Saint Giles' Episcopal Church
Jefferson, Maine
 
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Thanks be to God

for the life of
Robert A. Jewett
January 10, 1938 - February 23, 2007

Father Bob with one of his goats

A Letter from the Bishop of Maine

Three Poems by Robert Jewett

Father Bob performs a baptism at the Great Vigil of Easter in 2006.

 "What I Love About St. Giles"

I’ve never been a part of a small “country” congregation before—only large exurban, programmatic parishes.  Every Sunday morning when I get up, dress, and start off up East Pond Road, the closer I get to our “little church in the pines” the more my heart soars.  The friendliness, the singing, the comfort of regular liturgies seasonally varied, the openness of the building and the people, the warm, familiar home-made beauty of our pine-paneled sanctuary, the splendor and efficiency of our new Hall, the faithfulness and care of my colleague Lee (our Deacon); of Arlene and George, our organist and soloist couple;  of the readers, altar guild, teachers, hostess-couples, and… the kids!  I fondly remember the first Sunday I stood at the altar presiding at our Eucharist; I looked out into the Narthex (which only I could see) and there stood one young St. Gileser—he was maybe four—with one hand cockily on his hip, looking up into the Nave and at me behind the altar.  Like his very stance was saying, “This is MY church!”  (Later when I went for coffee downstairs—in the old days before the new hall—I found him shinnied up alone to the top of one of the basement columns!)  That’s St. Giles’: loving kids and loved by kids… and adults and old-timers and newcomers, women and men, mature and beginners.  As I say to diocesan friends who inquire about us, “We’re having a lot of fun!”


Curriculum Vitae

Born  January 10, 1938, Manhattan NY, to Sylvia Rohwer Jewett (Ida Grove, IA) and Hugh Jewett (Austin, TX); Pingry School, Elizabeth NJ 1956;  B.A. (English lit.) Amherst College 1960; S.T.M General Theological Seminary (NYC) 1963; M.A. (Amer. Lit.) Fairfield University (CT) 1965; DMin. In course, University of the South (Sewanee, TN).  Married former Judith Ayars Miller (Summit, NJ); three married sons, Frank (Nyack NY), Stephen (Eagle CO), and Joshua (Charlotte VA); five grand-daughters. Ordained (Diocese of Newark NJ): Deacon 06/63, Priest 12/63.   Served: Christ Church, Bloomfield/Glen Ridge, NJ, 1963-65; Trinity Church, Nichols CT, 1965-80; Grace Church, Nyack NY, 1980-94; St. Mark’s, Augusta ME, Interim 1995-6; St. Peter’s, Rockland ME, Interim, 1996-97; St. Giles’, Jefferson ME, Priest-in-Charge, 1997-present.  Married Gail Montgomery (Nyack NY) 1984; son Shane McGarvey (Portland); grand-daughter. Chaired diocesan committees on Ministry, CT, NY & ME; NY, ME Cursillo; BION Camp for DioMaine teens (Bishopswood); NY Teens Encounter Christ.  Owner (with wife Gail Montgomery) Waldoboro’s Well-Tempered Kitchen) and Applecroft Farm: formerly goat-herding and vegetable/herb/perennial gardens, needlepoint, crochet, producer/participant in numerous teen and adult theatrical productions and choral readings, writes interpretive biblical dramatizations and children’s seasonal pieces, participant in various regional choral groups.  Participant in innovative program of oncological proton beam radiation-treatment at MassGeneral (Boston MA), 1997-present.