WITNESSED   ( Seen and Heard )

JUNE 2010

We regret the loss of two longtime members, Nellie Blake, who had a lengthy illness and was living near her daughter in Arkansas, and Dorothy Schnetter Dox who had been at the United Zion Retirement Community, Lititz. Both women had been very active in our church. Dorothy’s role in the establishment of our Memorial Garden has been appreciated by the increasing numbers who choose that method of burial.

Some years back the church had received as a gift from Nellie, an antique Pennsylvania cherry drop leaf table. That table is now in the narthex as a very fitting replacement for the old communion table that is currently on exhibit at the Winterthur Museum.

Another regret is the recent death of Donald Engle who had continued his contact with Donegal’s Stephen Ministers and the Wednesday morning coffee group, the Joy Boys. Our sympathy to Teresa and the family.

A military service of honor at Indiantown Gap for Benjamin Hoffman Withers took place April 29, carried out as he had planned it, by his brothers Alfred and Jerry. The many friends and relatives, who had gathered in tribute, then had lunch at the Timbers. The sale of Ben’s Mt.Gretna home and its contents was held the following day.

Somehow the list in last month’s Witness of our Hospitality Committee omitted one name, that of Melody Nissley -- they all are very important for many church functions.

J. T. Bourassa received the Eagle Scout Award on Wednesday, May 12th. The dinner and Eagle Court of Honor were held at the Heritage Hotel in Lancaster. J.T. has been a scout for 12 years. His hard work and dedication over those 12 years is admirable. Dad, Mom and Cole are very proud!

The Campbell family has indirectly been honored. Rebecca Campbell, wife of Jim and Linda'a nephew John, has just been named president of the ABC Owned Television Stations Group. Rebecca has had more than 25 years of experience, beginning at WGAL where she was Program Manager, then to ABC stations at Philadelphia and then NYC. She is considered "a strong leader with vision and expertise in every facet." At WGAL John was the station photographer, often noted for aerial pictures.

Again we thank all those who contributed toward Donegal’s page in Maytown’s 250th anniversary book. Those who have read the book deem it very excellently done. There are many pictures and articles about most every phase of Maytown’s history. Our copy will be available at the archives room and may be signed out for a week.

We all know that the internet has unending possibilities. Recently another emerged. Someone was visiting our cemetery searching for a Galbraith family burial and told us that there is an inter-net site called www find a grave.com. She is from this area and knew Galbraiths were at Donegal back in the early years. When finding the grave site requested, she photographs it and sends it to the inquirer, getting no remuneration. We offered our Ziegler book to copy burial data and she then also made a complete spiral-bound copy for us to save wear and tear on our book that is now more than a hundred years old. We can always be grateful to Dr. Ziegler who in 1902 included not only the listing of persons buried at Donegal but the complete gravestone inscriptions---most of them are no longer legible partly due to air pollution.

We note that the author of our history, “Donegal Presbyterians”, Richard K. MacMaster, has now written a book titled, “Scotch-Irish Merchants in Colonial America.” It is available at the Lancaster County Historical Society. Dr. MacMaster moved to Florida some years ago. We are grateful for the excellence of our book written in 1995. Copies are still available at $20.

An interesting trip is being planned by our Donegal Historians Sunday, June 13. The focus is the Rocky Spring Presbyterian Church, probably built about the time of ours, but then closed in the late 1800’s, leaving it as it was built. The interior is exactly like Donegal was before our 1851 remodeling. Now under the care of the DAR, the church was awarded the preservation award for Pennsylvania. There is an annual service in the church the second Sunday of June at 3 p.m. that the group plans to attend. Some other early churches also may be visited. See sign-up sheet, or Kurt Enck for more details.

What good things have you witnessed recently?

Last Edited on 06/06/10