Union Chapel hosts SIYC memorial service

Signal flags and vintage burgees will fly from the rafters of the historic Union Chapel in the Grove as officers and trustees of the Shelter Island Yacht Club, celebrating its 131st year, join the chapel this Sunday at 10:30 a.m. for the annual combined service of interdenominational worship. 

Commodore William J. Mills III and other flag officers of the club will participate in the memorial service, which honors members who have died in the past year.

The chapel welcomes back the Reverend Jill Staples Vogt for the Shelter Island Yacht Club service. Her sermon is entitled “You Can Run but You Cannot Hide: Lessons from the Belly of a Fish.” Rev. Vogt has a B.A from Denison University and a Masters in Divinity from Harvard Divinity School.

She is currently pursuing a Doctor of Ministry degree with Acadia Divinity School, which she anticipates completing this year. An ordained pastor in the United Church of Christ, Rev. Vogt is currently serving as co-pastor of the Moravian Church congregation in Herrnhut, Germany together with her husband Dr. Peter Vogt. She also works as a chaplain at the Zinzendorf Moravian High School in Herrnhut and represents the denomination on the German Council of Churches.

Ms. Vogt and her husband have two children, Anna, 21, and Christian, 17. She has spent a part of every summer on Shelter Island in one of the original camp meeting houses that has been in her family for over 100 years.

Music for the service will be performed by Chapel Organist Linda Betjeman, The Cottage Trio and trumpeter Nelson Bogart. Members of The Cottage Trio are: Jeannie Woelker, cello; Anne-Marie Woelker Chubet, viola; and Alena Chubet Houghton, flute. They will perform pieces by Haydn. Mr. Bogart, a member of the Shelter Island Yacht Club and professional musician and composer, will play Taps.

Submitted by Union Chapel