by Tim Swartz, Grange President (with everyone’s help) March 7, 2024
Remembering Charles Martin
9/23/1937 to 2/29/2024
We honored Charles with a “Draping the Charter” ceremony, and sharing memories
As many of you know, Charles Martin has been in poor health for quite a while. Even before he broke a hip last August, his energy reserves were clearly getting lower. The stress of the injury to his hip, hip-replacement surgery that followed, and then trying to rehab was very hard on our friend, even after he was able to return home. His husband Richard spent months keeping him company, helping with care, dealing with home-care nurses, physical therapists, and, eventually Hospice care nurses. In his last days, Charles was receiving pain relief and other palliative care, before finally slipping away in the early hours of last Thursday morning.
At our March 2nd meeting, we honored Charles with the Grange ceremony of “Draping the Charter”–placing a black drape around the original Charter of Capital City Grange #460. Our usual Chaplain, Alison Forrest, took on the role of Ceres, the Grange “Grace” who represents the goddess of harvest time. The Chaplain’s role was taken by Liz Benjamin–as usual, we figure out ways to use the available resources.
The ceremony was followed by sharing of memories about Charles and his long career in the Grange. He and Richard joined Capital City Grange in 1980, and also acquired the higher degrees of Grange membership within the next year. We were honored to be joined by a number of VT State Grange officers and former officers, reflecting on Charles’ many years of service at that level, as well as at our community Grange; we also had a few members of the North Branch Grange, of which Charles was the Master for many years.
We at Capital City Grange knew Charles as our Secretary for around 30 years–long before many of us even joined the Grange–and as one of the leading members of the experienced Grangers who welcomed a relative crowd of new members in 2005. People joined the Grange then in order to save this Community Grange and its Hall, but most of us had little or no experience with the organization we were joining. By providing welcoming outreach and good humor, Charles made it easy to relax, easy to ask questions and to appreciate the friendly attitude of the whole Grange organization. We found we could make mistakes, at which Charles, Richard, Les & Phyllis Skinner and the rest would chuckle. Then they would share stories of their own gaffes, and afterward teach us the right way to proceed. While they were taken aback by our naivete, they really appreciated the way that a core group of contra dancers, Afro-Caribbean dancers, and other Grange users wanted to make the Grange Hall a better place for everyone.
Besides working with Charles on Capital City Grange business, we learned that he and Richard were also vital cogs in the Vermont State Grange. Charles was the head of the “Home Economics” committee of the VSG for many years, promoting needlework and cooking contests throughout the state. He was a trustee of the New England Grange Building which is part of the “Big E” Exposition in Springfield MA, helping to manage the building with Grange trustees from the other five New England States, plus New York. He and Richard spent many days and nights staffing the building, which sells hand-made dishcloths, potholders, quilts and other handicrafts made by Grangers. Charles, always working with Richard, also set up the meeting room for the State Grange Annual Session at the Capitol Plaza Hotel for many years, staffed the reception table there, and cleaned up afterwards.
He was himself a serious needleworker. He made many quilts and sewn panels that were displayed in our Grange Hall, plus many that were raffled off as fundraisers at the Big E Grange Building and at other Grange events. He and Richard made the triangular swag curtains that decorate our Main Hall windows. We will be pulling a couple of quilts out of storage to display in his memory.
Charles’ obituary is posted online at the Guare and Sons website. There, you can learn more about his family, his work at the VT State Hospital as a Psychiatric Technician, and his involvement in many other voluntary community organizations. If you want to give a gift in his memory to any of those groups, it will carry on his legacy of community service.
It’s “Family Weekend” coming up
The two family-oriented events we sponsor will take place on this coming weekend–and one of them is completely free this time around!
Saturday: Kids Trade & Play is the clothing exchange for kids and their families, happening from 9:30 to 11:30 AM (as the sign says). This month, we won’t be asking for the usual $5 donation per family–because a local donor has offered to donate money so that any family can “shop” for FREE this month! We really appreciate this generous offer. Our standard policy is that no one is ever turned away, but this will make it even more open to all. Please spread the word–we have clean, inspected, high-quality clothing items for kids sized Newborn to Junior 10/12, including shoes, plus some Women’s and Maternity clothes, and also books, games and toys. Please come and take whatever you can use! If you have items that we can pass on to others, you can bring them in while we’re open. For more info, and to set up other times to donate, please see the Facebook Page or email organizer Erin Barry.
Sunday: Dance Sing & Jump Around is an opportunity for your whole family to get up and move–to live music! This month, the music is provided by Susan Reid, Grant Orenstein and Kenric Kite. Movers and shakers of all ages will learn line and circle dances, plus singing games–which often involve jumping around. All are taught by Liz Benjamin and Stan Carlson. Always FREE for kids, we ask for a donation of $5 per adult–but no one is ever turned away!
For more info, see the website: http://dancesingandjumparound.
Our main purpose in sending out this edition of Grange Notes is to let people know about the passing of Charles, but since he was all about community service, these events fit right in. We are proud to sponsor them in our beautiful community hall!