nothin God May Learn How To Fly-Fish | New Haven Independent

God May Learn
How To Fly-Fish

Allan Appel Photo (of painting)

The patriarch of a leading New Haven family has moved on to the place where the fish you want is rising in another world.” God may even be taking a new interest in fly fishing as a result of His new company.

Those affectionate and moving claims were made on Saturday as more than 300 friends, family, and admirers gathered at Center Church on the Green for a memorial service celebrating the life well lived” of Henry Hotchkiss Townshend, Jr.

Deb Townshend with son Charles Hervey Townshend and unidentified relative leaving Center Church.

The descendant of Jeremiah Townsend, a young man who planted the name and family in New Haven in 1738, Harry Townshend, as he was known, twice ran for mayor on the GOP ticket, and lost, against Democrat Mayor Richard Lee in the early 1960s.

He also served in leadership roles in local civic local organizations like Hopkins School, the Proprietors of the Green (over which he presided until 2006) and the Grove Street Cemetery’s governing body (where he also took a presidential turn). Two weeks ago he was buried there in a private ceremony behind the graves of his parents and beside the plot of Walter Camp, the inventor of American football.”

The stone (and grave) of Jeremiah Townsend in the crypt of Center Church.

Beneath the sanctuary of Center Church, where the services Saturday began with a robust singing of the Protestant hymn A Mighty Fortress is Our God,” lies the grave and tomb of the family founder Jeremiah Townsend, who died in 1805 at age 93.

Harry Townshend’s oldest child Sharon said her dad aspired to reach Jeremiah Townsend’s age, and almost made it; he died Aug. 2 at age 92. She called her father a Renaissance man who built cabins, dams, and even a little hydroelectric plant at the family ranch in Montana, enabling his family to be off the grid long before the idea became fashionable.

He was equally at home in the trout stream or the board room, ” she said, citing, as many others did, a passion for fly fishing and the raising of English Setter bird dogs. He was not religious per se, but he was spiritual in his great regard for outdoors,” she said.

John Esposito and James Lawson recalled Townsend as the father of their best friend, the youngest Townshend child Timothy. He [Henry] gave me my first beer. In 67, Henry packed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and forgot soda for kids. Tim and I had a beer instead,” Lawson said.

Esposito was close to tears as he recalled how his own parents had divorced when he was 5 years old: Henry and Deb were my mentors and guides. Henry was a John Wayne figure to me. Riding up on a horse, with his dogs.”

John Esposito. James Lawson, and Timothy Townshend were like “the three Musketeers,” said Esposito.

Esposito is a restorer of historic masonry and a teacher of that trade to union apprentices. He said he chose that profession because of the influence of the antique furniture and the houses of the Townshends. He spent much time there as a child, including digging up Native American artifacts.

Henry Townshend is survived by his five children, ten grandkids, and 13 grandchildren. His wife of 70 years, Doris Townshend, continues to live in the historic family home, Raynham, on Townsend Avenue on New Haven’s East Shore.

A local historian, Doris Townshend, known as Deb, wrote in her The Streets of New Haven that her husband’s grandfather Charles Hervey Townshend re-inserted an h” in the name, but that was after the street had already been named in 1881.

While the tone of the service was upbeat, it was hard not to feel that with Townshend’s death a deep link with New Haven’s storied past is irreplaceably lost. While Townshends abound, like all families they are dispersing, said Sharon Townsehnd.

She said that she’ll always remember how her father taught her to start a camp fire with one match, wet wood, and in the rain. It was she who read the poetry invoked at the beginning of this story, lines by the Maine poet Martin Steingesser, that she hoped might capture an understanding of how her father could stand in the water fishing, without food or drink or much talk, for 12 hours straight.

A teacher at the Hopkins School and a grandchild, Josh Brant, is moving in with his grandmother on Townsend Avenue, reported Sharon Townshend. It was he who recalled trout fishing trips with his grandfather whose skills were so awesome that God might be rediscovering fly fishing these days as a result of Henry Townshend’s tips.

Tags:

Sign up for our morning newsletter

Don't want to miss a single Independent article? Sign up for our daily email newsletter! Click here for more info.


Post a Comment

Commenting has closed for this entry

Comments

There were no comments