DQM 2024-06-30
Dover Quarterly Meeting
Held via Zoom.
30th June 2024
Present: We began the meeting at 1 p.m. with the following Friends present.
- Concord - Kathy Urie
- Dover - Beth Collea, Sandy Hargy, Jeremiah Dickinson
- Weare/Henniker - Marian Baker
- West Epping - Bridget Rogier, Susan Mooney
2024-08 Previous Minutes.
Previous minutes were approved as written.
2024-09 Treasurer Report.
No treasurer report.
2024-10 Report of Beacon Hill Friends House from Kathy Urie.
Beacon Hill Corporation is made up of members from every QM. One of our representatives has stepped down and we need to replace her. It is not a difficult position and it happens only once a year, usually in June.
The corporation helps in long range policy, financial health, while another group deals with the nitty gritty details of running the House. Beacon Hill seeks financial help from various sources. Beacon Hill Friends Meeting helps support the building, as they use it for their meetings. At present they are dealing with electrical problems and problems with brick/stone of building. They will be celebrating their 70th year this coming year. The main job of a representative is to attend the annual meeting and to communicate with the Quarter about what is going on. They need some financial support and each meeting should consider sending in a donation or to invite the director to your meeting. (or invite Kathy).
2024-11 Ministry Reports.
- Marian shared about her ministry while she is in the US. Over Memorial Day weekend, she helped get Getry Agizah, a Kenyan woman who helped keep the elections in Kenya peaceful to come to our Northeast Region Gathering to speak as well as travel among a number of meetings in New England and New York.
Last weekend, she attended a celebration for Respah Inagwa a Kenyan Quaker woman in Londonderry who was entering her 90th year. After the event full of singing, dancing, sharing stories about Respah, most were exhausted. But Respah came in radiating with joy, looking ten years younger, and then sat down to give her advice to all those present. Marian realized that honoring elders while they are still alert, is better than waiting for memorial services to share.
Marian plans to head back to Kenya likely in October. - Brian Drayton sent in the following report, as he is in Europe travelling at this time.
As for my own activities in the ministry I will just report that so far the year is unfolding as I imagined it might, when I wrote my last report to the meeting, to wit:
My book The gospel in the Anthropocene: Letters from a Quaker naturalist has been accepted by Barclay Press for publication next year. The manuscript has been sent for editing, and Darcy Drayton is working on cover art and illustrations. With this now on its way, I anticipate taking up some other writing.
I have begun again to accept invitations to travel in teaching ministry to meetings, with sessions on James Nayler for Falmouth QM and Connecticut Valley QM, and invitations to do a session this fall on being a recording clerk for a QM in New York YM, and on climate spirituality at the Centre des Amis (in France YM) in 2025.
With Noah Merrill, I have continued to convene sessions for Friends with a concern for gospel ministry roughly quarterly. These seem to have been useful, and the concern continues. We have tried to locate these at various points around the YM, so as to bring them within reach of as many Friends as possible. The last two were in E. Sandwich (on the Cape), and at Durham (Maine). The next one is likely to be in September, location not yet set.
2024-12 Reports from Meetings.
- Concord - They recently hosted Permanent Board as well as the NEYM Meeting Listening Day. The latter is a part of replacement of Ministry and Counsel in which Friends share about how life is progressing in meetings, how worship is deepening, and plans for going forward. Concord Meeting continues to save energy, and use geothermal for heat.
- Dover - There have been seven memorial services this year. They are in the process of writing up memorial minutes for: Charlotte Fardelmann, Barbara Sturrock, Randy Kezar, Kathy Mulhern, and Phyllis Abell. Dick Kaufman and Brenda Mitchel have also died.
Dover still has young families and some kids.
Friends from other places keep moving into the area from other areas.
They were able to get some assistance from NH (LCHIP) money to help towards their repair of their 1768 meetinghouse. The original truss structure meetinghouse was built in one day on June 9th by 150 men and boys who erected the framework while the women provided the food. Everything was sawed at local saw mill on the Cocheco River. They also have an active ministry serving the unsheltered. - Gonic MM - A written report was received from Gonic, that they are still a small group with many challenges. They would love to host QM.
- NE Evangelical Friends - (Pastoral meeting of Kenyan Friends) is now meeting in the same church building as Lawrence Friends Meeting. Niva Muchuma sent regrets that he could not attend, as he was on his way driving back from the annual Gathering of Diaspora Friends (both African and Hispanic) that met at Plainfield Meeting in Indiana this weekend.
- N. Sandwich - no report received
- Weare Henniker MM - They have one family with children, and several newer members/attenders.
They continue to raise funds for Climate change work via a voluntary carbon tax. In the years they have done this, the total amount raised as been around $6,000. - Souhegan Preparative Meeting- Brian and Darcy are travelling in Europe and Eric and Leeann are in California at present.
- West Epping Preparative Meeting- Bridget welcomed us to West Epping. They meet throughout the year the 1st and 3rd Sundays at 10 a.m. and would welcome visitors. William Fregosi, their presiding clerk, died on June 5. His daughters sent the following:
“William Fregosi: Beloved Former Clerk of West Epping Friends Quaker Meeting
“I'm sorry to let folks know that Dad passed away on Wednesday, June 5th. He is dearly missed.
“Dad spent an incredible career as an artist and an educator in the theater arts at MIT University and the Buckingham Browne & Nichols School. He authored the "Gay Designer Blog," for many years which was popular enough that I'd run into people out here who'd seen it. He lived in a fantastic eco-friendly house that he designed. I will always remember how much he loved the two of us, something he said every time I spoke to him.
“He was an activist, a theater & music lover, a world traveler. He loved cats and oddly enough baseball. We will let you know as soon as we have made some concrete plans. Rather than any flowers, we'd prefer that donations be sent to one of Dad's favorite organizations, the Monadnock Music Festival.”
Since they only consist of four active attenders/members they find they need to be long term planners. They now hire people for the upkeep of their graveyard and meetinghouse.
They wonder what will happen when Bridget and Jim are no longer here.
They have a cemetery on Blake Road, but have no records of who is buried there. When one former leader of the meeting died, all the old records of W. Epping Meeting were sold, and Bridget and others are trying to buy some back. They checked with NEYM Archives, but so far only have a couple minutes from Gonic about the meeting. The stones are very old, just stones that were from many years ago, before the practice of etching names was begun. Any families of those buried there, have not maintained them and they have been neglected.
They are thinking of asking the town to take over maintenance and would like to hear from other meetings that have done that. Are there any records in the old minutes of Dover QM? Can anyone can come help them find any names or records of those buried there?
Bridget has found that some of the information published on the internet is not correct, but cannot get others to believe them, e.g., some who never joined the meeting as members are recorded as members of the meeting. The town cemetery committee has documented the existence of where cemeteries are located, but not who is buried in them.
West Epping holds an Annual open house (usually in the fall). They routinely meet every 1st and 3rd Sunday throughout the year. This information is on the NEYM website.
We adjourned purposing to meet next on 29 September.
Respectfully submitted,
Marian Baker, Recording Clerk
Jeremiah Dickinson, Presiding Clerk
