Along with all the vital new communication lines being activated within the Meeting during the pandemic, the Spring issue of Friendly News arrives with its theme of “Renewal” told in people’s stories and personal narratives.

Each one carries its own sense of comfort and continuity, inspiration and reflection. Together, they are a sharing that holds our community in a warm and loving embrace.

Friendly News Committee

Dare Thompson’s outreach from the Friendly News Committee: I think this is going to be a particularly interesting issue of the Friendly News because of the pandemic looming in the background, so I hope you will add a more personal bit to it with a deep or silly (or in between) comment on how this is actually renewing you in some way. I mentioned having the opportunity to cook and thereby clean out “aspirational” items in my cupboards and fridge that were gathering dust or mold! So it doesn’t have to be “big”!

My first Zoom “meeting for worship” was facilitated by Young Adult Friends. To say I was skeptical as to it being actual worship is an understatement. Then, when gathered and seeing 30 or so faces on my screen, faces of strangers and of those I know and love, I discovered that gathering in worship does not require our usual physical proximity.
I remembered what I have known about “gathered” worship over the years. The time and space in which we live and breathe is less relevant than the gathering in and with the Spirit, the Light. In that place and mind we reach for and discover the Eternal, and even if separated by thousands of miles, we are together in the moment. In that Moment, we are united with all who have ever been in that communion with timeless, infinite and unchangeable One.

It has been quite wonderful and I trust that it will make “in-person” worship more powerful when it resumes. The following poem arose out of that first Zoom gathering. — Don Badgley

REACH

Dear Friends, let us reach
Reach toward the stillness
Stillness that reveals the Light
Light discovered within
Within the perfect oneness
Oneness with the Eternal
The Eternal single moment
Moment …….of endless Grace.

Everything you always wanted to know about spending every blessed day with yourself and were afraid to ask. This time has been a little scary but mostly enlightening. Many of us seem to be doing the opposite of nesting…purging…but what or who are we making room for?? Every closet and drawer and box I go through and discard or give away 90 % of lightens my spirit and makes me happy.

This is an incredible time in our lives to just BE. We may never get it back when things get busy again so enjoy this gift as best you can. And I’m kind of enjoying the person I’m spending every blessed day with during the social isolation. — Maureen Manning Derasmo

I find my spirits going up and down as we absorb news and figure out new ways to socialize, shop, organize our time and nurture our spirits. I rely a lot on a 2018 Friends Journal article, “A Quaker Perspective on Hope.” It really points me towards renewal: if we have a faith in the divine source, that goes beyond any “because” or any conditional cause/effect understanding, then we can have hope – not for any one thing or another, but as a stand-alone, standing-in-grace “knowing,” that God is more than any particular moment in time or any specific outcome. I can rest in that. And be renewed and inspired. That helps me be present to the reality of NOW and look ahead.
So the big thing I am forging ahead with is trying to form my fundraising team for Nobody Leaves Mid-Hudson. The fundraiser is in mid-June: who knows what will be happening then. But the needs of our immigrant and working-class communities throughout the Hudson Valley will still be there, perhaps more so. This year NLMH is highlighting several issue campaigns, giving more and more people an awareness of these needs and how we all can help by supporting the NY Health Act, rent control and affordable housing, immigration rights to create safe zones for people traveling to and from courts, and NY senatorial campaigns. I find it very hope-full and energizing to work towards a positive goal. — Rachel Ruth

Monday to Friday, 10 am to noon, I listen to Brian Lehrer on WNYC. But I don’t just put the broadcast on in the background while I’m doing something else like I once did. Now I sit down and lean into Brian’s voice, taking in the kindness and concern, along with the keen, intelligent reporting that gives me, and his millions of other listeners, the blessings of hope and assurance along with the hard facts. But there’s more to it than that.

Franklin Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945, my first birthday, and World War II had ended before I turned two, but I heard my family’s stories about the war years and read them in the daily entries my Dad made in his journals that are a precious legacy he left to his children. The food rationing, the day Harry Truman came to the Brooklyn Navy Yard where my father worked on submarines, the continuing horrors escalating out of Europe… and through it all, there were Roosevelt’s fireside chats helping to hold the country together.

Now, when I turn on Brian Lehrer, I get to have my parents with me again like we’re sitting, glued to the radio, together in a way I couldn’t have been with them before this pandemic hit, trying to get our bearings in a radically altered world, holding hands in the dark. — Claudia Ansorge

Sarah Faith Dickinson & Annie Bancroft on their 1995 wedding day.

