CARIBOU, Maine — As a lifelong member of the Bessie Gray Memorial United Methodist Church and co-chair of its historical committee, 76-year-old Mary Lou Brown took an active role in organizing the celebration of the church’s 100th anniversary in 2013.
After reading minutes from past church council meetings, Brown was particularly interested in trying to find a time capsule that had been buried on Nov. 15, 1913, as part of the newly constructed church’s dedication service. It’s location, however, was not disclosed in the minutes.
Determined to locate it, Brown enlisted the help of Caribou Utilities District Manager Alan Hitchcock, who showed up with a metal detector. While the device indicated there was something in a pillar of the portico located at the main entrance of the church off Prospect Street, Hitchcock and Brown just assumed it was a piece of rebar used to reinforce the pillar and moved on.
Brown’s mostly tongue-in-cheek efforts to convince church leadership that it was a good idea to dig up the entire grounds in order to find the time capsule were unsuccessful, so she resigned herself to the fact that it most likely would not be found in time for the centennial celebration.
“I was disappointed,” Brown admitted, “but what could I do?”
Almost two years later, enter a typical northern Maine snowstorm and a plow. While clearing the church’s driveway early in January, the plow operator accidentally ran into the corner stone pillar, knocking the sturdy black metal box out of its 100-year hiding place and onto the frozen ground. When Roy Alden, a church trustee who was contacted shortly after the plow accident, arrived to inspect the situation, he found the undamaged box and immediately knew what it was. His next step was to call Brown to let her know what had happened.
“I was ecstatic,” Brown exclaimed.
Caribou business owner Paul Powers, who has several decades’ experience working with sheet metal, was enlisted to devise a plan to safely open the capsule.
So on Sunday, Feb. 8, several members of the church and community gathered in Gray Memorial’s dining area after regular worship services to watch Powers, with the help of church member Dave Belyea, open the soldered together lead-lined copper box with a drill and a pair of tin snips.
Careful not to go too far inside, Powers slowly peeled away strips of the box’s top until it was fully open. The church’s current pastor, Rev. Thomas Bentum, then donned a pair of white gloves to begin pulling out the valuable contents.
Silence filled the room as, one by one, Rev. Bentum revealed items such as a 1913 edition of the Aroostook Republican, an issue of the Epworth Herald and copy of the Christian Advocate, all of which made mention of the church’s dedication. Church documentation such as a statement of pledges for the building fund, a copy of the church’s deed, a description of the church, two postcard photographs, and a copy of the church’s dedication program also were found inside the time capsule. A United Methodist Conference yearbook, Quarterly Conference nominations, and a 1910 dime were among other items stored inside.
“It’s great to be able to connect with our past,” Rev. Bentum reflected after the reveal. “It’s interesting to see what they thought would inspire us and to be able to touch what they touched.”
All of the items were in remarkably pristine condition, thanks to the construction of the box and its careful placement in the pillar.
“The box was very well built. Craftsmanship was much more unique than today,” Powers said.
Brown was anything but disappointed with the results of Sunday’s gathering.
“It was glorious,” she exclaimed while making her way through the crowd that had gathered to get a closer look at the contents. “Wonderful fellowship, grand attendance, yummy food served by the children — I can’t believe how well it went.”
And she was not alone in her excitement.
“It was a great celebration, a good thing,” said 97-year-old Anna Roberts, the church’s eldest member. “It was very impressive.”
Vicki Wood, a former northern Maine district superintendent of the United Methodist Church, made the trip to Caribou from Newport to experience the reveal and read a statement from current District Superintendent Pat MacHugh. Wood commented on the continued vitality of Gray Memorial through the years.
“Aroostook County knows how to do church,” Wood said. “Gray Memorial has kept its integrity of what it means to be a church.”
In addition to Wood, representatives from state government and city leadership were present for Sunday’s ceremony.
“Gray Memorial has always made historic events for the city of Caribou,” local state Rep. Carol McElwee told the crowd. “Caribou is a historic city. I’m honored to be here for the opening of this time capsule.”
As the contents of the century-old time capsule were being placed inside an archival box donated, along with the white gloves used to handle the items, by the Caribou Public Library, Brown and other members of the church’s historical committee chatted about possibly replacing the capsule with new items.
They decided that the entire congregation should be brought in on the discussion about what to do with the contents of the 1913 capsule and what might go into a new one.
No timetable for decisions was established, so for now, the items from 1913 will be stored in the archival box at the church.
The 1913 capsule itself remains about 90 percent intact and Powers agreed to donate a new cover for it or a complete substitute container should the church decide to use a new one.
“One thing’s for certain,” Brown said. If a new time capsule is put in place “we will maintain clear documentation on its location.”