The Parson and Arson

This is a story from my neighborhood in Santa Rosa.  I'm not sure about all the details, but I want to share with you the heart of the story.

The Church

Many years ago, a parson bought an old, modest, church on Cherry Street, around the corner from where I live, fixed it up and began tending his flock.  Over the years, the church flourished, then faded, then came back, then faded out again.  When we moved to our neighborhood ten years ago, the church was in disrepair but, from the outside, still a lovely building.  A new set of people took over the church, now run by a nonprofit that has the deceased parson's relatives on the board.  Today, the church looks attractive, inside and out.

Behind the church sat the old parsonage house, a rickety two-story building with a veranda fronting the upper story and stairs going up from the street.  The church allowed the parson's grandson, Walter, to live in the rundown parsonage with his partner Bevy who has a medical disability related to polio in her youth  As Bevy, with amazing cheer, puts it, ""I struggled my way out of a wheelchair when I was a child and now I'm struggling my way back into one."  Walt and Bevy were slowly fixing up the house -- but had a long way to go.

Arson

Several weeks ago, when Walt and Bevy were out listening to Irish musician friends playing locally, an arsonist set fire to a garbage can underneath the veranda of the parsonage.  The arsonist was on a rampage, committing the same crime at two other houses in downtown Santa Rosa.  The parsonage burned.  Fortunately, the Fire Department put out the fire before the bulding came down but left a black, smoldering mess.  Walt and Bevy lost a great deal -- most of their belongings and all their pets.  They put a sign outside the ruin which says "ARSON -- Humans are safe, animals passed away."

Walt and Bevy

A friend and neighbor wrote this description of Walt and Bevy. 

"Walter and Bevy are local creatives active in the neighborhood for many years.  They were once the storeowners of Animé Baka, a place that sold art, animation and comic books.  The Mendocino Avenue location was a place for creative young people and artists and Bevy and Walter helped at least one homeless couple, artist Dave Lloyd and Ruth Anne Grogan off the street during those years.  Since the closing of their store they have continued the Animé Club by Internet and by hosting potlucks and movie nights. All of this was accomplished while living with Bevy’s disability.  It was because of her compromised mobility that the neighborhood was particularly worried the night of the fire.   Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they found that Bevy and Walter had been out seeing the Irish Band 4 Shillings Short when the fire started.  Sadly none of their five cats, nor their dog survived and very little of their belongings."

Walt and Bevy had no fire insurance.  They also had no place to go.  The Red Cross put them up in a motel for several nights and ultimately they found a place to rent.

Our neighborhood swang into action.  I was amazed by the response.  While we have been trying to develop neighborliness in recent years through our neighborhood association, I never expected many people to come to the aid of Walt and Bevy.  

We had an email list for many in the neighborhood, so Jim, our neighborhood association president, sent out a message about the fire with warnings to residents not to leave out garbage cans.  He described Walt and Bevy's difficulties.  Soon people were volunteering to send money and pay for a large dumpster for black timbers and other refuse from the fire.  Other neighbors got together to help put boards over the broken windows and to block off the collapsed staircase so kids would not try to play at the ruined building and get hurt.

The Orchard Street Church

Next, some neighbors, who live in another church building three streets away that now stands as a private home, got into action.  The owners, Linda and Cheryl, of this church/home use the space of the former sanctuary as a performance hall for music and performance art.  Here's their description of their church/home.  

"The teal church on Orchard was, for many years a place of worship.  Since 1913 it’s been 7th Day Adventist, Jewish Synagogue, Church of Religious Science, and some say Mormon Temple.  In the late 1980’s 515 Orchard became a residence and was a favorite party and music spot for the neighborhood hosted by then owner Peter Eirmann who loved to play jazz and his poet partner AnneMarie Ginella.
In 2007 performers Cheryl Ulrich and Linda Rose-McRoy combined their small nest eggs to purchase the building and reside there with artist Erik Paul.  At that time the mission began:  To cultivate original work in all mediums."

Linda and Cheryl knew Walt and Bevy and conceived of the idea of putting on a benefit concert for them.  The Irish musicians agreed to come back to town and donate their services as did several other local musicians.

A Neighborhood Happening

Pretty soon, people were collecting clothes for Walt and Bevy, who sent out emails describing their needs and clothing sizes.   People wrote checks for Walt and Bevy and sent them to the address of the burned parsonage; happily, the Post Office is holding Walt and Bevy's mail so they can collect mailed contributions every day.  Then people started organizing the benefit concert -- volunteering to make refreshments, serve as ushers, do publicity.

The concert took place on a Sunday night.  It was a full house -- perhaps 70 people paying a donation of $20 or more.  The music was fantastic, as were the refreshments.  Walt and Bevy, arm and arm, sat on a couch to listen to their friends play.  They looked happy.  Linda wrote in a note to them after the concert,  "Thanks Bevy and Walter for what you have sustained and what you contributed even in loss."

I don't know what will happen to the parsonage, but it looks nearly impossible to rebuild.  I hope that whatever replaces the parsonage is built in a style compatible with that of the church.

I have thought a lot about the arsonist.  He choose to irrevocably change the lives of good people who lost a lot they can never replace.  Arson reminds us there can be sickness in the human spirit.  

The neighborhood coming together for Walt and Bevy, people they barely knew, reminds us that the human spirit can extend beyond one's front door, sidewalk, and street to the people around the corner we hardly know, if at all, but who did good for others and deserved the goodness of their neighbor's hearts.