Remembering Corinth, Part 10-Tribute to Rev. Charles Alexander Dayton

DFH Volume 1 Issue 19

Remembering Corinth, by Dave Hayes, is a ten-part series about Dave’s remembrances of Corinth in the late ‘50s.  Dave, a retired elementary teacher and guidance counselor (36 years), and part time adjunct professor in the Counseling Dept. at nearby West Chester Univ. (24 years-8 after his “first” retirement) lives in Pottstown, PA.  He and his wife, Kathleen, had four children, Heather, Jeremy, Emily (d.2008) and Benjamin.  He descends from Wilber Sr. as follows: Wilber Sr., Rev. Charles “Chop” Dayton, Isabelle “Izzie” [Dayton] Hayes, David Hayes.

Part 10-Tribute to Rev Charles A. Dayton

My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest. Isaiah 32:18 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matt 6:21

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Remembering Corinth, Part 9-Back Home In Corinth

DFH Volume 1 Issue 18

Remembering Corinth, by Dave Hayes, is a ten-part series about Dave’s remembrances of Corinth in the late ‘50s.  Dave, a retired elementary teacher and guidance counselor (36 years), and part time adjunct professor in the Counseling Dept. at nearby West Chester Univ. (24 years-8 after his “first” retirement) lives in Pottstown, PA.  He and his wife, Kathleen, had four children, Heather, Jeremy, Emily (d.2008) and Benjamin.  He descends from Wilber Sr. as follows: Wilber Sr., Rev. Charles “Chop” Dayton, Isabelle “Izzie” [Dayton] Hayes, David Hayes.

Part 9 – Back Home to Corinth

When Grampa passed away in 1992, I wrote a poem to commemorate his life and my return to Corinth after so many years.  I was no longer a young, starry-eyed 4^th & 5^th grader but a 43-year-old husband, father and teacher/counselor.  My arrival in Corinth took me quickly back to that year in my childhood spent there.  And as we gathered to honor and remember my grandfather, Charles Dayton, I also reflected on the impact that he and Corinth had on my life.  I penned my thoughts into a poem that I hadn’t read for years…until just now.  The same memories are still very much alive, I see, and I have repeated most of them in my writing here.  We moved from Corinth in late 1959 to California for 3-1/2 years, onto Italy for 3 more years, and then to Springfield, Mass. for another year (while Dad was in Vietnam and we lived near Uncle John & Aunt Dorie and the kids).  I have lived far and near but if someone asks me where my “home” was, I always say “northern New York, where my parents are from.”  Even though Dad was born and raised in Hague and Mom born in Corinth and lived in many places around the Champlain District, I would suspect that the village of Corinth would still feel like home to me.  That was a profoundly meaningful year in my life and I’m glad that I got to share it with my loving family.  Thanks, Corinth, for such amazing and meaningful memories you shared with this young boy.

Editor’s Note—Next week is the final part of this ten-part series.  Part 10 features a poem which Dave wrote upon the passing of his grandfather, Reverend Charles Alexander Dayton. The poem is a profound, eloquent and reverent tribute, and I will not trivialize nor diminish the impact of it by adding any other article or commercial next week.  We will resume the Dayton stories on July 7.  The only thing I have added are two Holy Bible scripture verses which I hope will complement the text and amplify the relevance of the poem to Corinth and our heavenly home.  The poem will surely soften your spirit and touch a special place in your heart.  Since Dave sent it to me for this newsletter, I have read it several times and it gets better every time I read it.  It will be a joy for you to read it next week. 

Dave, on behalf of the subscribers of this newsletter, we offer you a huge thank you for the masterful way you gave us a glimpse of your year spent in Corinth.  It makes me long for my home there too.  We all hope you can write for us again soon.

Remembering Corinth, Part 8-After Church

Remembering Corinth, by Dave Hayes, is a ten-part series about Dave’s remembrances of Corinth in the late ‘50s.  Dave, a retired elementary teacher and guidance counselor (36 years), and part time adjunct professor in the Counseling Dept. at nearby West Chester Univ. (24 years-8 after his “first” retirement) lives in Pottstown, PA.  He and his wife, Kathleen, had four children, Heather, Jeremy, Emily (d.2008) and Benjamin.  He descends from Wilber Sr. as follows: Wilber Sr., Rev. Charles “Chop” Dayton, Isabelle “Izzie” [Dayton] Hayes, David Hayes.

