Church supper server hanging up apron at 91

CHERRYFIELD – The food may be the same at the public suppers put on by the Cherryfield Congregational Church, but those Wednesday evening gatherings just won’t feel the same.

Not without Vera Willey, anyway.

The 91-year-old stalwart server, who has been a staple of the supper ever since the church first had them decades ago, is not going to take part this season.

Tonight’s supper, starting at 5 p.m., features chicken potpie. But for the first time ever, Vera Willey won’t be working the corner table closest to the serving window. She also won’t be baking one or two of her trademark lemon pies.

“Old age kind of got the better of me,” Willey said on Tuesday. “I was looking at my calendar this morning, thinking that there’s a church supper [tonight]. But I won’t be going, even just to enjoy it.”

To be honest, she said, chicken potpie isn’t her favorite dish anyway. She would rather have the roast beef that make up the June, July and August dates for the dinners. Or, after another round of chicken potpie in September, the roast turkey in October.

Willey believes she has slowed quite a bit in the months since last October, when she worked the final supper of the last season and had to rest a moment during the meal. This year, the dozen others in the kitchen will just have to get along without her.

“Vera told me once that she’d be at these dinners if she had to crawl,” said Jim Bush, who has been part of the church’s supper tradition for 23 years. “But I think she’s realized that she won’t be able to wait tables this year.”

“She always had the same people at her table for the last six or eight years. They looked forward to her. She’s what we call a feisty old gal,” said Bush.

The Cherryfield suppers, among dozens on the calendar Down East, set themselves apart for their Wednesday dates, for one thing. At the height of summer, tables are set to accommodate 170. Doors open at 4 p.m. in the rush to claim a seat, with at least 150 or 160 turning out for the meal.

Tonight’s dinner, still early in the season, may draw closer to 120 or 130.

“As long as there has been a church, there have been church suppers,” Bush said. “In the old days, there used to be rich people living nearby on the hill. Their servants would bring down linen tablecloth settings.”

Years ago, before the church had a basement, Vera Willey and others set out the suppers in the church sanctuary. In the days before pews, the ladies would remove all the chairs, set up tables and do all the cooking.

Willey says she can’t remember exactly how many years the suppers have filled her summers.

Last summer was especially important for her. She had a goal of making it to every supper, but by October, she was ready to give them up.

“I didn’t miss one last year,” she said. “I’m kind of unsteady on my feet now. But I did enjoy every minute of it last year.”

There is one upcoming dinner she won’t miss. It’s not at the church. It’s the alumni banquet in two weeks for Harrington High School.

Vera Willey, Class of 1929, will be there.