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On June 26, 1936 the funeral of Rev. Fulton J. Coffin, D.D. was held at Trinity United Church in Charlottetown. The Mount Stewart con- gregation’s most distinguished son, Dr. Coffin was born in Savage Har- bour, the son of Benjamin Coffin and his wife, the former Caroline Sterns. He was educated at Prince of Wales College, and Dalhous1e, Princeton, Chicago and Oxford Universities and spent some time doing research at the British Museum. Widely travelled and well acquainted with some of the leading scholars on both sides of the Atlantic, he viewed all of this as mere preparation for his great life work on the Island of Trinidad. For a year or so, he was an evangelist missionary, and it was while he was thus engaged that he saw the need of education if mission work was to be of an enduring character. He therefore became principal of the Presbyterian Theological College in Trinidad, a post which he held for over twenty-five years. For a number of years he was also principal of the Naparima College and manager of the Teachers’ Training College.

A renowned Old Testament scholar, “with few peers in Old Testa- ment exegesis, comparative religion and the apocalyptic writings,” Dr. Coffin veiled his rich store of knowledge and his capacity to use it under the cloak of a rare humility. He was a noted Hindu scholar and lectured in Hindi as well as in English while in Trinidad. Thoroughly trusted by the East Indian segment of the Island’s population, he was on many oc— casions their interpreter in Governmental circles. His work among these people was recognized in an address given in his honour at Zion Church, Charlottetown, on October 23, 1919. “Hundreds of boys,” he was told, “have come under your influence and have been instructed in the truth of God’s word and the principles of righteousness. Many are today preachers of the Gospel to their fellow countrymen in Trinidad. Some have gone back to their native country of India to tell of that Saviour whom they have learned to love . . . ” Dr. Coffin’s memory is still revered in Trinidad. Only recently the writer was contacted by a Trinidadian, requesting a picture of his former teacher’s resting place in the People’s Cemetery, Mount Stewart. All the gravestones in that burial ground face the rising sun, all, that is, but Dr. Coffin’s. His faces south - in the di- rection of Trinidad.

In mid—September, 1940, a beautiful oak communion table and chairs, donated “by a friend of the church,” were dedicated in a service conducted by Rev. Sidney J. Boyce. This marked the inauguration of a period of extensive renovations and improvements carried forward by his successor, Rev. W. T. Mercer. In 1941, the old-style low pulpit was built up, and a choir loft constructed behind it. This re—arrangement left space available for the construction of rooms on either side. In 1948, the same energetic pastor planned and directed the installation of the striking G0- thic windows. The pride he took in this work was enhanced by the fact that the windows were made by Mr. Daniel MacAskill and installed by Mr. Francis Affleck, both Mount Stewart craftsmen.

On November 28, 1948 the bell which had been calling people to worship since 1918 was replaced with electronic recorded chimes. It is interesting to recall that the bell had once belonged to the freighter, “George N. Orr,” which went aground off Savage Harbour during a snow storm on the night following the Halifax explosion, December 6, 1917. The chimes, the first of their kind to be installed in this Province, were placed in the church as a memorial to those who gave their lives for the cause of freedom during World War II. Sgt. John A. MacEachern, R.C.A.F. pilot, was the only member of the congregation who lost his life during the last Great War.

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