Part 8 – After Church

It wasn’t just “in” church where there are strong memories.  I have wonderful recollections of times spent in the parsonage with Grampa, Gramma Jo and Cammie.  We would run up and down those stairs and listen to the grownups in the kitchen through the grate in the bathroom upstairs.  We would play in the bedrooms and sometimes have sleepovers, too.  I loved to spin around in my grandfather’s chair in his study just inside the front door.  It somehow felt like a “holy place.”  After church, there were often snacks and a time of family fellowship.  That was after we got back from helping Grampa take home some of the folks from church.  Now THAT was an adventure.  We would drop them off at their homes and then Grampa would begin to coast down the hill in neutral to see how far we could go without accelerating.  We kids would laugh and encourage the car and even get out to push the extra few feet to see how far we could go.  When not coasting, we would be singing a rousing rendition of a hymn or chorus or listening as Grampa told us some outlandish story.  It was a magical time and I never wanted it to end!  Even after all these years, those after-service trips remain a very special memory.  [What got me thinking about those late Sunday evening trips was the picture in the latest Dayton Family Newsletter…the one with the map of Corinth and the corner by the Baptist Church.  Grampa was in a hurry one time (surprise!) and he took that corner on two wheels!  That moment is indelibly etched into my memory as is that particular corner.]

Remembering Corinth, Part 7-Life Revolved Around the Church

DFH Volume 1 Issue 16

Remembering Corinth, by Dave Hayes, is a ten-part series about Dave’s remembrances of Corinth in the late ‘50s.  Dave, a retired elementary teacher and guidance counselor (36 years), and part time adjunct professor in the Counseling Dept. at nearby West Chester Univ. (24 years-8 after his “first” retirement) lives in Pottstown, PA.  He and his wife, Kathleen, had four children, Heather, Jeremy, Emily (d.2008) and Benjamin.  He descends from Wilber Sr. as follows: Wilber Sr., Rev. Charles “Chop” Dayton, Isabelle “Izzie” [Dayton] Hayes, David Hayes.

Part 7 – Life Revolved Around the Church

School life and home life and exploring the town were secondary to the time spent in the Corinth Wesleyan Church.  Most of my memories that year are associated with time there and with the special people with whom I interacted at church.  Grampa would be up front in the pulpit leading the hymns with unmatched gusto or preaching with fervency & deep conviction or encouraging even the youth to give their testimonies during prayer meeting.  Gramma Jo would be sitting in the pews hoping Charles would not make a personal reference or she would be leading a women’s meeting or directing Vacation Bible School each summer.  I’d be in the back pews with Jimmy & Cammie & Keith trying to keep a low profile but still managing to goof around from time to time.  Everyone was SO friendly and welcoming from the beginning and we felt at home here right away.  There were folks that my Mom knew from her childhood & teen years, assorted cousins from both sides of her family and all those precious aunts and uncles who were glad to have Izzie around, if only for a season.  They were supportive and gracious, knowing how tough it was to have a husband so far away for so long.  That church enveloped us and made us “family” the minute we walked through the door.  We had Sunday School and church suppers in the recently completed Education Building and played softball in the summer and went ice skating in the winter out behind the church.  When it was time for Bible School, we gathered outside, lining up with our class behind our class banner.  We followed the American & Christian flags and the Bible into the sanctuary and pledged allegiance to each before singing the theme song for the year.  Then it was off to our classes for Bible stories, crafts, snacks and games.  Those two weeks were the highlight of my Corinth summer!  It wasn’t until years later, when I was directing my own church’s Bible School, that I again copied Gramma Jo’s formula for marches, pledges and opening songs.  What a wonderful tradition I learned there.

