First Churches of Northampton

NORTHAMPTON – Elisabeth “Betty” Jane (Reeves) Rice, 88, of Northampton, died on March 20, 2010.

Born in 1921 in Waverly, Iowa, Betty grew up a farm girl living with her parents and her younger brother on several different farms in Iowa. She was active in 4-H programs. At college (now Iowa State University) at Ames, Iowa, she earned her B.S. degree in home economics. While there she attended the Baptist Student organization, where she met her future husband, William “Bill” N. Rice.

They married after graduation and were appointed as missionaries to Burma under the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society. Betty took further training in the Merrill Palmer School in Detroit, in the field of nutrition. She and her husband were then sent overseas, first to India and then to Burma. Betty served in Burma as home economics demonstrator, editor of the Burma News Letter and on various mission projects. Later the Rices served in the Pyinmana Agricultural School under the Ford Foundation. After retiring from overseas service in 1959 she and the family settled in Amherst.

Betty became active in the Amherst Women’s Club, served as secretary to the pastor of the First Baptist Church and involved herself in school and community affairs. She also served on the board of directors of the American Baptist Churches of Massachusetts. In addition she raised five children with her husband. In 1982 she accompanied and assisted him on a 14-month assignment in Zimbabwe.

Betty was involved with both the Lathrop Home and the Lathrop Retirement Community and served in various capacities. She served as chairperson of the board of directors of the Lathrop Community and was instrumental in the development of the Lathrop Community in Easthampton.

Betty and Bill have raised five children. Their only daughter, Margaret, predeceased her. In addition to her husband, she leaves her sons, Thomas of Springfield, Norman of Andover, Richard of New Market, N.H., and Bruce of Pittsford, N.Y.; as well as seven grandchildren, Adam, Emily, Cordelia, Lydia, Sarah, Rebecca and Timothy.

A memorial service will be held at First Churches, Northampton on April 17 at 1 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to First Churches, 30 Main St., Northampton, MA 01060, or Lathrop Communities, 100 Bassett Brook Drive, Easthampton, MA 01027.

First Churches member Kenneth T. McKown, 89, of South Street, died Friday, Nov. 20, 2009, at his home.

Born in Northampton, he was the son of the late Charles T. and Lena (Witherell) McKown. Kenneth attended local schools, graduating from Northampton High School. He attended Indiana Tech following high school, but put his studies on hold to enlist in the U.S. Army in 1942. Kenneth served as a tech/4 in the 2015th Ordnance Maintenance Company and was awarded the Philippine Liberation Ribbon with one Bronze Service Star for his service. He later continued his service with the Air National Guard at Barnes Airport and had been stationed in France during the Berlin crisis. Following his service during World War II, Kenneth completed his education at the former Boston Trade Shops School.

He initially worked for Sears, the former Jeffway Hatch and Harris Radio companies of Easthampton and eventually began a career at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he was an electronic technician working out of the School of Education.

He retired from UMass in 1985. Kenneth was a member of First Churches in Northampton for many years. He was very active in scouting and had been leader of Troop 105 for many years. In 1969 he was awarded the Boy Scouts of America Silver Beaver award. Kenneth was a life member and past commander of the Disabled American Veterans of Florence; a life member of the VFW Michael Curtin Post in Florence and also was a life member of the American Legion Club of Easthampton. He was a member of the Appalachian Mountain Club, the Pioneer Valley Mineral Club and the AARL Ham Radio association.

Kenneth is survived by his wife of 61 years, Elizabeth (Wright) McKown; three daughters, Jean McMahon and her husband Patrick of Granville, Nancy Waters and her husband James of Coventry, R.I., and Marcia Kennick and her husband Christopher of Northampton; seven grandchildren, Andrea, Heather, David, Timothy, Jonathan, Christopher and Steven; five great-grandchildren, Joseph, Conner, Cole, Quinn and Ryan; a nephew, Joseph Burleski of Cheyenne, Wyo., and several nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his sister, Viola Cole.

