In the late 1950s, the Sheshequin and Athens congregations were grieving the deaths of several long-time members.  Their minister, the Rev. Harry Means, proposed soliciting memorial donations to purchase some new furnishings for the Sheshequin meeting house, where the two congregations had been worshipping together since 1948.

Means designed two flower stands, a pulpit and matching chair, a baptismal font, and a board for posting hymn numbers.  Harold Van Dusen of the Standing Stone congregation – a carpenter and member of the men’s group – built the flower stands in the fall of 1959.  Jimmy Mahon, a Sheshequin member, canvassed for donations.

This fall, in anticipation of the sale of our Sheshequin meeting house, our Board of Trustees reviewed the movable furnishings in that building and decided to keep one of the two flower stands as a memento.  The stand we chose was given by the North Branch Men’s Association in memory of Oscar J. Stevens.

Oscar Jonathan Stevens was born in 1873 in Standing Stone.  Many of his extended family members belonged to the Standing Stone Universalist Church, which had been organized about 1850.  Oscar was involved in the church’s Young People’s Organization.

Oscar Stevens married Georgianna “Georgie” Hilbert in the Standing Stone church in 1897.  A year later they moved to a farm in Sheshequin, a mile or so up the road from the Universalist meeting house. Within a few years both Oscar and Georgie were in leadership roles in the congregation.

Oscar was a trustee and treasurer of the Sheshequin congregation for many years.  He was also active in the leadership of the North Branch Association and the NBA’s Universalist Men’s group.

The whole Stevens family was musically talented.  Oscar and Georgie often sang duets in church services, as well as at funerals and community events. Georgie Stevens began playing the pump organ at church about 1902.  When she “retired” in 1935, her daughter Dorothy took over, followed by her daughter Marion in 1972.  Marion Stevens Jones played the organ at UUCAS until about a year before she died in 2001.

Oscar Stevens died in 1958, and Georgie died in 1964. They were buried in the cemetery that surrounds the Sheshequin meeting house.  The Stevens family plot is on the north side of the cemetery, a few rows back from the road.

The low pulpit and the matching chair in the meeting house were also given in memory of Oscar Stevens.

In a future blog post I will introduce the member who was memorialized with the other flower stand.