Remembering Corinth, Part 6-Dirty Bucks and a Sawmill

DFH Volume 1 Issue 15

Remembering Corinth, by Dave Hayes, is a ten-part series about Dave’s remembrances of Corinth in the late ‘50s.  Dave, a retired elementary teacher and guidance counselor (36 years), and part time adjunct professor in the Counseling Dept. at nearby West Chester Univ. (24 years-8 after his “first” retirement) lives in Pottstown, PA.  He and his wife, Kathleen, had four children, Heather, Jeremy, Emily (d.2008) and Benjamin.  He descends from Wilber Sr. as follows: Wilber Sr., Rev. Charles “Chop” Dayton, Isabelle “Izzie” [Dayton] Hayes, David Hayes.

Part 6 – Dirty Bucks and a Sawmill

What makes a small town so compelling?  Sometimes it’s the time in which you find yourself there.  Or maybe it’s a local custom that is new and interesting.  And yet, perhaps it’s the location of a special place that keeps drawing you back time after time.  Corinth was all three of these things.  So here I am, a 5^th grader in the late 50’s trying to find where I belonged in my adopted town and with the changing, rock-n-roll culture swirling around me.  I took a leap and begged my Mom to buy me a pair of dirty bucks.  Hey, if they were good enough for Pat Boone, they were good enough for me.  I strutted around in them until one day they got scuffed.  I panicked and then realized that they were supposed to be “dirty,” so I relaxed and enjoyed my venture into 50’s fashion even if I was way up here in northern NY.  I also discovered a unique custom in Corinth—May Day.  According to tradition, we would find little baskets, fill them with homemade goodies or candies to deliver to special people around town on May 1st.  But here’s the trick: it’s a secret who they are from.  So you sneak up to the door, deposit the May basket on the porch, ring the doorbell and run.  The idea is to hide nearby to see the person’s surprise to find the unexpected treat.  I remember, in particular, that we gave one to a very sweet lady from the church, Aunt Daisy, and she was so pleased to be remembered.  What a loving tradition…I still wish we did that.  My other remembrance was the times I spent just outside of town at the Dayton Brothers sawmill.  What an awesome place that was, with the tower of sawdust, the piles of wooden beams perfect for hide-and-seek, the sounds of the saw cutting the trees into long planks and, always, the friendly greetings from my uncles, Paul & Chip.  I adored those two men, and they returned my admiration with open arms and warm smiles.  My visits there were magical and I would go as often as I could. 

Dayton Brothers Sawmill 1955

Remembering Corinth-Part 5, Daily Life In Corinth

DFH Volume 1 Issue 14

Remembering Corinth, by Dave Hayes, is a ten-part series about Dave’s remembrances of Corinth in the late ‘50s.  Dave, a retired elementary teacher and guidance counselor (36 years), and part time adjunct professor in the Counseling Dept. at nearby West Chester Univ. (24 years-8 after his “first” retirement) lives in Pottstown, PA.  He and his wife, Kathleen, had four children, Heather, Jeremy, Emily (d.2008) and Benjamin.  He descends from Wilber Sr. as follows: Wilber Sr., Rev. Charles “Chop” Dayton, Isabelle “Izzie” [Dayton] Hayes, David Hayes.

Part 5 – Daily Life in Corinth

We soon settled into a comfortable pattern of daily life in Corinth.  We walked up the hill to school each day and Mom went to work in Ballston Spa.  Since I was in 4^th grade, I was downstairs in the school and then “graduated” to the upstairs when school started the next year, and I was in 5^th.  Another big deal in 5^th grade was that we studied French with lessons on the intercom, as we filled in our workbooks in the classroom.  From time to time, I would see and wave at Jimmy in the hallways or at lunch and, perhaps, get a glimpse of Keith & Cammie, both two years behind me.  Often I would stop at Aunt Lib’s on the way home from school, and she would give me a snack of cookies & milk while we chatted about school or church or our family.  Those were very sweet times with her, and she was a special lady!  Another memory involved a field trip our class took to local factories—a cement factory and a Coca Cola bottling factory.  It was fun seeing mass production and machines that perform tasks over and over without tiring.  I even think I talked my Mom into being a chaperone on that one!  One other school memory I have is the time that we had a town-wide air raid drill.  We were instructed to leave school, walk home quickly and stay inside for a prescribed amount of time.  It was a little eerie walking home from school with very little traffic and no one out and around.  Mom decided that we could cut our inside time short, load the car and head north to visit Uncle John and Aunt Dorrie (Dayton) Lamos near Plattsburgh for the weekend.  So much for following directions!

