RUMFORD – It won’t be a white-glove affair and neither will it be high tea, but a special afternoon tea set for 2 p.m. on Saturday will definitely have a bit of elegance to it.
The tea at the Rumford Point Congregational Church will honor the memory of a longtime member and supporter.
Elizabeth “Betsy” Baker, who died in 2001 when in her late 90s, had come to Rumford Point from New York as a summer resident for decades before settling in the hamlet year-round. She lived in the big white house next to the church, and she always attended services.
“Even when she was in failing health, she always came to church,” said Louise Morton, a member of the church’s recently rejuvenated Ladies Aid Society. “She had a marvelous sense of humor.”
The Ladies Aid, which disbanded seven years ago, got back together again last fall, said Lynne Ramsey, a longtime church member who is heading up the special afternoon tea.
They have already planted an everlasting summer hydrangea in Baker’s memory in the church’s Memory Garden.
That garden, established in 1997 by the Sunday school class, honors some of the church’s deceased members with perennials, often from their gardens, and a slate plaque on which their names are etched.
About a dozen people are honored right now, and several more people are expected to have flowers planted in their memory later in the season, Ramsey said.
A tea party for honoring Baker seemed particularly appropriate, said Morton, because Baker and her mother had operated a tea room on their veranda called the Sophisticated Shed during the 1940s and 1950s.
“Betsy was an elegant and refined lady,” she said.
She also was a generous financial supporter during life, and left a major financial legacy that has enabled a number of improvements to the church and its parsonage, said Morton.
In keeping with the tradition of a tea party, tables with white tablecloths will be laden with tiny tea cakes and tea cookies and punch. And the tea will be served in china teacups.
Comments are no longer available on this story