| MAY 15, 2013 -- The Winchester Grange No. 74 celebrated its 125th Anniversary Sunday with music, proclamations by town and state officials, slide presentations depicting its history, awards to longtime members, skits, remembrances and speeches.
The Grange formed in Winchester Center on Jan. 2, 1888 as an agricultural club that promoted local farming. Over the years, as the number of farms has waned, the Grange has become increasingly more of a community service organization. The Grange hall complex at 100 Newfield Road houses the Winchester Center post office and volunteer fire department.
Grange members said, though, it’s the people who make the organization a great place with which to belong.
“I think the most important thing about the Grange today is it unites families,” Grange President Todd A. Gelineau said after the two-hour ceremony concluded. “It brings families together and keeps families together in a way that is missing in society as a whole.”
Charlie Cooper, 88, said he has belonged to the former Torringford Grange, which closed in 1974, and the Winchester Grange a combined 73 years. “I call it down to earth,” he said of the Winchester Grange. “It’s not high class or high calling, they’re everyday people.”
Deirdre DiCara and her sister, Cara Blazier, beamed as they recalled childhood memories of the Grange from the 1960s and ‘70s. DiCara said she still lives in the Goodenough/ Houlihan house where she and her sister grew up and where the Grange organized in 1888.
DiCara also credited Ellsworth “Bud” Beecher, who, at 92, attended, as the oldest living past Grange master, and his late wife, Marion, for running the Junior Grange for close to 50 years.
“The Junior Grange was all about Bud and Marion and their steadfast dedication, their organizational skills, their patience and their wisdom and they guided us baby boomer kids through life-learning skill lessons and helped shape us into responsible, caring businessmen,” she said.
Longtime members Domenic and Joan Campi were recognized for their 50 years with the Grange; Barbara and Fred Dreger, 55 years; Shirley Lemieux, 65 years; and Jean Hurlbut and Esther Rebillard, 70 years. Several past masters and lecturers were also recognized.
Jody Cameron, Master of the Connecticut State Grange, said it is “unheard of” to find a civic organization that has been around as long as the Winchester Grange and still have members who are descendants of the founders.
“Organizations don’t last that long in our society,” he said.
“We’re a very quick, spontaneous society. We move on from one thing to the next faster than you can imagine.”
Cameron then announced that he was signing the Grange’s application to start the process of reorganizing the Junior Grange, which was discontinued about 15 years ago.
The Grange needs 13 children between the ages of 5 and 14 to start a Junior Grange and Gelineau said he expects to have that many at an open house at 2 p.m. Saturday. |
