Keepers of the Story

I suspect most of us see a cemetery and think about the past. We think about life lived, but mostly about life ended. A cemetery evokes a sense of finality.

Of course, this is all true, but it is just a single dimension of the cemetery. At St. Columba’s, our churchyard is a cemetery. For us it is a sign of life and hope. Here, in the midst of the Great Fifty Days of Easter we remember that death is not the end, but a mark of life changed. The empty tomb of Jesus means that our tombs will be empty as well.

Each marker in our churchyard is a life and a story. Our churchyard holds those that have gone before us. We are now keepers of their stories.

I want to thank our churchyard committee for the work they do, and share one story they are keeping.

Varick Frissell

Birth: Aug. 29, 1903
Death: Mar. 15, 1931

Motion Picture Director. The son of a wealthy banker, he grew up in New York's Upper East Side and studied at Yale. He became interested in filmaking after seeing "Nanook of the North" (1922) and meeting its director, Robert Flaherty. On the strength of two short documentaries, "The Lure of Labrador" (1926) and "The Swilin' Racket" (1928), Frissell got backing from Paramount Pictures for a feature, "The Viking,“ the first talkie to be shot entirely in Canada. The production was fraught with hardships and took up most of 1930. On March 9, 1931, Frissell, cameraman Alexander G. Penrod, and two assistants joined the crew of the Canadian sealing ship Viking and sailed from Newfoundland to complete second-unit filming. Six days later the ship exploded and sank off the coast of Horse Island, killing Frissell, Penrod, and 25 others. It was one of the worst disasters in Hollywood history. "The Viking" was completed by director George Melford. Frissell's remains were never recovered but a cenotaph was placed for him at the Berkeley Chapel Churchyard in Middletown, Rhode Island. His life and the doomed voyage of the S. S. Viking were the subject of an award-winning documentary, "White Thunder" (2002). (bio by: Robert Edwards)