Vintage burgees bedeck the Union Chapel rafters for Yacht Club Memorial Sunday on July 9, when the antique bell will toll for SIYC members who have passed away since last July. Elizabeth Sternlieb, Senior Cantor of Temple Beth El in Chappaqua, will preach about “Living Your Best Life.”
Classical guitarist Robert Secrist will be the guest musician, and Nelson Bogart will return to play his haunting rendition of Taps on his trumpet. The SIYC hosts an outdoor reception in the Grove following the service.
Jay Sterling, SIYC Fleet Chaplain and Chairman of Union Chapel will lead the service in which flag officers and trustees will participate. As the bell tolls, John Sommi will read the names of the deceased: Chuck Baker, Jean Schultheis Brechter, Robert Bronson Haines, Timothy Hogue, Betty Jane Thompson Jones, Eugene Harold Luntey, Olive Buerk Reich, Carol Benedict Russell, Charles Wallace Tiernan, Jr., and Kenneth H. Walker.
About Elizabeth Sternlieb
Elizabeth and her husband, Michael, have been members of the Yacht Club since 1995, and she often sings patriotic songs at the club’s Commissioning and Decommissioning ceremonies.
She has served as the Senior Cantor for Temple Beth El in Chappaqua for the last five years. Previously, she was Cantor/Educator at Sinai Free Synagogue in Mt. Vernon.
Stenlieb was ordained in 2014 at The Academy for Jewish Religion (AJR) in Yonkers and earned a Master of Arts in Jewish Studies from Gratz College in Melrose Park, PA. She has been a guest conductor for the AJR choir and served as a mentor for cantorial candidates and soloists.
She has appeared in community and regional theater productions in the tri-state area; her voice (both narration and singing) has been featured in commercials and audiobooks.
“I am immensely fortunate to work in a vibrant and growing congregation and I co-officiate our weekly Shabbat morning services as our 13-year-old members become Bar or Bat Mitzvah,” she said of her work at Temple Beth El.
“I consider myself lucky to be a part of their learning process. Their words and thoughts are an inspiration and this brings me hope for the future of our world.”
About the guest musicians
Robert Secrist made his New York debut at Carnegie Hall at 21. A graduate of the Mannes School of Music, he was the only guitar student in the school’s history to win the “Best Performance Award” and was appointed to the faculty upon graduation. His teachers include Italian guitarist Oscar Ghiglia, Russian violinist Leonid Bolotine, and the Spanish master Andres Segovia.
Secrist was the first North American to win the IV International “Alirio Diaz” Competition in Caracas, Venezuela. His recording credits include an all-Bach album, “Bach to the Country.” His latest recording, due for release this summer, features Robert’s signature arrangements from the great American Song Book, jazz standards, and contemporary songs.
Nelson Bogart plays both trumpet and guitar and says he’s in his fourth career as a full-time composer. He previously worked as a studio musician, lawyer, and professor. He and his wife, Ellen, have been members of the Yacht Club since 1994.
Commemorative book
“All Are Welcome:150 years of Shelter Island’s Union Chapel in the Grove,” by Carrie Cooperider, is available for purchase after the service, at Finley’s Fiction or by contacting Trustee Kathy Dinkel.
In the book, Cooperider makes this historical reference to the Yacht Club:
“The Yacht Club appointed Episcopal Reverend A.J. Aspinwall [one of the eleven original trustees of the Yacht Club] as Fleet Chaplain in 1907 … he began the custom of having a ‘dress’ service in the chapel that continues to this day. Though women eventually began to be included in the ranks of the Yacht Club, little else has changed since this description from ‘Brooklyn Life’ in 1909:
‘There was a decided nautical air about the Prospect House early Sunday morning, and tanned men, looking very trim in dress uniform of the Shelter Island Yacht Club, began assembling on the west piazza of the hotel. At a quarter of eleven, they marched in a body to the Union Chapel, where the Rev. John A. Aspinwall, chaplain of the organization, preached the annual sermon…In the chancel were displayed the club burgee, yacht ensign, and the American flag.‘”
Next week: Camp Quinipet Sunday with Rev. Matthew Querns
JoAnn Kirkland assists the trustees of Union Chapel in the Grove.
