This Week at St. Mary's-in-Tuxedo
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Upcoming Calendar
Services are being live-streamed online on Facebook (you do not need a Facebook account to participate).

Saturday, July 24
10am to 2pm - Grand Opening of The Emporium

Sunday, July 25
10am - Holy Eucharist (in-person and online)
11am to 1pm - The Emporium is open

Wednesday, July 28
10am - Holy Eucharist (in-person and online)
2pm to 6pm - Sloatsburg Food Pantry is open (in Suffern)
From the Rector
Dear Parishioners and Friends,

One of the interesting things about being a parish priest is that one never knows who might pop in. I recently received a phone call from Beryl (I'll leave her last name out for privacy, but old-timers will remember her). She was in the area and wanted to attend our Wednesday service and meet with me afterward. Well, she got lost and didn't make it to the service, but showed up immediately afterward.

After changing out of my vestments, we went to my office for a chat. She just turned 80, and as it turns out, grew up in the Park in the 40's and 50's. Her family lived in the gardener's cottage of the Poor House, and she attended TPS there before it moved to its current location. Like others of her generation, she fondly remembers frolicking in abandoned mansions with her childhood friends. What a playground that must have been! She and her family were very active at St. Mary's, and she shared some memories with me, including one of how her brother once overturned a huge silver vase full of lilies during the Easter service. "Water gushed down the chancel steps," she said with a tinge of glee in her voice.

She was married at St. Mary's in 1964 and soon moved with her husband to the Boston area, where she still lives today. I greatly enjoyed learning about her family history here, but the most interesting thing to me was learning that the very last stained glass window to be placed in St. Mary's was donated by her mother in memory of her father. It is located close to the main entrance of the church, and features the child Jesus at Tuxedo Lake, surrounded by the flora and fauna (minus the bears) of the area. It was made by an artist in Suffern.

I have always found this window intriguing, and especially love to show it to children. One animal who is prominently featured is clearly not a part of the local wildlife--a big, black dog. When she finished telling me about the making of the window, I said, "I am so glad to know this, and and even more interested to know---this is your dog, isn't it?" "Oh, yes," she said, "that's Sargey... though he never looked as good in real life."

God bless, Sargey, wherever you are.

Father Rick
917.658.6314
Emporium Grand Opening July 24th
Hymn Sing on the Lake August 8th
Did You Know?
What do St. Mary’s and Rockefeller Center have in common? Read on to find out!

Henry Morgan Tilford, best known as the founder of what later became Chevron Oil, died in 1919 and was buried in the churchyard at St. Mary’s. In 1922, Isabelle Giles Tilford, his wife, planned a big change for the church in his honor. Mrs. Tilford arranged for the redesign of the sanctuary by noted Gothic revivalist architect Bertram Goodhue. The redesign included a work by Lee Laurie, the German-born and Yale-trained architectural sculptor who is perhaps best known for the bronze statue of Atlas at Rockefeller Center and the magnificent reredos at Saint Thomas Church on Fifth Avenue (a reredos is an ornamental screen covering the wall behind a church's altar). Laurie’s addition to the St. Mary's reredos is the gold and alabaster panel depicting the Annunciation located just behind the altar.

The Tilfords lived in a house in Tuxedo Park that was considered "one of the finest country residences in America” by the New York Times in 1919. The house was later home to a conference center for the Episcopal Diocese of New York and subsequently a Carpatho-Russian Eastern Orthodox monastery, before it returned to private ownership in the 1990s. It is now commonly known as the “Poor House”, recalling its first owner and co-founder of Standard & Poor’s Henry William Poor.
Diocesan Youth Camp
Open to youth ages 12-18.

Youth Conference is a week-long event for the young people of the Episcopal Diocese of New York. It is a combination of many things; part retreat, part camp, and part convention. A chance for the youth of the Diocese to escape the pressures of the outside world, meet people their own age, discuss topics relevant to their lives, define their own personal spirituality, and have fun all at the same time. Please join us for the week, and make friendships that can last a lifetime!
How to contact us...
Website: www.stmtux.org
Office: 845.351.5122
Physical Address: 10 Fox Hill Rd, Tuxedo Park, NY 10987
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 637, Tuxedo Park, NY 10987