Saskatchewan Anglican

The newspaper of the Dioceses of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon and Qu’Appelle

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When St. Thomas’ Church, Vernon, located midway between McLean and Qu’Appelle was constructed in 1898-99 no one realized that the flat roof in the tower would be prone to developing minor leaks over the years. But leak it did, and various repairs have been done over the years.
By Bruce Farrer
Photography: 
Bruce Farrer

History recorded in wood at St. Thomas, Vernon

VERNON (Qu’A) — When some members of St. Thomas Church recently did repairs in the tower of the church building, they made a surprising discovery.

Fifty-five years ago, when six members of the congregation replaced some beams in the attic of the tower, they wrote their names on one of the 2-by-8 beams. All these parishioners, with one exception, are now deceased, with three of them buried in the adjacent cemetery. Of course the new five-member work crew (including the one surviving parishioner of 1970) wrote their names on another replacement beam.

The three parishioners who assisted with the repairs this time are all children or grandchildren of some of those original workmen.

Some day, decades from now, future parishioners at St. Thomas will discover these two unique historical records, and if new work is needed, a third set of names and dates will probably be added.

The lighting makes it hard to make out the date, but parish records confirm this beam was signed during repair work done on Aug. 15, 1970. The workers were Alph Willison, Bob Macdonald, Art Orchard, Llew Farrer, Bruce Farrer and Tom Howden.
Two carpenters, Kostiantyn Postnikov and Dmytro Kotenko, and parishioners Bruce Farrer, Brian Herman and Don Howden repaired the tower once more, on Nov. 15, 2025.

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