworth who was affiliated with a
large bank in Boston. Her hobby was doing creative art work. It was she who
designed and put together the red banners which were hung on the East wall o the
church. It was Marilyn and David who made that first climb to the peak of the
wall!. Thus began the tradition of purring the banners in place for Christmas
Eve, and they stayed up until the Sunday before Ash Wednesday.
Many of the men of the church took part in the climb to the top of the peak
while the Altar Guild members sat in the pews, usually with their eyes covered
and praying that all would go well. That is, until the Chief Engineer of
Creative Projects, Mike Garfield, arranged a system of pulleys to hoist the
banners to the peak of the church.
On Sunday, February 18, 2007, as Mike, MC and Ruth were involved in taking the
“ancient and honorable” banners down, we had to come to the conclusion that they
could not be hung again. They were literally falling apart. They had served us
well for 35 years!
This congregation has always been blessed with great artistic talent. In a
conversation after the church service, one of our very talented members, Dawn
Randall, said she has always been interested in working on new banners. So the
adventure began. Several members of the congregation came forward and offered
their help, as well as some financial support. A search of suitable materials
began, and the actual banners were started, but and stitched. Then they were
professionally flame treated as required by the Wayland Fire Departments.
Suring the summer Dawn was busily creating the individual designs for the new
banners. Her drawings were exquisite. With help from a number of members of the
congregation, these beautiful images were hand stitched in place, even at the
time that the church was without heat!
In conversation with Dawn about her inspiration for the design, she said she
first thought about the hymn, All Things Bright and Beautiful and then of St.
Francis.
Dawn is well known for her work. She holds a BFA from Massachusetts College of
Art and for 21 years she was an Art Educator in the Framingham Public Schools.
Her paintings are exhibited extensively throughout the area. As she describes
her work, “Color and light at different times of the day are fascinating to
observe as I sketch and paint birds in flight or wading in streams. Sometimes I
am aware of small animals watching me (hopefully small), a red fox, a possum on
a manure pile or an inquisitive raccoon are great joy to paint. The natural
world is exciting in all seasons.” These banners depict many of God’s wonderful
creations native to this area in which we are privileged to live.
We are most grateful to the following people who gave their time and talent to
make this project successful:
Betsey Gagnebin, Coordinator
Becky Patterson, Technical advisor
Mike Garfield, Chief Engineer extraordinaire
Ruth Chamberlin
M C Garfield
Marcy Kudirka
Mary Mendler
Liz Moon
Carol Neeson
Gina Poole
Elaine Shabeck
Cheryl Smith
Sonja Strong
Also to Bob Dorey, the Wayland Fire Department and to James E. Rotonda, EnGarde
(Flame garde), Stoughton, MA
And finally, our love and gratitude to our Artist and friend, Dawn Randall, for
her total devotion and creation of this work of art to enhance our sanctuary.
Thank you so much.
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