STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - WEST BRIGHTON — The North Shore is filled with special places, and the peaceful, well-tended grounds combined with the venerable, 100-year-old stone buildings of St. Mary's Episcopal Church on Castleton Avenue in West Brighton is tne of them. December 4, 1910 is the date carved into the church's dedication cornerstone. A sign at the entry gate is
warm and inviting: "During daylight hours, you may stroll through our grounds and enjoy the peace of our memorial gardens."
If you've never done so, set aside some time for a visit – the corner property has much to notice and admire: Stone archways, solid wood doors with hammered wrought-iron detailing, stained-glass windows framed in stone, steep bluegray slate roofs, and the lovely bell tower.
A pair of lions on either side of one arched black door await discovery, and there's a small, solitary gargoyle to be found, if you look around closely.
An inviting quadrangle encloses the church's September 11 Memorial Garden - a serene place, perfect for reflection and prayer.
One courtyard contains a large, weathered rectangular stone commemorating 1st Lt. Donald Gardner Russell, who may have been related to the Russell family that lived on Davis Avenue, and were active members of St. Mary's since
the 1880s, said Rev. Kevin Fisher after graciously examining old church records.
We learn from the stone that this World War I veteran was born in May 1890 in Wallingford, Conn.; he died in October 1918 at the American Hospital in Neuilly, France and is buried at the American Cemetery, Suresnes, in Paris, France.
At the bottom of the stone is a verse from the Old Testament, Maccabees, Chapter VI: "And thus this man died, leaving his death an example of a noble courage, and a memorial of virtue, not only unto young men, but unto all his nation."
The Suresnes American Cemetery and Memorial is located on a 7 1/2-acre wooded slope of Mont Valerien, four miles west of the center of Paris.
It was "established in 1917 by the Graves Registration Service of the [U.S.] Army Quartermaster Corps," according to the Web site of the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC). "A majority of the World War I dead buried there died of wounds or sickness in hospitals located in Paris, or at other places in the Services of Supply. Many were victims of the influenza epidemic of 1918-1919.
"The cemetery was dedicated by President Woodrow Wilson during Memorial Day ceremonies of 1919. Administration of the cemetery passed to the ABMC in 1934."
The World War I Memorial Room at the cemetery, constructed of
Italian marble, includes one wall panel that reads:
"This memorial has been erected by the United States of America in proud and grateful memory of her soldiers, sailors, and marines who far from their homes laid down their lives that the world might live in freedom and inherit peace. From these honored dead may we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure."