history

Paul St.Clair

A trustee is one who has responsibility for a property for the benefit of others. By that definition Paul St. Clair has been a much respected trustee for many of the public and private buildings in Strafford since he and Pat moved here in 1973.

After accepting Jesus as his Lord and Savior, Paul joined the Bow Lake Freewill Baptist Church and served officially as trustee for more than 33 years. During his years as chairman of the trustees Paul supervised the building of three additions on the meeting house and the many repairs and renovations required to keep our 176 year old building in tip-top shape.

Paul was born in Berlin, NH on July 2, 1935 and is a graduate of Dover High School. He married Helen Pat Dow on December 4, 1959. Pat had three children by a previous marriage; and, together, Paul and Pat had four more for a total of seven offspring.

Beginning as a dairy farmer, Paul realized his gifting as a carpenter and honed his skills on the job. He has followed the example of his Lord Jesus in using his gifts for building to benefit us all here at the Bow Lake Church and throughout Strafford. You can see his work in all three churches, the fire stations, library and elementary school. Many of us have also been blessed by his expert work on our homes.

“-------Well done, good and faithful servant!------Come and share your Master’s happiness! “ from Matthew 25:21

Thank you, Paul, for your faithful stewardship.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anne Farnum Huckins

Sixty years ago the town of Pembroke, NH blessed Strafford and our congregation with a wonderful gift in the person of Anne Farnum Huckins. Strafford native Edgar (Ted) Huckins made this Pembroke daughter his bride in 1959, and brought her back to the lovely house that has been the Huckins home for six generations.

Anne was a dental hygienist in Concord when she and Ted met. For ten years she ran a dental clinic at the Strafford School, giving every child an annual teeth cleaning. She learned the fine art of balancing work and family as she and Ted raised their two children – Judith and Matthew.

Anne grew up in the Pembroke Congregational Church which was the church of her parents and grandparents. Church was an important part of all of their lives.

Anne recalls that the first time she visited the Bow Lake Meeting House she was warmly greeted outside by two gentlemen who instantly knew who she was even though she had never met them. Going inside she learned that worship had been canceled because the furnace was not working. She continued to attend and was a very active member. She taught Sunday School, served on the Inter-church Council, provided hospitality for church gatherings, and was very active in the Ladies Circle.

For years Anne collected our worn bed sheets, cutting them into strips, sewing the strips together, and them rolling them to serve as White Cross bandages for missions at home and abroad. Groups of ladies would bring their sandwiches and meet at the Huckins’ home to make these bandages. Anne served as the instructor and gracious hostess for these “Holy Rollers”.

Anne has fond memories of making costumes for the living nativity that the Sunday School did each year. One year Charlie Thorne provided a horse for Mary to ride, but Mary fell off the horse at a critical moment in the play.

Thank you, Anne Huckins for your loving and gracious warmth, service and humor.


Return To Homepage	Bow Lake Freewill Baptist Church History In 2019 the Bow Lake Freewill Baptist Church is celebrating two hundred years as an organized congregation. The believers were meeting in homes and a schoolhouse in the Canaan section of Strafford (then Barrington) as early as 1811; and in February of 1819 area elders led by Enoch Place recognized them as a church with George Seaward as Ruling Elder and Pomphret Peary (Perry) as deacon. In 1843 they built the Meeting House on Province Road in the Strafford village of Bow Lake where we still gather for worship, today. Strafford has three Baptist churches, because, when travel was by foot or horseback, each village had its own school and place of worship. Often the three churches have shared a pastor and musicians; and still they work together to serve the community. Strafford was a part of the town of Barrington until 1820. Barrington was chartered in 1722, so our history pre-dates the Revolutionary War. Our Strafford churches have their roots in a rich Spiritual heritage that began during the period known as the Great Awakening under the preaching of the renowned evangelist George Whitefield and bore much fruit under the leadership of Benjamin Randall, Enoch Place and Clarissa Danforth. As God leads, we joyfully seek to continue working for God’s Kingdom until Christ returns. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

