The Haddonfield Rotary Club and other members of the community gathered at the Haddonfield Public Library on Dec. 12 to unveil two dedicated, mission style tables created from a historic Black Oak tree that fell during a violent storm in June 2020.
The project brought together the Rotarians, the Haddonfield Foundation and the library’s board of trustees. Rotary Past President Denise Stuart said the tree had fallen at a time when the club was trying to find ways to engage with each other during COVID.
“Remarkably, the one big project that involved several members just happened to drop in our laps,” Stuart recalled.
The Rotary was in the middle of a June session when the storm took out power and downed the 209-year-old Black Oak on 263 Lake Street. The tree is dated from 1830 and is the second oldest in New Jersey.
The Rotarians sprang into action and formed a committee to determine what might be done with the oak.
“After considering several options, the committee decided to have the wood made into a reading table for the Haddonfield Public Library, an idea suggested by Library Director Eric Zino,” Stuart explained. “Deborah Garwood (a trustee of the Historical Society of Haddonfield) discovered plans and instructions for building a mission style table in an old book published by Popular Mechanics.
The Rotarians soon discovered the table’s wood would need to be dried, so they applied and were approved for a $3,000 grant from the Haddonfield Foundation to cover the cost of kiln drying in Manheim, Pennsylvania, a process that resulted in the wood being dried in months rather than years.
The club commissioned Moorestown resident Jeff Braddock to do the woodworking last November, a few months after he built a communal table for the King’s Road Brewing Company from a historic buttonwood tree.
“The members of the Black Oak committee concurred that the table should be dedicated to the memory of our member (William) “Bill” Reynolds (Jr.), who passed away unexpectedly in January 2021,” Stuart noted.
“In addition to being a beloved member of our club, Bill was the former board chair of the library’s board of trustees and a former mayor of Haddonfield,” Stuart added.
Don Clement made a large donation to the project and asked if there was enough wood for a second table. There was; he built the piece and dedicated it to his mother, Anna “Tillie” Clement, who passed away in 2012.
Rotarian David Hunter said Anna Clement lived to be 90 and worked for more than 30 years at the Haddonfield Gazette, where she had a weekly column called “Haddonfield Happenings.” There are recordings of interviews she did with residents at the Historical Society of Haddonfield’s Archive Center and research library, and her column is available in person and online at the Haddonfield library, where Clement worked for 24 years as director of circulation.
Hunter remembered Reynolds as someone who actively lived the Rotary motto of “service above self,” and someone who needed no introduction. Reynolds’ father was principal of Haddon School Memorial High School in the 1940s, and later district superintendent, a path his son followed by becoming principal of Bancroft School.
The younger Reynolds served as the mayor of Haddonfield from 1973 to 1977 and spent 43 years on the board of trustees for the library, 28 of them as president and was one of the founders of the Haddonfield Foundation.
“It’s been a hard year losing dad,” his son James said. “But the wonderful thing about this (the tables) is the confluence of three organizations and institutions that he couldn’t have loved any more: Rotary, Haddonfield Foundation and Haddonfield Public Library.
“He was not one for pomp and circumstance,” James added, “but he loved to read and acquire new knowledge, and the idea that people will be resting books on these tables in his honor, I think it’s something he would find appropriate and not ostentatious.”
The tables will be available for use at the library’s first room on the left, adjacent to the future technology center.
“Generations will have the good fortune of using these tables,” said Amy Goodworth, a library trustee.
