It takes a village ...to have a great parade. Plus great weather, which seemed like a miracle after the morning was marred by passing thunder heads. According to Bonnie Underwood of Rowayton, Bunny Scott, whos the founder of the parade, always said, It never rains on the Rowayton Parade. And shes been right. It may rain in the morning or in the evening but never during the parade.
Just as miraculous was the revelation that a Rowayton village pastor, Henry Wing, was actually kissed on the forehead by none other than President Abraham Lincoln at the height of the Civil War. Talk about something worth memorializing! According to Wendell Livingston, President of the Rowayton Historical Society, Rev. Wing wrote a book recounting a high point of his youth, When Lincoln Kissed Me, about his perilous journey through enemy lines delivering a message from General Grant to Lincoln.
Wing, at age 19, had been a cub reporter for the New York Tribune, assigned to the Army of the Potomac in 1864. At the start of the bloody Battle of the Wilderness, in Virginia, he was chosen as a messenger to bring his newspapers dispatches back to Washington. General Grant asked him to deliver a brief message to President Lincoln, should he have the opportunity.
Making his way alternately through Union and Confederate lines, he was captured, then escaped and then accused him of being a spy. Luckily, a telegraph got to Lincoln that this spy had a message from Grant, whose army at that time was out of contact with Washington. Lincoln wanted to hear it, and saw right away that this junior reporter was exactly what he appeared to be. So, Lincoln sent a train to pick him up. At 2 in the morning, Wing was in the White House and could deliver the message from Grant. The message was terse: There is to be no turning back. When so many others had refused to press the attack against the wily Lee, Grant was in full contact with no intention of retreating. This was precisely what Lincoln wanted to hearand kissed young Mr. Wing on the forehead in gratitude and relief.
After serving as a minister in Iowa for twenty years, Rev. Wing ultimately made his way east, where he is found in the records of the Methodist New York Conference, which covers Connecticut. It was in that role that Rev. Wing wound up at the Rowayton Methodist church in the 1890sa church whose prominent view of a Civil War cannon makes its front yard an excellent place to see the windup of the parade and hear the annual Memorial Day speeches.
It is on that strategic lawn that church members Barbara Valk and Susan Edwards set up their sales table for the RUMC strawberry shortcake fundraiser, with the help of Sharlia Gilman (a true daughter of the south who has earned our Yankee forgiveness). Barbara Valk said, As soon as the speeches are over, we start selling shortcake. Although some shrinkage due to scientific sampling might have occurred, the location proved propitious. Sales boomed.
The parade has its loyal fans. Woody Woodworth has been curbside for the parade for 38 years. Its pretty much the same as its always been. Everybody participates and everybody appreciates it. Fire Chief Ed Carlson and his wife Peggy, have been either watching or participating in the parade since they got married, 38 years ago. This year I marched with the Five Mile Nursery School, said Peggy, a long time teacher there.
Douglas Bora, a highly decorated WW II veteran said, This is my 42nd year marching in the parade. I have been marching in the parade since it began.
Some fans wish it hadn't been over so quickly. Maybe once more around the park?
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