	Gladys Heald. Gladys Heald was five years old the first time she came to Bow Lake. The year was 1925, and for the next twelve years she and her family spent their summers here. She has some memories of occasionally attending worship and Sunday School with her grandmother, but her clearest recollection is of the sound of the bell on the Bow Lake Meeting House calling people to worship or alerting them of a fire or other community emergency. After she married, her husband Jim built the family a summer home so they could continue the tradition of summers at Bow Lake. When they retired in 1978 Gladys and Jim moved to their Province Road home and she began attending the Bow Lake church on a regular basis. When the Bow Lake and Center Strafford churches decided to share a pastor and form the Parish Council Gladys volunteered as secretary for Pastor John Upham and the pastors who followed. She was an important part of the team who published the wonderful monthly newsletter “Parish Gleanings”. Gladys used her gifts to serve the needs of the churches and people of Strafford for 31 years (17 years for the two churches and 14 for Bow Lake Freewill Baptist). She has said that she always wanted to make people feel better, and she continues to do that well. Thank you, Gladys Heald, dear friend and gracious servant. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Billye Waldron Billye Waldron is a woman with a heart as big as the great state of Texas where she grew up. Also in keeping with her personality, Billye was born in the town of Happy on October 9, 1931. Her faith was nurtured in a Christian home with six siblings. Her Mother was active in her church and her Father lived out his Christian commitment by respecting and caring for all people, regardless of social standing or race. As God would have it, Bow Lake native son George Waldron joined the Air Force and was serving in Texas when he and Billye met. They married and raised three sons. Military assignments had the family living in many parts of the country, but when George retired in 1976 they returned home to Strafford and joined the Bow Lake Freewill Baptist Church. “Billye describes herself as shy and not a public speaker, but she did become a member of the mission committee at BLBC, and for many years she promoted missions at BLBC. She is remembered for her ardent and interesting stories that stirred people to give generously. Her effort went a long way to making BLBC the mission church we are today.” (quoted from JoAnn Pearson’s interview of Billye) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Elder Enoch Place Barrington/Strafford pastor and evangelist who helped organize our Bow Lake Church in 1819. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Don Williams Although he is very modest about it, we here at Bow Lake have our own hero in Don Williams. Don was awarded a Bronze Star for mapping German gun emplacements and capturing four German soldiers while serving in Alsace, France during the Second World War. Don was born on Christmas day, 1924 in Elizabeth, New Jersey. After serving in the Army Don came home to attend Bucknell University and earn a degree in mechanical engineering. During his senior year Don met and married his artist wife Betti. They were happily wed for sixty-five years before Betti went home to be with the Lord. Soon after moving to Kooaukee Island over twenty years ago Don and Betti became members here at Bow Lake. Don served as a deacon for twelve years and was part of the Sunday morning Bible Study. Now he makes his home at the Veterans Home in Tilton, N.H. and continues to come to worship when he has transportation. Christopher and Bobbsie Betjemann interviewed Don and were especially impressed by two things that Don said. At the close of each Sunday worship at Bow Lake Don said he begins to look forward to the next Sunday. Don also expressed thankfulness that in his years of military service to our country he never had to take another man’s life. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Paul St.Clair A trustee is one who has responsibility for a property for the benefit of others. By that definition Paul St. Clair has been a much respected trustee for many of the public and private buildings in Strafford since he and Pat moved here in 1973. After accepting Jesus as his Lord and Savior, Paul joined the Bow Lake Freewill Baptist Church and served officially as trustee for more than 33 years. During his years as chairman of the trustees Paul supervised the building of three additions on the meeting house and the many repairs and renovations required to keep our 176 year old building in tip-top shape. Paul was born in Berlin, NH on July 2, 1935 and is a graduate of Dover High School. He married Helen Pat Dow on December 4, 1959. Pat had three children by a previous marriage; and, together, Paul and Pat had four more for a total of seven offspring. Beginning as a dairy farmer, Paul realized his gifting as a carpenter and honed his skills on the job. He has followed the example of his Lord Jesus in using his gifts for building to benefit us all here at the Bow Lake Church and throughout Strafford. You can see his work in all three churches, the fire stations, library and elementary school. Many of us have also been blessed by his expert work on our homes. “-------Well done, good and faithful servant!------Come and share your Master’s happiness! “ from Matthew 25:21 Thank you, Paul, for your faithful stewardship. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Anne Farnum Huckins Sixty years ago the town of Pembroke, NH blessed Strafford and our congregation with a wonderful gift in the person of Anne Farnum Huckins. Strafford native Edgar (Ted) Huckins made this Pembroke daughter his bride in 1959, and brought her back to the lovely house that has been the Huckins home for six generations. Anne was a dental hygienist in Concord when she and Ted met. For ten years she ran a dental clinic at the Strafford School, giving every child an annual teeth cleaning. She learned the fine art of balancing work and family as she and Ted raised their two children – Judith and Matthew. Anne grew up in the Pembroke Congregational Church which was the church of her parents and grandparents. Church was an important part of all of their lives. Anne recalls that the first time she visited the Bow Lake Meeting House she was warmly greeted outside by two gentlemen who instantly knew who she was even though she had never met them. Going inside she learned that worship had been canceled because the furnace was not working. She continued to attend and was a very active member. She taught Sunday School, served on the Inter-church Council, provided hospitality for church gatherings, and was very active in the Ladies Circle. For years Anne collected our worn bed sheets, cutting them into strips, sewing the strips together, and them rolling them to serve as White Cross bandages for missions at home and abroad. Groups of ladies would bring their sandwiches and meet at the Huckins’ home to make these bandages. Anne served as the instructor and gracious hostess for these “Holy Rollers”. Anne has fond memories of making costumes for the living nativity that the Sunday School did each year. One year Charlie Thorne provided a horse for Mary to ride, but Mary fell off the horse at a critical moment in the play. Thank you, Anne Huckins for your loving and gracious warmth, service and humor.