Yacht Club Memorial at Union Chapel

Union Chapel in the Grove will honor the Shelter Island Yacht Club for its Memorial Sunday, on July 11 at 10:30 a.m.

Elizabeth Sternlieb, Senior Cantor from Temple Beth El in Westchester, is the guest preacher, joined by Nelson Bogart on trumpet.

Flag officers and trustees will participate in the service. Commodore Bruce Brewer will read the names of Yacht Club members who passed away since last year as the Chapel bell tolls:

Wade Westlake Badger, Richard Warren Baron, Mary Jane Fenn, Frederic Wheeler Hills, Elizabeth Holmes, Karen Toohey Hughes, F. Kenneth Ivers II,  Nancy Tuttle Ivers, Commodore Loren King, Lois “Pat” Lockwood, Peter Martini, Christopher H. Smith and Charles Weiner.

Fleet Chaplain, and Chairman of Union Chapel, Jay Sterling will lead the service.

Cantor Elizabeth Sternlieb and her husband, Michael, have been members of the Yacht Club since 1995, where she performs at the Commissioning and Decommissioning ceremonies.

When asked about the most profound gifts of the pandemic, Elizabeth mentioned the time she spent at home with her husband and two cats, Niko and Bugsie. But equally important was figuring out how to get through those long days of lockdown and uncertainty. “Finding a way in to equanimity, to stay centered and to be in each moment, in each day,” she said,  “Discovering new and innovative ways to reach out to people I love and to continue my work of healing and hope through poetry, songwriting and video production.”

She wrote “The Sun Will Shine Again,” (partial lyrics are below) during the pandemic, which she sang on her YouTube channel, along with other original song videos.

Elizabeth has served as the senior cantor for Temple Beth El of Northern Westchester in Chappaqua for the last three years, previously at Sinai Free Synagogue in Mt. Vernon, N.Y.

She was ordained in 2014 at The Academy for Jewish Religion (AJR) NY and simultaneously received a Master of Arts in Jewish Studies from Gratz College. She has appeared as a guest conductor for the Academy for Jewish Religion choir and has served as a mentor for cantorial candidates and soloists. She also coordinated and produced two virtual concerts to raise funds for “Mazon,” an international organization that feeds the hungry. These “Cantors and Company” concerts ran live on YouTube.

Elizabeth has appeared in community and regional theater productions in the tri-state area, and her voice (both narration and singing) have been featured in commercials and audiobooks. She and her husband love sailing, around the Island and off the coast of Maine.

Musician Nelson Bogart is a summer resident of Shelter Island and a member of the Yacht Club, and has played for many Union Chapel services. He plays trumpet and guitar and is in his fourth career as a full-time composer. He was also a studio musician, lawyer and professor. He and his wife, Ellen, have been members of the Yacht Club since 1994.

Please join us at Union Chapel for our interdenominational service on July 11 for Yacht Club Memorial Sunday. As we emerge from last year’s pandemic, the words from Elizabeth’s song act as a benediction:

Take a breath, prepare to carry on.

Take a breath, reach out to those you love

Stay centered through shadows and rain.

Summon all your courage, 

Summon all your strength.

The sun will shine again…

Keep us in health,  

Keep us in wholeness

Hold us in love,

 Hold us in peace.