By Lora Zill
SPECIAL TO THE MEADVILLE TRIBUNE
CONNEAUT LAKE — Don’t make a promise at a funeral. So I didn’t, not quite.
I was speaking at the Rev. Penney Fujii’s memorial service about her love for Girl Scouts. Her daughter, Kelley, had asked me to share some memories since I had helped her lead troops at Conneaut Lake for many years.
Her husband, Chris, notes how much Girl Scouts meant to her. “She invested a lot of time in her troops and delighted in everything, including Girl Scout camp. It was her great passion and love, especially taking them camping. Penney delighted in everything from hiking to making ‘mountain pies.’ She considered Girl Scouts a part of her ministry, and even after she was no longer a troop leader she always had a special place in her heart for her girls. She even performed some of their weddings. Penney never forgot them. They remained a part of her life and she carried their memories with her.”
Kelley has personal memories of her mother taking Kelley and her fellow Girl Scouts camping. “At night she would comfort those who got homesick and by day keep us all busy hiking and having fun. Even as I got older and focused on other things she still stuck with the troop for those who needed it. That’s how she lived her life, sticking with people that needed her. She had a way of comforting the weak and scared, or mothering those who needed a mother.”
So at the service I told funny stories about Girl Scout camp, including the time that Penney had spent an entire afternoon readying a campfire for foil dinners. I was tending the fire, and watched two girls haul a large metal bucket of water up the hill. Penney’s instruction was to put it on the fire. It seemed a funny request, but I did as I was told. I took the bucket and dumped the water on the fire. The girls’ faces turned white and they ran back down the hill to tell Penney I had just put out her fire. I was mortified at my mistake, but her laughter rang up the hill. We still had our dinners, but crunched raw potatoes.
Penney loved the outdoors, and her daughter remembers how she loved to share that love with her Girl Scouts. This love also extended to the water. “She loved being outdoors because it was peaceful and calm. She especially loved the water, and anything to do with water.” A parishioner had given her an old Snark, and she always wanted to sail. “It was one of her dreams.”
Penney knew I had sailed for many years, so one day she called and asked if I would teach her how. So we wedged a crowbar into our schedules and found a free day in a beautiful September and sailed on Conneaut Lake. We promised we’d do it again, but like what happens so often with good intentions, never did.
A couple years later she asked if I wanted the boat, as other priorities demanded her time. I already had a solo craft that I enjoyed sailing on Pymatuning, but I accepted. It’s not often one gets a sailboat handed to them. So we loaded it into my minivan and I stored it in a friend’s barn.
A while later I retrieved the boat and looked it over. Like the parishioners, community members and Hospice clients Penney ministered to, it had many needs. The wood deck, transom and rudder were rotting and falling apart. The hull had holes, and the sail was weathered and gray. The screws were rusted and broken. So I set to work tearing the boat apart, calling the manufacturer, and surfing the Web to ascertain what I needed to restore it to full sailing mode.
Then I heard Penney was ill. The boat rested on my picnic table, restoration barely begun. I canceled and rescheduled appointments to make time to fill holes with epoxy and give it a couple of coats of paint. I had a picture taken of me with the boat and sent it to her along with a note outlining my plans. I knew she’d get a charge out of that and laugh her great laugh.
Penney passed away almost a year ago. Then Kelley called and asked if I would speak at her memorial service. After I shared about Girl Scouts with the mourners, I told the story of sailing and her generosity in giving the boat to me. I heard myself say, “If I ever get the boat restored, I’ll call it ‘The Penney’ in her honor.” Not quite a promise, as I was aware that I wasn’t even close to being done, and all sorts of problems could emerge and stall or even stop my progress for good. But saying that publicly got me refocused and re-energized on finishing the boat.
That spring I began work again. Conneaut Lake friends Reggie Tingley and Dave Vaughn and my brother, Paul Homan from Clearfield, donated their skill with power tools and wood to cut out and create or refashion the new deck, rudder, tiller and transom parts. Once the parts were delivered I painted and installed them on the boat. I resewed loose hems on the sail with crochet thread and covered holes with clear seam tape. I was thinking all along what I would do with it once it was done.
What about giving it to Girl Scouts? I had been a Girl Scout myself for many years. Sailing was among the many outdoor skills troop leaders taught their girls, and the boat would be a fitting memorial to Penney.
So I called the Girl Scouts of Western Pennsylvania. Debbie Gerhard, director of outdoor programs, said, “We are thrilled to accept this contribution.” The sailboat “will provide our girls with new outdoor opportunities. Girl Scouting is a nonprofit organization and relies upon the generosity, charity and support from our members, our volunteers and the communities we serve.
“Outdoor appreciation and adventure have been bedrock of the Girl Scout program for nearly 100 years, and Girl Scouts of Western Pennsylvania strives to keep these program vital and affordable by accepting in-kind contributions like these. Last year, we served over 4,000 girls in 27 counties at our summer resident camp programs; and what keeps girls coming back year-after-year are the new opportunities — like this — that we provide.”
Gerhard confirms that the boat will go to Resting Waters, a 430-acre Girl Scout camp in McKean County that has an 11-acre spring-fed lake.
Chris Fujii said, “Penney would be absolutely thrilled at knowing it was going to the Girl Scouts.” Kelley is thankful that the boat can act as a legacy to her mother.
So someday soon some beginning Girl Scout sailors will be enjoying “The Penney.” I kept that promise. Her boat has also inspired me to dream about someday collecting small old sailboats and restoring them to donate to nonprofits like Girl Scouts. But I won’t forget this first one, the one that represents Penney Fujii’s gift of giving and sharing with others. I hope the boat honors her gifts. That promise will never end.