Remembering Corinth, Part 4-Our Corinth Family

DFH Volume 1 Issue 13

Remembering Corinth, by Dave Hayes, is a ten-part series about Dave’s remembrances of Corinth in the late ‘50s.  Dave, a retired elementary teacher and guidance counselor (36 years), and part time adjunct professor in the Counseling Dept. at nearby West Chester Univ. (24 years-8 after his “first” retirement) lives in Pottstown, PA.  He and his wife, Kathleen, had four children, Heather, Jeremy, Emily (d.2008) and Benjamin.  He descends from Wilber Sr. as follows: Wilber Sr., Rev. Charles “Chop” Dayton, Isabelle “Izzie” [Dayton] Hayes, David Hayes

Part 4 – Our Corinth Family

            The best thing about living in Corinth in 1959,while dad was on a hardship tour in Greenland, was that we were surrounded by family—grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and lots of new church friends!  Grampa was now my pastor (from father to grandfather…now there’s a switch) and Gramma Jo was my pastor’s wife.  My Aunt Cammie (really, more like a cousin in terms of age and relationships) was a constant companion and new best friend.  Then there was Uncle Paul and Aunt Ruth and their kids—my “new” cousins—who lived across town and Uncle Chip & Aunt Lib, who lived just a few doors up from us on Walnut Street.  Not only did we see Cammie & Jimmy and the other cousins on Sundays and weeknight prayer meetings, but we saw them passing in the hallways in school and we played with them as “instant family friends.”  Jimmy was a year older than I, so we got to explore and bike and run around the town together.  After we moved again, a year later, I didn’t see Jimmy until we were in Houghton College together 8 years later!  But our time in Corinth cemented our cousin-friendship! Jimmy & Cammie introduced us to the behind-the-scenes places in Corinth, like the supposed Indian burial ground at the top of the hill from the church.  Local legend, according to the Corinth kids, was that Indians were buried underneath the big rocks that were on the hillside.  We ran around, jumping from rock to rock, thinking that we were somehow part of ancient history.  They also showed us the famous Stewart’s Ice Cream shop, where you could eat the toppings off of your make-your-own sundae and then add more on top.  Now that’s a yummy memory!  And we learned that the town beach (swimming in the Hudson) was next to the town library and just down the street from the center of town.  We loved the small town feel and being surrounded by family—all in all, a great place to be for a year!

Remembering Corinth, Part 3, Geography Lesson

DFH Volume Issue 12

Remembering Corinth, by Dave Hayes, is a ten-part series about Dave’s remembrances of Corinth in the late ‘50s.  Dave, a retired elementary teacher and guidance counselor (36 years), and part time adjunct professor in the Counseling Dept. at nearby West Chester Univ. (24 years-8 after his “first” retirement) lives in Pottstown, PA.  He and his wife, Kathleen, had four children, Heather, Jeremy, Emily (d.2008) and Benjamin.  He descends from Wilber Sr. as follows: Wilber Sr., Rev. Charles “Chop” Dayton, Isabelle “Izzie” [Dayton] Hayes, David Hayes.