A memorial service will be held Tuesday, Nov. 24, at 10 a.m. at First Churches, 129 Main St., Northampton. Burial will be at the convenience of the family in the Bridge Street Cemetery. There are no calling hours. Memorial contributions may be made to the Capital Campaign at First Churches, 129 Main St., Northampton, MA 01060; the Disabled American Veterans; or to the Boy Scouts of America, Western Mass Council. Pease and Gay Funeral Service of Northampton has been entrusted with Kenneth’s care and arrangements. www.peaseandgay.com.

Check out this video from member and deacon Helene Powers:

First Churches member David Smith Banigan-White, 44, of 5 S. Hampshire St., died suddenly and unexpectedly Sunday morning at his home. He was a beautiful man and all who love him mourn this loss.

David was born on July 1, 1965, in Buffalo, N.Y., the son of James and Jean (Smith) Banigan of Buffalo, N.Y. He was raised and educated in Buffalo, graduated from The College of Wooster in Ohio and was awarded graduate degrees in education at the University of Pittsburgh.

David was a teacher of the visually impaired and an orientation and mobility specialist with the state of Connecticut’s Board of Education and Services for the Blind. He loved his work and had found his true calling there, among his beloved colleagues. David had many passions, including an abiding interest in World Cup soccer. He played soccer locally and intramurally and took important excursions to World Cup events with, among others, his dear friends Ronald Resetarits of New Haven, Conn. and Alexander Thomson of Buffalo, N.Y. These men were like brothers to him.

David had been involved with Flywheel Arts Collective in Easthampton since 2003 and was devoted to this organization. He loved the community-building, arts-promoting goals of Flywheel and the people involved with this cause. He was a member of the First Churches of Northampton and loved the community and the sacred space it offered to his family. He participated in local and national politics, and was overjoyed when Barack Obama became our country’s president. David was an excellent camper and in July of this year, took what would be his last excursion to Nickerson State Park in Brewster with his wife Kate, daughter Charlotte, and Charlotte’s dear friend Valerie. It was a glorious trip in the woods, with swimming, ocean waves and delicious meals cooked by Dave on the open campfire. David was first and foremost a loving and devoted father to his beloved daughter, Charlotte Curran, 8, and he and his wife Kate were soulmates. Recently and for many years they spent the best days of their lives together. David was a great companion to his beloved dog, Gunsa.

He was predeceased by his first daughter, Elizabeth Story, who died just after birth in 2000. He loved her in life and in death and did many wonderful things to honor her memory. Besides his parents, David leaves his wife, Catherine “Kate” Banigan-White, whom he married on July 5, 1997, and his daughter, Charlotte Curran Banigan-White of Easthampton. He leaves his brother, James Banigan and his wife Mary and their daughter, Clare; his brother, Thomas Banigan, and his son, Tommy all of Buffalo, N.Y. While David left Buffalo many years ago, it was his homeland and he is survived there by an uncle and aunt, Andy and Jackie Smith, and numerous cousins, eight of whom are Uncle Andy and Aunt Jackie’s children. He was predeceased by a paternal uncle, Tom; and aunt, Edwina; as well as a cousin, Uncle Tom’s son. He leaves his mother and father in-law, Ethel and Galen White of Louisville, Ky.; his wife’s siblings: Joanna (White) Kille and her husband John and their children Alex and Andrew Kille all of Arnold, Md.; Caroline White formerly of New York City and now of Northampton; and Galen White of Baltimore, Md.

A Memorial Service and Celebration of David’s Life will be held on Saturday, Aug. 22, at 10 a.m. at the First Churches of Northampton with the Rev. Dr. Peter Ives, Celebrant, followed by a reception there in Lyman Hall. David’s ashes will be scattered at his request. There are no calling hours. Donations in David’s memory may be made to the First Churches of Northampton, 129 Main St., Northampton, MA, 01060 or the Flywheel Arts Collective, 43 Main St., Easthampton, MA, 01027. The Czelusniak Funeral Home of Northampton has been entrusted with arrangements.

David’s family would like to extend thanks to all who have made the beginning of this journey bearable, including First Churches, Czelusniak Funeral Home, Massachusetts State Police, Easthampton Police and emergency responders, plus countless family and friends.

