As chair of BGAT sometime in the 90s, I was in charge of fixing our steeple, which had developed several large and visible holes.

The first step was to get a congregational vote to spend money from the Heritage Fund, which was earmarked for the building. We won the vote easily, but there was some opposition, mostly from a few long-time members who were used to being very thrifty in Follen’s lean period in the 1970s and 80s. One member said at the meeting that we could live with the holey steeple — “It’s not falling down yet.”

Replacing the steeple meant finding and contracting with a steeplejack. I learned that steeplejacks actually still exist! My meetings with them were interesting. It was February and we would meet outside and talk about the project a little and then go up into the steeple. What I remember most was how cold it was and how the steeplejacks were just wearing hoodies. I had on my full ski outfit and was freezing. The steeplejacks would climb up the infrastructure of the steeple barehanded to look at the holes.

Two more good stories came out when the steeple was done. One was a real Lexington story. The Historic Districts Commission asked us to paint the steeple gray, like it had been with the old shingles. We explained that the new brown cedar shingles would turn gray as they aged (naturally). They withdrew the request. The other story was about generosity. The day the steeplejack was finished, we came by to look things over. We looked up in surprise to see that he had gilded our weathervane. He said it was his gift to the church.

 

—Walter L.