Speaking of geographical influences, here’s a story that involved my brother Keith and me and reminded us that not all areas of the country observe the same customs.  In Texas, where there wasn’t much rain, when it did come it was fast and furious with lots of run-off.  There weren’t a lot of swimming pools in the neighborhood in the late 50’s so

when it started raining all the kids would run inside, change into their swim suits then lie in the gutters beside the streets to pick up the rain water that would pour over them.  Being on a hill was the best way to experience the rushing water flowing over you.  Great fun, eh?  Well, apparently that’s only in Texas because when it started raining in Corinth that first summer, Keith & I ran in to get into our swim suits and proceeded to get into the gutter.  Our friends stared at us as we tried to explain what we were doing.  They thought we were crazy, so we climbed out and slinked inside to change.  Lesson learned: what they do in Texas, they might not do in New York. In our nomadic experience, we learned to use our pertinent geographical

Remembering Corinth, Part 2-Going North, Y’all

DFH Volume 1 Issue 11

Rmembering Corinth is a ten-part series about Dave’s memories of Corinth in the late ‘50s.  Dave, a retired elementary teacher and guidance counselor (36 years), and part time adjunct professor in the Counseling Dept. at nearby West Chester Univ. (24 years-8 after his “first” retirement) lives in Pottstown, PA.  He and his wife, Kathleen, had four children, Heather, Jeremy, Emily (d.2008) and Benjamin.  He descends from Wilber Sr. as follows: Wilber Sr., Rev. Charles “Chop” Dayton, Isabelle “Izzie” [Dayton] Hayes, David Hayes.

One of the biggest adjustments for us was the difference in the flora and fauna.  We couldn’t get over all the trees and mountains and greenery. Accustomed to the arid climate with little rain in Texas, we mostly ran around in shorts and tee-shirts, barefoot, catching horned-toad lizards and stuffing them into our pockets.  In Corinth there were actual seasons, and the winter was certainly something to adjust to.  We were enamored with the majestic Hudson River and adjacent waterfalls and that HUGE pile of wood, just down the street from us, that dwarfed the nearby buildings.  It was easy to tell when you were at the southern end of town by the sight of that enormous mound of cut logs—a reminder of one of the chief industries in town, the International Paper Co.  In Texas we were aware of the possibility of tornadoes and in New York, we quickly got used to navigating in a snow storm.  We were immediately aware of the distinction of four seasons. Where we had come from, there were only two—wet and dry.  One last thing to get used to was the north-country dialect.  No more of the southwestern twang mixed with a bit of Dixie…no, this was definitely a different way of talking and, again, it took us awhile to figure out what our relatives and friends were trying to tell us.

Remembering Corinth-Part 1 How we Came to Corinth

DHF Volume 1 Issue 10

Remembering Corinth, by Dave Hayes, is a ten-part series about Dave’s remembrances of Corinth in the late ‘50s.  Dave, a retired elementary teacher and guidance counselor (36 years), and part time adjunct professor in the Counseling Dept. at nearby West Chester Univ. (24 years-8 after his “first” retirement) lives in Pottstown, PA.  He and his wife, Kathleen, had four children, Heather, Jeremy, Emily (d.2008) and Benjamin.  He descends from Wilber Sr. as follows: Wilber Sr., Rev. Charles “Chop” Dayton, Isabelle “Izzie” [Dayton] Hayes, David Hayes.

Our family moved to Corinth in the fall of 1958.  My father (Quentin “Kent” Hayes), a new Army chaplain, had been stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, for a year and a half when he got orders to report to Thule, Greenland, for twelve-month unaccompanied tour.  In the service, this is considered a “hardship assignment,” since the family cannot be there with him.  So we (Mom—Izzie Dayton Hayes, my brother Keith and I) needed to live somewhere for a year.  It seemed only logical to relocate to Corinth since Mom’s father was then the pastor of the Wesleyan Church there, and she had other relatives in the same town.  Besides, that’s where she had been born, so it really was like “coming home.”  The three of us moved into a recently-constructed apartment at the bottom of the hill on Walnut Street and settled into our new home-for-a-year in Corinth.  I was in 4^th grade, and Keith was in 2^nd . We entered Corinth Central School as the “new kids” half way through the year.  Mom got a job as a case worker in Ballston Spa with the Saratoga County Social Services Dept., returning  to the work she had done in Clinton County near Plattsburgh, NY, following her graduation from Houghton College and subsequent marriage.  We settled in, and became absorbed into small town life in Northern New York State, while Dad was north of the Arctic Circle in frigid Greenland.

Next week Part 2-Going North, Y’all