The Hall

Douglas Botkin sitting on my beloved '57 Plymouth. Fairview Church in background.

On October 22, 1954, the Iveyville Fellowship Hall and its contents were sold at public auction. The 22'x50' building was purchased by the members of the Fairview Congregational Christian Church. That fall and winter a basement was dug and a foundation readied on the corner immediately south of the Fairview Church before the building made its lumbering way the three miles to its new location. The Fairview Community Hall was brought into existence.
On March 22, 1955 a 'record crowd' attended the first event at the new Fairview Hall when around 165 Corning businessmen and their guests - farmers of the area - attended a town and country dinner sponsored by the Corning Chamber of Commerce. A month later, Tuesday, April 26, 1955, a 'family night' was held in the community hall. A program of Safety Instruction was put on by State Patrolmen and a home movie showing the moving of the hall to its new location was viewed.

Those were just two of the community wide events that came to be held at what we usually referred to just as The Hall. Many of the events hosted were bridal showers. Women of the church gathered to decorate the building and tables and bring their own artistically wrapped gifts for the bride-to-be. Believe me, it was an honor and a delight to see all those presents waiting to be unwrapped. Would one of them be the coveted electric skillet?

In addition to the gift table, there was the beautifully appointed refreshment table complete with a cake, nuts, mints, coffee and punch - all in the bride's chosen colors. This picture is from the shower for my brother Ron's fiance, Marianne. I think cars were part of the motif because my brother was such a motor head.

Several years before this occasion, there had been another big event at the hall - a surprise party for Ron's  birthday. I can still remember all the secrecy and planning that went on to pull that off. Our neighbor, Ron's friend, Fred Mitchell, was entrusted with the challenge of getting Ronald to the hall without tipping him off to what was going on. Somehow, he made up an excuse to leave off 'scooping the loop' in town to drive the eight miles out to Fairview. As they came within sight and saw all the cars, Fred must have said something like, "I wonder what's going on there. Let's stop and see." About that time Ron noticed some cars that looked very familiar, like his friend's, Delmar's. When Fred opened the door into the hall and everyone yelled, Surprise!, my brother finally tumbled. "I wondered why Chafa's car was here", he said. That was such a fun night. A hi-fi was set up and music was soon playing. There was bottled pop (an unusual splurge for my parents), chips, a cake - and a whole lot of laughter.

Our family never had to look far for someone to make a cake for a wedding or shower. All we had to do was ask Mom's sister, Aunt Lois (Mitchell). And all we had to pay for was the ingredients. She did all the baking and decorating for us. Here is Aunt Lois on the left, with Mom helping her in the kitchen at Grandma Delphia's. It looks like the sheet cakes are all ready and they are finishing the roses on the wedding cake. (I think this was for Ron and Marianne's wedding.)

The Hall played another big roll in our young lives. It is where we learned to dance. It must have been the fall of my eighth grade year when Lois Sickler came each week to give us dance lessons. I know it cost for the classes, but it wasn't much - maybe fifty cents a week. Most of the attendees were the kids from the neighborhood, although I think the lessons were open to anyone. In addition to the actual steps for the dances, she was also trying to teach us proper etiquette. The boy was supposed to ask, "May I have this dance?" And he was supposed to escort the young lady back to her seat at the end of the music. The girl was supposed to say, "Thank you for the dance."
Mrs. Sickler was a good teacher, but somewhat strict. If she saw someone doing something wrong, she would lift the arm off the record and shout at the offender. She taught (or tried to teach) us how to Polka, Schottische, Waltz, Two-Step, Fox Trot, even Square Dance. I don't remember any rock and roll, though, which was just coming on the scene and something we all wanted to learn. Each week she would take us through learning a new dance and then make us practice over and over.
As with any function where boys and girls are thrown together, there is always one or two you are 'just dying' to dance with and at least one or two you are trying to evade - hoping he will ask someone else. For me, one of the latter was Gene Welch. I don't think his folks were members of our church, but they lived close enough that he came to the dance classes. I'll never forget the night he looked around the room and zeroed in on me. "Come on, I'll do this one with you", he grunted, like he was doing me a huge favor. (So much for the proper etiquette we were supposed to be learning.) I didn't want to dance with him, but I was too polite to say so. I think the dance was a Schottishe, something neither of us was too adept at - him less so than I. Finally it was over. I made my escape back across the room and avoided him thereafter.

The Hall and the Church are both gone now as are most of those responsible for moving the hall from Iveyville to Fairview, but the memories remain.