I learned so much from the older people in my life

I was just watching a news piece on the progress being made to rebuild the Notre Dame church in Paris. You may remember seeing it on fire a couple of years ago and the terrible destruction caused by the fire.

The news piece showed the rebuilding of the Notre Dame spire that was famous on the Paris skyline. A new spire is being built in the French country side away from Paris. It is being built on the ground and work is progressing from the ground up. The original joinery and craftsmanship are being meticulously replicated in the new spire. Even the oak timbers being used are from the period the original spire was built.

This story made me remember a job I was working on, probably around 1970. I had started working in the summer of 1968 for a French contractor, Paul Vermette, and Paul had a job to rebuild and repair a church steeple in Williamstown, Vermont. The church steeple had been struck by lightning, and was damaged from this strike.

We were up in the attic area above the church sanctuary working on the framework of the steeple. We were often hanging from steel cables that we used with old stump pullers to try and pull the steeple back to its proper place in the roof framing. I remember asking Paul, “How did they build this steeple and do the fine craftsmanship and joinery way up off the ground like we were?” Paul said, “These steeples were built on the ground or on the floor of the church near to where they would be raised to an opening in the ceiling and roof.” Paul said, “The builders would place cribbing one layer at a time under the steeple and gradually raise it to its place in the framework of the ceiling and roof.” The cribbing used was like the dimensions of railroad ties so it was a slow and careful process to get the steeple up to its permanent place in the structure of the church.

Paul’s explanation made so much sense to me, and I was reminded of this when I saw the new church spire being built for Notre Dame.

I have learned so much from the people in my life. So many in my community were my teachers. Thank you, Paul, for giving me a good history lesson back in 1970 that has helped me understand what I see today.