Quechee Church Shuts Its Doors

By Virginia Dean, Standard Correspondent
QUECHEE — You don’t need a building to have a church.
This will be the message tomorrow night in the last sermon to be delivered at the Quechee Community Church by the Rev. Anne Robertson, executive director of the Massachusetts Bible Society in Newton Center, Massachusetts.
“The Church with a capital C has not closed and will never close,” Robertson intends to say. “You are the church and, as long as you keep your candle lit with the love of Christ, the church is open for business wherever you are.”
Since last spring, the 50 or so members of the QCC have been re-assessing the direction their congregation has been heading.
The expected but painful realization to most is that the building is no longer viable as a place of worship due to changing demographics, higher bills, a fading older generation, and a working younger generation.
“I’m disheartened that we don’t seem to have an alternative to save our church,” said Lannie Collins, the church’s moderator and chairman of its council. “I’m heartbroken.”
Founded in 1831 as the Quechee Vermont Church by widow Mrs. Daniel Marsh, the building was used as a church until 1869 when the members became disinterested, and it was deserted. The church was later sold to school district No. 3 and later to the town as a village hall. In 1871, a Boston architect redesigned it and transformed it back into a church, complete with a 1,274-pound bell.
During the early part of the 20th century, the building became incorporated under the name of the Quechee Congregational Society. It also fell under the wider umbrella of the United Church of Christ where it lies today.
Born and raised in Quechee, longtime member of QCC and mother of local resident Lannie, Ann Collins has fond memories of her involvement, stemming back to her early childhood.
“I remember it ever since I was a toddler,” Mrs. Collins said. “My father used to go there every day to put coal in the furnace. He and my family were very dedicated to the church.”
Collins was married there 56 years ago and raised her children to be part of the congregation. Her mother and father, Myrtle and Max Church, can be found in two of the murals that hang on its walls.
“I have a lot of mixed feelings about its closing,” said Mrs. Collins. “I am very close to it but understand that we can’t afford to keep it open, so we have had to make a choice.”
Hartland resident Dawn Spencer also has tender memories of the QCC. One of the few families left connected to the church, many of her siblings along with her own children were baptized there. Spencer was also married in its sanctuary.
“It’s sad,” said Spencer of the impending closing. “Unfortunately, there’re just not a lot of people who go to church any more.”
Local resident Pat Lewis said the discontinuation of the house of worship is “very sad.”
“We came here in 1956 and have been attending the church for all these years,” said Lewis. “My children went to church school, and I was active as an officer and superintendent of Sunday school. I went to church every Sunday but just recently I haven’t been able to. A church and a community are very important but we don’t have the people who attend any more.”
Last spring, correspondence was sent out to over 200 people including QCC members and friends to come up with alternative ideas other than shuttering the building’s doors. At its annual March meeting, members appointed a Steering Committee to oversee the process, with any resulting decision made by the congregation.
Former pastor Jo Shelnutt-Melendy also worked to re-establish the church in a myriad of ways including strengthening its ties to the Vermont Conference and other local congregations, sharing worship, and linking with the community through services held on the Quechee green.
Despite that, however, the QCC continued to face serious financial hardship including an unsustainable endowment.
“It requires a lot of capital to keep a building of this size and age heated and operating,” Lannie Collins said.
In addition to the Christmas service tomorrow night, there will be a service of celebration on Jan. 10 in which music, stories and shared memories of the church will be heard. This will be considered to be the closing service of the church.
“The whole purpose of church — this church or any church — is to be the continued incarnation of Jesus in the world,” Robertson will inform listeners in her Christmas Eve sermon. “Jesus wasn’t born so that we could keep retailers in business. Jesus wasn’t born so we could come to a church building and coo at babies, nice as that is. God was born in Jesus to live a human life and show us how it’s supposed to be done. Jesus came as the Light to pass the light to us. And when we leave the building tonight, we take it with us to pass along to others.”
The Jan. 10 celebratory service of fellowship and refreshments will begin at 10 a.m.