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Couples still marrying at meeting house

Married in Forty Fort Meeting House: Suzanne and Andrew Tuzinski, 2005; Russell H. Andrews and late wife, Gail, 1968; Audrey Billings and late husband, Frank, 1948; Deborah and Michael Kosin, 1999; Valerie and Dale Nat, 2005.

FRED ADAMS/THE TIMES LEADER

Valerie Lynn Therrell and Dale Robert Nate tied the knot on Oct. 29, 2005.

Carol David wed Robert Bytheway on Aug. 20, 1966, at the Forty Fort Meeting House.

Audrey Lois James and Frank Homer Billings got married in September 1948.

One bride cleaned the Forty Fort Meeting House “from top to bottom” as she prepared for her summer wedding there.
Another learned from experience that her stretch limo couldn’t quite pull up to the door.
A third realized guests would have to keep their coats on during her November nuptials because the 200-year-old building is unheated.
Those details might sound like drawbacks, but talk in depth with couples who exchanged vows inside the Meeting House, and you’ll see they consider themselves blessed to have found this historic setting, tucked into a corner of the Forty Fort Cemetery.
“We love driving by and saying ‘that’s where we got married,’ said Kelly Hann Purcell of Kingston, who married her husband, Patrick, on Nov. 26, 2005.
“Everything is original,” said Anne Thomas of Plains Township, who married Thomas J. Thomas in May 1991. “The wood, the pews, the doors on the pews. You get a sense of the people who worshipped there 150 years ago, a sense of their presence.”
The public is welcome to sense the history of the Forty Fort Meeting House during a concert, ceremony and vespers service tomorrow and on tours Monday through Friday. A 200th-anniversary dinner is set for Oct. 6 at Wyoming Seminary Lower School in Forty Fort.
As part of the anniversary celebration, committee member Sally Shea has compiled an album filled with photographs of – so far – 15 Meeting House weddings.
For the brides and grooms, contributing photos sparked a wealth of memories.
“It was a beautiful September day with an endless blue sky,” said Audrey James Billings of Trucksville, who married her late husband, Frank, in 1948, after his return from World War II.
“We left later for a week in the Poconos. Friends lent us their cottage, as we were just starting out and money was scarce. We could not have had a better time if we had flown to Paris … We were just thankful to be together.”
Some memories are tinged with mystery, including Carol Ann Potomis’ description of the way the bagpiper who played during her 2002 wedding to Mark Buss “disappeared among the tombstones” after the ceremony.
Others are humorous. “Our wedding was on the first day of small-game season,” said Russell Andrews of Sweet Valley, who married his late wife, Gail, in October 1968. “All the men who came had various comments about not being able to go hunting.”
And some speak to tradition. “The American Indian’s belief is, when you get married facing East you’ll have a perfect marriage,” said Elizabeth Roper, explaining that her husband, Charles, was willing to get married in the Meeting House as long as they faced the appropriate direction.
She, for her part, had admired the building for years and predicted in her youth that one day she’d get married there.
In other cases, it was a groom who steered a bride toward the Meeting House.
“I was a history buff,” said Michael Kosin, who married his wife, Deborah, there in 1999 and glided away with her in a horse-drawn carriage after the ceremony.
“I’ve thought it was a great place, every since my (Pettebone) Elementary School class took a field trip,” said Forty Fort Councilman Andrew Tuzinski, who persuaded the former Suzanne Jones of Millburn, N.J., to marry him there in 2005.
“I was really impressed that you don’t see a cross in the place until you look at the woodwork, and then, I believe, you see seven.”
The Meeting House was built in 1807 by Methodists and Congregationalists (a forerunner of Presbyterians), who took turns attending services conducted by circuit-riding preachers.
By the 19th century, Melanie Frantz Harwood believes, her ancestor Nathan Grier Parke was among the visiting ministers.
“My grandfather had wonderful stories,” said Harwood, who became a Meeting House bride when she married her husband, Richard, just days before the Agnes Flood of 1972 inundated the building.
In one of the old family stories, a dog with a biblical name had sneaked into the Meeting House, and when the preacher – very coincidentally – called out the name as part of the sermon, little Samuel or Elijah or whatever the hound was called “jumped out of the balcony.”
It may just be a story, Harwood admits, but it’s a good one.
Meanwhile, the story of Meeting House weddings continues, with Jason Kilgore and Donna Reid of Kingston set to exchange vows today.
“Everything about the wedding is very simple and fall-oriented,” Kilgore said. “The Meeting House fits in very well with what we want to do.”
CELEBRATION

Wyoming Valley West High School Band concert, 12:30 p.m. Sunday, outside the Meeting House, 20 River St., Forty Fort.

Opening ceremonies: 1:30 p.m. Sunday

Interfaith Vespers Service: 5:30 p.m. Sunday

Tours: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday

Bicentennial Gala Dinner: Oct. 6 at Wyoming Seminary Lower School. Cocktails at 5:30 p.m., dinner at 7 p.m. Tickets are $70. Call 270-2142.

To make a donation to the renovation fund, send checks to FF Cem./FFMH Preservation Fund, 20 River St., Forty Fort PA 18701.