WINGARD, Sask. – When I was a child I thought the shafts of sunlight that tunnel down from the sky were sent by God to highlight the good people on earth.
In this rural church the sun ribbons flowing in the windows seem to carry the same holiness, even though I haven’t held that theory for a while.
It is quiet at St. Cyprian’s Anglican Church in parkland country near the North Saskatchewan River. The doors are unlocked. The pump organ works and the dozen or so pews with red padded kneelers are lined up ready for use.
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No regular service
No one worships here regularly. Only one service a year is held now, says caretaker Harold Peterson. But a collection taken up at that June service plus funds from the Saskatoon Anglican diocese pay for the church’s upkeep. It has never had problems with vandalism.
The church is clean and in good repair for a 42-year-old building. It replaced the 1883 church built of logs that was struck by lightning and burned July 28,1955. The community of Danish and English settlers rebuilt it within six weeks.
Out back is a healthy-sized graveyard. As I crunch through the grass, grasshoppers flee in front of me. Wildflowers abound with fleabane, blanket flower and buffalo bean, as do tame ones such as bluebells, iris and baby’s breath that have escaped their boundaries. Peterson said the cemetery is maintained by the community and the grass is cut in regular work bees.
The gravestones, some lichen covered, others newly painted or carved, hint at sad stories. At the west end is a week-old baby who died on New Year’s Day. She is buried beside her 10-year-old brother. At rest here are soldiers from both world wars.
But the grandest spot of all is in the centre of the cemetery, taking up three spots, for a “beloved wife” who died at age 25. Her grave is marked by four spruce trees at each corner and four marble posts joined with an iron railing.