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You can see a little bit more about David’s work in connection with family entertainment (and more pictures) at the blog of another First Churches member.

This letter to the editor ran in the Daily Hampshire Gazette on Friday, July 10, 2009:

To the editor:

We are part of a Northampton’s First Churches group that studies how we can reduce our carbon emissions.  One thing we can do is to stop the junk mail we receive.  That is easily done by contacting The Privacy Council, 1392 S. Woodland Blvd., DeLand, FL 32720, (386) 785-2353 or online at info@privacycouncil.org (www.privacycouncil.org).

Junk mail is not only burdensome for out mail carriers but also environmentally very damaging.  More the 100 million trees are chopped down each year to make the junk mail we receive.  That’s the same as cutting down the entire Rocky Mountain National Forest every four months! And making, sending and disposing of junk mail takes more energy than running 3 million cars.

That is why Congress has pending a bill (HB2551) to establish a Do Not Mail Registry.  Likewise, 12 states, including Massachusetts, also have pending legislation.   All of these proposed bills are fiercely opposed by the advertising and printing industries as well as the U.S. Postal Service.

Our voices should be heard, so we urge you to write your local and federal legislators.

William and Bua Norris

Jenny Flemming-Ives

Pauline Bassett

This piece, written by First Churches member and trustee Bill Childs, was published in the Daily Hampshire Gazette in their Hampshire Life section.

We had a chalkboard in our dining room.

It took awhile for me to realize that this was unusual. Even after going to lots of other kids’ houses, it still seemed fairly ordinary, until someone (no doubt someone chalkboard-deprived) asked me about it. Evidently not every family had dinner conversations that regularly — frequently — required charts or drawings to explain. We did, and so there was a big green chalkboard dominating one wall of the dining room at 1504 Harris Drive in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

I’ve been thinking about that chalkboard a lot the last couple of days. I’m writing this on Friday, May 29. On Wednesday morning, I was in my office at the law school, preparing for the move to the deans’ suite for my new job. Along with packing boxes of books and decorations and toys, I took the chalkboard off the wall.

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First Churches Deacon Chair Jon Western spoke at a Save Darfur Rally in Lafayette Square Park across from the White House in Washington, DC on April 12, 2009. The event brought survivors from the Holocaust and the genocides and mass atrocities in Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur together with faith leaders and leading anti-genocide advocates to reflect on these atrocities and call on President Obama to act now on Darfur.

In addition to Jon Western, speakers included John Prendergast, cofounder of the Enough Project; Rev. Gloria White-Hammond, M.D., chairperson of the Save Darfur Coalition and cofounder of My Sister’s Keeper; Fatima Haroun, vice president of the Darfur Alert Coalition and Darfuri leader; and Mohammed Yahya, president of the Damanga Coalition and Darfuri leader.

Dr. Jon Western from Genocide Prevention Month on Vimeo.

Here is the speech given by Dr. Gloria White Hammond, chairperson of the Save Darfur Coalition:

Gloria White-Hammond from Genocide Prevention Month on Vimeo.

Ruth Hudgins, 101, teacher, music lover passed away Sunday April 26th.  Her Memorial Service will be held at First Churches on Friday, May 15, 2009 at 11:00am.  Burial to follow at the Spring Grove Cemetery.  Reception will be held in Lyman Hall.  Please share your memories for all to enjoy.

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First Churches member and deacon Helene Powers wrote an article for the Daily Hampshire Gazette’s Hampshire Life weekly a few weeks ago. The article, which movingly describes how friends came together to help Helene and her husband Adam deal with his cancer, is available here. The opening of the article:

The first meal appeared on the back doorstep on Valentine’s Day. Stored in a plain brown box, it contained a roasted chicken and potatoes, butternut squash, steamed spinach and even a few frozen dinners. My husband, Adam, and I found it on our return from a trip to the hospital, his latest of many visits to specialists in the previous six months.

We were pleased to see that her piece was quoted in a sermon at the First Congregational Church (UCC) in Amherst.