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Kathryn King Supports Congregation's Restoration Efforts

For the second time this morning, Kathryn King gamely leads a reporter up two rickety ladders, across disintegrating wooden platforms, and into the crumbling interior of a 164 year-old bell tower.

She may be interim minister here, but there's no doubt Kathryn's embraced Northford Congregational Church and its congregation's needs with a passion. Right now, Kathryn's helping lead an effort to restore the historic church's bell tower and steeple so that its 2,000-pound bronze bell, silent for 18 months, can ring out again.

The entire works, from steeple to bell and wooden containment tower, are set to come down this week, the first phase of a restoration project anticipated to last between three to five years. In the days leading up to the removal, Kathryn has been spreading the word about the very visible change coming to the village landmark (see sidebar) and leading a call for help to fund its restoration.

The wooden tower is capped by a notable steeple design and contains both the huge bell (which is three feet across at its mouth) and 1,500 pounds of bell-hanging apparatus. It all adds up to 3,500 pounds resting on original timber beams and supported by stone surrounds weakened by water damage.

"The beams supporting the bell are buried in concrete, with the weight of the bell holding everything in place. A structural engineer told us one good hurricane could take the tower down," Kathryn says.

Northford Congregational Church's brownstone cathedral was raised in 1846. Designed by noted architect Henry Austin, it replaced a wooden meeting house. In an interesting twist of fate, the bell was also cast in 1846, but is not original to the church. It arrived in 1927, given by family of 19th-century Northford native Jared Linsly.

A Branford resident, Kathryn was named the church's acting pastor in October 2009, the same year the small congregation began tower restoration fundraising efforts. A licensed clinical social worker with a Branford practice, Kathryn became an ordained minister with United Church of Christ (UCC), Congregational in 1993. The former 8th-grade Cheshire science teacher completed dual masters degrees in social work (at Columbia University) and divinity (at Yale Divinity School) in 1992.

"Part of my training as a therapist helps me to bridge the gap for congregations by serving as an interim minister, to help keep the cohesiveness of a congregation through change," says Kathryn, who completed additional UCC training for the role.

Before arriving in Northford, Kathryn was Morris Congregational Church pastor for five years.

"Morris is another small, little town. I feel particularly drawn to serve small congregations, because of their intimate nature. Folks know each other and rely on each other. It feels like a family," she says. "I also love the idea of being in the country and around folks who are closely connected to the land and the environment."

Northford's autonomous congregation of 160 is basically all the church has to rely on to develop funds for the bell tower project, says Kathryn.

"It's up to individual people to keep this church alive and we're just a handful of people…A very few people are doing an awful lot of work," she says. "They need to congratulate themselves and I hope I can help them to do that"

Kathryn believes the small group will pull through with the mammoth task. The ongoing fundraising efforts won't end until the group has raised enough money to rebuild the tower, reposition the bell, and install a new steeple following the 1846 design. Kathryn says the entire project, from removal to rebuilding, requires $100,000.

"Of course, the fear is, what if we can't raise the money? It's a time when we have to have faith in the future," she says.

Tax-deductible contributions can be made to Northford Congregational Church (note "Bell Tower Fund" in memo), P.O. Box 191 Northford, CT 06472.