How fortunate we have been to have recently gained two “new” members in Annie Bancroft and Sarah Faith Dickinson. “New” is in quotes because Sarah Faith is Deb Dickinson’s sister (Deb being Don Badgley’s step-mother), and they have been long-time members of the Butternuts Monthly Meeting in the Oneonta/Cooperstown area, so they are no strangers to Quaker customs and processes. They also moved into nearby Collegeview Tower where Viola Hathaway and Frank deLeeuw also live, and even before their memberships were officially transferred to Poughkeepsie in mid-September, they slipped easily into the full life of our Meeting. Their warmth, humor, and thoughtful comments and questions add so much. Of course there is still so much that most of us don’t know about them, so with pleasure I share some of what I learned when I interviewed them together for this entry in the Friendly News.

SARAH FAITH’s father, a Congregational minister, “was a Quaker at heart” and a pacifist. He and her mother had two boys, then a girl (Deb), then two more boys, then her. Another daughter was the seventh and last child. She had Downs Syndrome and died in less than two years, which had a long term emotional impact on their mother and, therefore, on the whole family. Deb was eleven years older than Sarah Faith and, as the big sister, loved to nurture her.
After Sarah Faith’s birth, the Dickinsons moved from Rio Grande, OH, to Lyme, NH, then to Keene, NH, where the parents were house-parents at a home for emotionally disturbed children, to Yellow Springs, OH, where Sarah Faith, now age 10, was able to go to an alternative school connected with Antioch College. It was there that her interest in civil rights began. In her teen years she also became interested in folk dancing and pursued that interest as well as her interest in civil rights and peace issues when she attended Wilmington College in the late sixties.

After a few months in Michigan with a boyfriend who was doing alternative service, and a brief period in Arlington, MA, with a brother, in 1971 she married a man she met through mutual friends. The couple divorced two-to-three years later partly over differences of opinion about having children. By 1975 she had entered Northeastern University to become a professional nurse, living off-campus, working full-time, and finally graduating in 1980. She worked in that field, mostly as a visiting nurse, until she retired in 1998 due to endometrial cancer. She started by working for Sarah Faith Dickinson & Annie Bancroft on their 1995 wedding day.

Visiting Nurses in Cambridge, MA, and after moving in 1985 to Fly Creek, she worked for Otsego County as a public health nurse while she and Deb split the care of their mother.

It was just before that move to Fly Creek that Sarah Faith met Annie at the 1984 memorial for Deb’s and Sarah Faith’s father. Annie was surprised to discover that Deb had a sister, having known only about all the brothers! The real connection between them became more apparent after they ended up together in a group at Powell House.

ANNIE had also grown up with a father who was a minister but hers was Episcopalian, and her childhood was really quite different from Sarah Faith’s. She only had one brother (three years her senior) and no sisters. Her mother had grown up mostly in England, but she met Annie’s father here and stayed. The family lived primarily in the NYC metro area, mostly Rockland County, and Annie did not travel much until she went to the University of Chicago in 1955. By then her family’s values and the culture of the sixties were turning her into a committed pacifist and civil rights activist, so it is no surprise that toward the end of her college years, she had started attending Chicago’s 57th Street Monthly Meeting. By about 1960 she had become a Quaker.

It was also at that time that she got married, and in 1961 her first child was born. Her husband took a job with IBM to support the family, and in 1964-65 they actually lived for a year and a half in Poughkeepsie, had their second child (another daughter) born at Vassar Hospital, and attended Poughkeepsie Meeting! They returned to Chicago when Annie’s husband went back to graduate school, but in 1969 they came back to this area when he began a job at IBM’s Watson Center. They lived in White Plains where they had another daughter and, in 1971, adopted a boy.

Annie’s activism continued as she worked as a draft counselor, work she’d been trained to do in Chicago, and gay rights issues were now an important part of her life. Although there had been challenges in the marriage for some time, it was not until 1988 that she and her husband separated; they divorced in 1989.

By 1991 Annie and Sarah Faith were an established couple and living together in a home in Cooperstown (near Fly Creek). They were married in July of 1995 under the care of the Butternuts Meeting. They will celebrate their 25th anniversary this summer.

Most of us remember when shortly after getting the happy news that Annie and Sarah Faith would be coming to our Meeting, we were shocked to hear in December 2018 that they were in an accident on their way here in a car packed with many of their belongings. While Annie was not seriously harmed, Sarah Faith ended up in the hospital and then in rehab, and one foot is still not fully recovered. But whatever the obstacle, they rarely let it keep them from participating here.

When asked why they left their longtime home in central NY to come to Poughkeepsie, Annie said that they were drawn by the river, the train, and our urban environment. We are grateful for the charms of our Valley that lured them here, and we’re particularly grateful for their commitment to our Quaker community. We welcome them with joy.

Rebeca Ramos with Brook Nam & Pepe at the Poughkeepsie Friends Meeting

Rebeca Ramos is back at Oakwood Friends School in Poughkeepsie, NY after a spring break visit to Saint Paul, MN, but the school remains closed. Her family lives in La Paz, Bolivia* and she speaks with them every day. La Paz has closed its borders, airports, inter-country bus service, and schools. Rebeca had expected to be at Oakwood for the whole year, but now it’s hard to predict. She lives on campus and has been helping with the Spanish classes.
In Bolivia, Rebeca attends the Iglesia Evangélica Amigos, an Evangelical Friends Church with a congregation of 400. Here in the mid- Hudson Valley, she had begun attending the Iglesia Evangélica Amigos in Kingston, started by the Clintondale Friends Church quite a few years ago. That congregation has about 150 attenders. We hope to include a full article about Rebeca’s visit in the next Friendly News.

* 8% of the world’s Quakers live in Bolivia, making it the world’s third largest Quaker population after the USA and Kenya. (quakersintheworld.com)

Preparation: Are you packed for the journey you are about to embark on? Do you have what it takes to launch the success process? Being prepared means being consistent with the doctrines and the standards you have chosen to guide your life. It means attending to your physical health, spiritual health, and your over-all well-being. Most of all you don’t neglect those things that are most important in life — relationships, family, and friends.— Alvin Brown has been a member of the Green Haven Prison Meeting since 1992.

by Diane-Ellen McCarron

RICHARD HATHAWAY, beloved member of Poughkeepsie Friends Meeting for many, many years passed away on January 29, 2020. He lived letting his Quaker being speak, which exemplified his on-going life devotion to Quakerism.

The first Quaker Meeting I attended at Poughkeepsie Friends in the year 2000, a friendly cheerful gentleman greeted me. He was joyful that I happened to visit and seemed interested to learn about me. I felt grateful for his hospitality and for the kindness “welcoming in a stranger” who otherwise felt rather shy and new. This connection left me with a happy impression and those moments created a lasting bond between us. This was how I began to know Dick Hathaway whom I observed exercised this enthusiastic greeting over and over to many newcomers through the years.

There are many, many memories I will forever savor. Dick had an amazing talent and attentiveness for details. Being an artist-type myself and often less comfortable with the details of things, I was in awe of Dick’s focus and retentive absorption of and to details— details embedded in our immediate world that could bring a richness to the most seemingly mundane things.

Dick contributed enormous energy to the workings and running of Poughkeepsie Friends Meeting. Often during the week, when I drove past the Meeting House, I would notice Dick’s car parked in the car lot and know that he was inside doing some job for the Meeting. On occasion, I even saw him on the roof of the building working to fix shingles, downspouts, or even spray for yellow jackets in the eaves that might cause some danger to those allergic (and discomfort if stung!). In these years, the energy, time, and contributions Dick devoted to the Meeting seemed endless.

Dick became the person I would turn to if I needed an answer or some advice about the Meeting. At other times, I would call or e-mail him to talk about the messages he gave in Meeting which were deeply spiritual and often resonated with my own faith journey. Even later in his life, when his messages had more brevity, they had a similar impact on me. I treasured the spiritual conversations that we had from time to time.

Dick supported the gifts of other people, especially in the areas of literature, art and music. He was present to many concerts and art shows as well as other programs members were involved in. He encouraged the projects and the project-makers and expressed his gratitude freely. Dick extended his hospitality to my husband. Tom remarked many times how Dick made him feel welcome even though he was not an attender of the Meeting (except for the much-enjoyed social events).

In a memorable conversation with my NYC son about a recent published book, Dick was likewise encouraging. Through the years, I appreciated hearing about Dick’s years of civil rights activism, the many peace marches he participated in, his involvement in mediation for peace in Ireland and the numerous other life commitments to outreach- too numerous to count. I unfortunately did not know Dick then, but, was inspired by his work for peace that included risk, a strong personal integrity, a deep caring for all people, and a steady love for Quaker ways.

An especially poignant way that Dick’s life touched me was by witnessing the love and devotion he had for Viola and his family. He often spoke about Viola with abiding love. His eyes would fill with Light with the mention of her name- an unmistakably expression of the love he felt for her. I sense his hardest final good-bye was the parting from his deepest earth- love. Within me, there lives a reality that believes that this love will always be fresh, and vibrant, and beautiful.

Query 11:    Do we foster reverence for life? Do we strive to find, to understand, and to remove causes of misery and suffering? Do we, in loving concern, extend assistance to those who require it?

In 1965-66 Dr. Hathaway and family moved to Jackson, MS, where he worked as an associate professor at Millsaps College, the first all-white college to voluntarily integrate. He participated in the movement to end segregation. Recalling his involvement with Dr. Martin Luther King’s historic civil rights march in Selma, AL, Dr. Hathaway said: ” On the first day of the Selma march in 1965 there were many hundreds of participants; however for the next few days the number was limited to fifty. The day before the March 21 start of the march I applied to Dr. King’s assistant, Andrew Young to be one of the fifty and he asked, what is your denomination, I said Quaker, so I was permitted to go beyond the first day.” — Poughkeepsie Journal/obituary

1965 March from Selma to Montgomery (photo credit newrepublic.com)

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This text is excerpted from a speech by Dick Hathaway given at an interfaith service in Poughkeepsie, New York, on November 1, 2004. For the complete text, please go to friendsjournal.org

Three weeks ago, when I was invited to stand up here and talk about the Quaker Peace Testimony, I thought I would “make nice nice” and say something that everybody would agree with. I thought I would read you a nice poem, one that begins, “We are waiting for peace to break out; we are waiting for flowers to bloom.” But peace is not everybody agreeing with each other. And so I have decided to say something challenging, something you may not agree with, and something that even my fellow Quakers may not all agree with.

There is a movement afoot around the world to spread a simple, attractive message: “May peace prevail on Earth.” You can order note cards, a tote bag, a bumper sticker, a T‐ shirt, a button, a hat, an apron, and a Bic pen, all emblazoned with this message. You can spend anywhere from $175 to $1,400 to have the message printed in eight languages on an eight‐foot pole for planting in a park, a garden, or your church’s front lawn. Two hundred thousand of these poles have already been planted. “May peace prevail on Earth.” Sounds good. Very peaceful. Let’s plant it!

But … I would like to tell you why I think that is the wrong message. I would classify it as a pious platitude, one that everyone, or almost everyone, would agree with. Indeed, it is selling very well. It is a prayer, a prayer of the kind that we can so easily say without doing anything about it. We can give lip service to it, and leave the rest vaguely to God. George W. Bush, just before invading Iraq, could have uttered that prayer, and he probably did. He doubtless thought he was advancing the cause of peace, sweeping away some of those bad people out there who were preventing peace.

In 1917, Woodrow Wilson, praying that peace might prevail on Earth, took us into the greatest war humankind had yet seen, saying that it was a war to end all war. And you know what: the chief result of that war was the emergence of Communism and Fascism. Then we had an even greater war to defeat Fascism, and two more wars, in Korea and Vietnam, to try to hold back the rising tide of Communism. War, as always, produced war after war. Let’s look at the Christian Scriptures. It says, “Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” If we sow violence, we will reap violence. …

The Quaker message is that peace begins with an individual, an individual in communion with the Holy Spirit, an individual living peace, and exemplifying it at all costs. In 1651, George Fox, the founder of the Quaker movement, was offered a commission in the Puritan army. He refused it. Then he went home and wrote in his journal, “I told them I lived in the virtue of that life and power that took away the occasion of all wars.” Peace must be inward before it can become outward. Then you have to do something about it. For instance, you have to feed the hungry. That’s why American Friends Service Committee, a peace organization, spends a lot of its time and money feeding the hungry. Hungry people are ripe for war and revolution. And then look at those incredible words of St. Paul: “If thine enemy hunger, feed him.” He was following the injunction of Jesus to exemplify love unconditionally, even if you die for it, as Jesus in fact did.…

Jesus said: “You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles?” If you sow peace, you will reap peace. If you sow violence, you will reap violence. We need to learn this lesson. It is the lesson that we need to be guided by tomorrow as we go to the polls. It is the great lesson of what is happening in Iraq. It is the lesson of what will continue to happen if we don’t learn to live, to live in that life and power that takes away the occasion of all wars.

