First 2015 Vesper Service: Sunday, June 21st
Carol Wachsmuth and I drove around the Peninsula yesterday on a ‘Delivery Mission.’ Actually, I was just along for the ride — keeping Carol company as she stopped here and there distributing this year’s Oysterville Music Vespers schedule to people who can help get the word out. Summer vesper services begin this Sunday – the 39th consecutive year!
An article in the June 28, 1978 issue of the Pacific Tribune said: After 30 years without regular services, the historic Oysterville Church will open its doors for a series of vesper services on successive Sundays beginning July 2nd…The first two services will be conducted by Dr. R. H. Edwin Espy, well known to residents of the Peninsula from his boyhood in Oysterville and from speaking engagements on the Peninsula across the years. He is best known nationally and internationally as the recent General Secretary of the National Council of Churches.
Dr. R.H. Edwin “Ed” Espy, circa 1975
I had just moved here full-time and, of course, I went to that first vesper service as did most members of the Espy family. We were here in force for a family reunion and going to a church service across the street from the house – a service conducted by my Uncle Ed – was what we always did on the Sunday of a family gathering. (I probably should point out here that the Espys always felt a bit proprietorial about the church since R.H. Espy, co-founder of Oysterville and family patriarch, had donated it and the land on which it sits back in 1892.)
That 1978 service was a bit different, though. It marked the first service since the rededication of the church to the Oysterville Restoration Foundation and the beginning of a concerted effort to restore the church… according to Mrs. Dale Little, an Oysterville resident… said the June 28, 1978 issue of the Tribune. I think mom was hopeful that her efforts at organizing that first summer of vespers would ‘take hold.’ I don’t know if she realized that the services would be on-going for almost 40 years and would become the only regular source of revenue for the continued maintenance of the church.
Oysterville Church Before Restoration
As Carol and I ‘made the rounds’ – the Bank of Pacific for their reader boards, the Chinook Observer for their Community Calendar, the Visitor’s Bureau for their continuing outreach to tourists – we talked about what’s in store for this summer. First up is an all-Peninsula program: Dr. Barbara Bate, the officiating minister; the Bayside Singers dircted by Barbara Poulshock; Sandy Nielson playing the organ; Diane Buttrell presenting the Oysterville Moment. I hope the church is full-to-overflowing!
I am sure it will be and look forward to attending some vespers this summer!