For Lorraine Hook, the enormous void left by a blaze that destroyed a historic church in Tay Township will be difficult to fill.
“It’s devastating,” Hook says while perusing the charred remains where Ebenezer United Church once proudly stood.
“It’s very difficult right now. It’s a disaster. There’s nothing there.”
Hook, who serves as Ebenezer United Church's board chair, had been attending the church for more than 70 years and notes it has had a indelible impact on the lives of so many over the years.
“I’ve been going there since I was a baby,” says Hook, who notes her parents once owned much of the nearby farmland.
“The church was the hub of our community since it’s a farming community.”
Over its 135-year history, the small wooden church became an important meeting place, including in the fight against Site 41 with many members playing an active role in the campaign to stop the proposed regional landfill a dozen years ago.
It also maintained a steady place in the hearts and minds of those living in the area as they attended regular services along with spirited celebrations like baptisms and weddings and more sombre occasions as they honoured loved ones during funerals.
Hook recalls many of those memories as she walks along the grounds as snow softly falls and a chilly breeze makes its way across the adjacent farm fields.
She points to a still smouldering filing cabinet, which held many of the church’s earliest archives, and long planks of charred timber.
“We’re hoping we’ll be able to cut back some of the burned wood and make a cross,” explains Hook, who also points out a nearby wooden bench that somehow escaped the fire and recognizes the Montgomery side of her family tree.
While some of the archives remain in digital format and through collected histories, including baptismal records from 1917 to the present day, which Hook had been keeping at her home given her penchant for history and genealogy, there are some things that simply can’t be replaced.
And that intangible is really the feeling one had when he or she entered the historic structure and felt the kinship of its parishioners.
“My daughters (Tonya and Katherine) attended Sunday school there,” says Hook, whose parents Grant and Marjorie Fagan were also heavily involved with the church.
“We had strawberry suppers, pork suppers, pancake brunches there. Sometimes, we’d get together to play cards or games there.”
Fellow church member Elsie Wood says the church’s place in the community’s fabric can’t be underestimated.
“There’s a closeness you wouldn’t get in a big city church,” says Wood, who has been attending services at the church since 1957. “My children and grandchildren have all been involved with the church.
“We weren’t a large congregation, but we were pretty dedicated. It identified our community. It was our little village.”
With about 35 congregation members nowadays, the church hasn’t had a regular minister since 2014 and has been relying on “pulpit supply” to lead services in the interim.
And going into the holiday season, Hook notes the church was already decorated for Christmas with the congregation recognizing the first Sunday of Advent this past weekend.
“We had the nativity scene and the Christmas tree up,” Hook says, noting there were plans to have members bring clothing and food for the less fortunate this coming Sunday.
“It’s a hard season because it’s Christmas.”
Shawn Aymer, Tay Township’s fire chief, says they’re unable to pinpoint the cause of the early morning fire that caused an estimated $500,000 in damage.
“We don’t have a tremendous amount of information due to the extent of the damage,” Aymer says. “It was already fully involved when we arrived.”
Hook says the church featured electric heat and they never used candles during worship.
“We didn’t have propane or oil,” she says. “I don’t know if we’ll ever know how it started.”
Hook says parishioners are still in a state of shock from the early Monday morning fire, meaning it’s a little too early to determine what their next steps as a congregation might be in terms of finding a new locale to hold services.
“It just happened and we’re still trying to process this,” she says, noting St. Paul’s United Church in Midland has offered to help out.
“Maybe in four or five days we’ll have more of an idea. We’ll have to brainstorm to find a place.”
As for rebuilding the church, Hook isn’t sure they’d be allowed to use the existing footprint since the church’s foundation is located right beside the intersection of Ebenezer Sideroad and Ron Jones Road. That close location wasn’t an issue when the church was built in 1886 since roads weren’t as wide with people either walking, riding a horse or arriving by carriage for services.
And whether they rebuild at all will be largely determined by how quickly things proceed through insurance, Hook says.
As for the immediate future, there’s the void felt by Hook and other members when it comes to figuring out what to do this coming Sunday.
While some may find solace and opt to worship in neighbouring churches, Hook expects some will pause for reflection.
“I imagine I’ll wake up Sunday morning and see how I feel before deciding what to do,” Hook says. “We’ll get over it, but right now it feels like a death of someone close.”
