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man and great at calming troubled waters. He sat at the back of the church and very quietly controlled gatherings at funer- als and other functions.

One has to be careful not to overlook the contributions and attributes of all people. Everyone did his/her share of volun- teer work and support. All the men in the community gath- ered to dig a grave or open the roads. When repairs were needed, the work was done by the same volunteers.

If a family was in particular distress, the whole congregation was there with sympathy and support. Elmer recalls the hard work involved in building the manse. Sand and cement and the finished product were moved in wheelbarrows to make a wall around the basement which had been dug with picks and shov- els. The big stone at the front of the church is a monument to the memory of the founders of the Presbyterian Church in Richmond Bay (the old name for the parish).

Elmer was not present when the stone was put in place but he believes the stone was hauled from Crossman’s shore to the road by teams and then from the road to its present site by MacGregor’s tractor. Some other person may have a more reli- able version than this.

We can’t really name all the ministers of those days but no doubt they are well recorded elsewhere.

Ministers who lived in Lot 14 and served the church in Lot 16 were Rev. Mr. Mason who baptized Elmer. He doesn’t remember but the story has come down through the family that when the minister put big handfuls of water on him he looked up at him and said, “You’re crazy”. Mr. Martin was minister for sometime after Church Union. These men lived in the Manse in Lot 14. Rev. Mr. Aitken lived in the George Cotton house before the Manse was built. Then came Rev. Mr. Woodside and Rev. Mr. Christie. That brings us to the end of the era of which we write.

There were always people to offer the ministry of music. Elmer remembers some of them such as Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Inman, Mrs. MacGregor and Isabel, Mrs. Monkley, Earle Yeo,

Edward and Amy Lockhart. He wishes he could make a more complete list. “Aunt Amy” Lockhart was organist for years.

LOT 16 UNITED CHURCH AND ITS PEOPLE