Giving the wooden parts of the funeral chapel at Pleasant Hill Cemetery a fresh coat of paint is (left to right): William “Bill” Boatman and Theron “Pete” Wolf of Hughesville.

HUGHESVILLE- “It’s been more than 20 years since the chapel was painted by the Vocational Trades classes of Hughesville High School,” said sexton Carl Bigger.

The structure is constructed mostly of brick, but the columns, dental cutouts encircling the building, and window surrounds are of wood.

Built in 1905 at a cost of $2,200, the chapel can seat 100 persons. The wooden theatre style seats are fastened together and share arm rests. They are form fitting and can be flipped up when not in use.

“It’s been five or six years since anyone used it,” said Bigger who couldn’t recall the deceased’s identity. Due to its lack of use, some may refer to the chapel as a ‘white elephant.’ To connoisseurs of architecture, it’s a rarity. For chapels not containing mausoleums are scarce in the area.

The chapel has six stained glass windows of which only two have inscriptions. Those are located on each side of the entrance and include Ada Boak Worthington 1873-1900 and her mother, M. Ella Boak 1848-1905. Born a Bodine, the mother was the wife of James K. Boak, a Hughesville industrialist who owned a furniture factory. Mr. Boak was at one time on the cemetery’s managing board.

Grief over family loss was likely the incentive for Boak to finance the memorial chapel. The Boaks were members of Trinity Lutheran Church and the church continues to use interest from a fund given by this generous benefactor.

Mr. Boak died in 1919 a year after his daughter’s husband, Clyde Worthington, who died in 1918.

As for the painters, Wolf announced after fifty years he’s hanging up his brush at the end of the season. He began the trade to supplement his teaching salary. Boatman, who taught in the Sullivan County Schools, joined Wolf six years ago.