Brook Nam (POK MM), Nicole Virgona (assistant to Sen. Schumer), Orelle Feher (New Paltz MM), and Dare Thompson (POK MM) visited in New York’s U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer at his Peekskill office on February 4, 2020 to talk about Quaker support for legislation that would limit the ability of the president to go to war without Congressional approval. We learned that Sen. Schumer was now supporting the legislation, and shortly after our meeting, the Senate passed it! The legislation has since gone back to the House for minor tweaks and then on to the president for signing. He may want to veto considering this would limit his power.

PFM library has received a gift from John Dopell, Pleasant Valley, New York who was seeking to find a new home for a six-volume set of the writings of George Fox, dated 1831. For now, these fragile books are located on the shelf nearest the window on the left side as you enter the library. Please enjoy them with tender loving care.

NEEDED: A LABEL MAKER FOR LIBRARY SHELF CATEGORIES

Do you have a label maker library could borrow? Please talk to Sarah Faith Dickinson, Rhonda Sullivan, or Diane-Ellen McCarron if you can loan one for a short time to replace and update the labels on the shelves.

Due to the pandemic, currently planned activities are on hold until further notice, including the program on Inheritance with Emily Provance, a traveling Friend from New York Yearly Meeting, that was scheduled for March 29; the Friendly Discussion series on Quaker testimonies; and, all Easter activities

Poughkeepsie Monthly Meeting

During the 92 years that Friends have gathered in worship at this Poughkeepsie Meeting location, there have been significant changes. For those of our membership who recall earlier times with a larger congregation and programmed meeting, these changes serve to give perspective to our present state. We discover that the Power that unites us in Faith and community remains the vital constant. Even as we carry concerns about an aging membership and reduced numbers, we are steady and centered, and hopeful regarding our future.

Poughkeepsie Meeting is primarily a center of worship.

Though we are a community of diverse backgrounds, approaches to spirituality and perceptions of

the Divine Source that gathers us, when gathered in the Light of that Divine Center, we are one. At the rise of Sunday worship, we often gather for Friendly Discussions on a wide range of topics and have instituted regular presentations on basic Quakerism that both newcomers, seasoned Friends, and facilitators find helpful. Our regular after-meeting social time each Sunday brings us closer to one another.

Our faith manifests itself in myriad ministries both within the meeting and into the wider community and world. Members and attenders bless the body with ministries of art, poetry, hospitality, music, committee service and activism for right causes in the world. We support New York Yearly Meeting, both financially and with the service of our members. Our outreach beyond the meetinghouse doors, feeds the hungry, gives clothing to students in need, and offers shelter to the homeless. Our ongoing ministry in Green Haven Prison continues, and we share our meetinghouse with several local organizations. The Gabriel’s House congregation continues to bless us with their presence, their caring and love.

The cost and strain of maintaining our large property is a continuing concern as we labor to seek

unity on what may be right stewardship of those abundant assets. We remain financially stable and that blessing allows us to labor together in gentle and unhurried discernment as we consider our options for the future. We are well aware that without new and younger families joining our worship community our options are limited and that we may soon be forced by circumstances to seek a way forward in a different location. The need for more effective outreach is a concern expressed by many.

The Divine Spirit that guides us is unchangeable and we trust to that Presence among us and within each of us to lead us through the years to come with the certainty that our faith provides.

by Jean Doneit

Although the beauty of winter is still with us, the sun lighting the hills and illuminating the snow.

I can sense the stirrings of new life — life waiting to emerge from a long and nourishing sleep.

The sleep has been good, preparing for awakening. An awakening to all the possibilities growing within.

The snow blankets the precious roots, protecting them ‘till their energy is ready to explode.

The rain, the gentle breezes and the warming sun are not far away.

The birds are readying their song.

Spring forth new life, sending your blessings over the earth.

I am thankful for the passion that life has for itself.

That it is continually seeking to renew itself.

That is love.

What a miracle it always is.

What will we make of it?      It has so much to teach us – now and evermore.

The Pink Australian Robin is a small tubby bird, and is easily over-looked, being quieter than other robins.