By Jeff Gammage
Inquirer Staff Writer
EXCERPT
Bruce Gill had gone searching for the source of a water leak in a Christ Church building, but he found something else:
A message from the past.
It contained but 17 words, scrawled in pencil on the side of a bathroom tub, written in an era when work was precious and food was dear. For nearly 80 years, it had lain hidden behind a wall.
"Tub set 1-9-33 by Louis J. Volpe," it said. "This work kept two men from starving during the Depression."
"My first thought was, 'Holy smokes,' " said Gill, who serves as the rector's warden, essentially the chairman of the church board. "Even during its construction, [the building] was doing what it was designed to do."
That is, to help people.
Gill and a colleague were looking for the leak in an apartment inside the Washburn House, named for former rector Louis Cope Washburn. The Washburn House stands next to the Neighborhood House, behind the church. Both buildings are being renovated.
"That voice from the past sort of broke through the plaster," said the Rev. Susan Richardson, the assistant minister. "It was so striking to me. It kept a person from starving. It brings home the human reality."READ HERE:
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