On April 4-6, 2025, Stony Point Center (SPC) celebrated its 75th Anniversary. The weekend was more a celebration of friendships than of nostalgia, more practical conversation than dreaming, and certainly more questions than answers about the future of this year-round, 32-acre retreat facility in New York’s lower Hudson Valley, about 30 miles north of New York City. Over the past 75 years, there have been several generations or lives, often fostered by leadership. The celebration offered a brief history — and a testament to the lasting impact of camps and conference centers.
1950-73: The Gilmor sisters’ 1949 gift of a mansion and land in Stony Point, New York, to the Board of Foreign Missions was managed first by Edna and Ernest Moser, former missionaries to French Cameroon, 1950-72, who remained through the formation of the Ecumenical Training Center (ETC) and the Missionary Orientation Center (MOC). Donald Smith directed the ETC, which ran from 1958-60, followed by Paul Yount directing the MOC, which ran from 1960-72. Both centers were creations of the Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations (COEMAR), the successor to the Board of Foreign Missions. The MOC involved six other Protestant denominations that also had foreign mission offices in New York City. Four brick dormitory buildings, a dining hall, and conference spaces were added to the property during this time, but by the early 1970s, fewer mission co-workers and families needed training or sabbaticals. SPC was largely boarded up. (The other denominations sold their portions of the SPC to the Presbyterians in 1977.)
1975-1994: Jim and Louise Palm and their four children come to SPC after 13 years in the Philippines. They bring an international and intercultural Christian vision, translated into “Global Village” conferences. Another former missionary, Margaret Flory, develops programs out of the Gilmor-Sloane mansion, mentoring the transition from “missionary” to “fraternal or mission co-worker” (1981-1988). Elizabeth Verdesi and Mary Virginia Stieb-Hales are among the national staff who bring women’s events to Stony Point. The United Presbyterian Program Agency’s Director of Theological Studies Ed Huenemann brings South African theologian Allan Boesak and anti-apartheid programming to SPC. Overall, with support from the national office and Hudson River Presbytery, SPC becomes a base for Protestant liberation theology and human rights/solidarity work. On the cultural side, Jim Palm supports one of his daughters’ English teachers in converting a barn into the regionally recognized Penguin Repertory Theatre.
1995-97: Transition time. In 1995-6, Interim Director James Van Hoeven sought to emulate Ghost Ranch in offering theological programs and topical seminars, but many had to be cancelled due to low interest. For Van Hoeven and a second interim director, Paul Green, in 1997, the denomination’s decision to move “headquarters” staff from New York City to Louisville in 1986 had played out fully, leaving few denominational program links.
1997-2008: Bill Pindar became director, bringing with him contacts in Philadelphia and New York City. His wife, Sue Bouder, though also ordained and active, did not have an official role. An enduring contact from this era is vocalist Warren Cooper; another is minister and jazz pianist Bill Carter. Both performed at SPC’s 75th anniversary, as did Tim Shew, longtime Jean Valjean in “Les Misérables” on Broadway. Pindar participated in the Global Villages with Jim Palm, sometimes in his clown ministry guise. SPC gained in spontaneity, fun, and culture during this time. In 2001, a new meditation and worship building was dedicated to Louise Palm’s nephew, John M. Lloyd.
2008-2020: Rick and Kitty Ufford-Chase joined SPC as co-directors. Rick came as a former General Assembly moderator, influenced by former Moderator John Fife and the Sanctuary Movement in Arizona. The couple added farming to the SPC’s ecological emphasis, a new building to house artistic programming, and a connection with the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship. Rick and Kitty also nurtured the Community of Living Traditions, an intentional multifaith group that helped staff the activities. Notably, when Hurricane Sandy flooded out a poor section of the surrounding town, SPC hosted 30 families for 6 months, earning great local credibility. Rick, an elder at Stony Point Church, helped gift that former congregation’s building to the local Native American Ramapo tribe. Then COVID hit, and SPC had to lay off 40 of its 49 staff.
2020-present: Brian Frick, the PC(USA)’s director of camps & conference center ministry, was put in charge running the reduced facility while also preserving its potential. Surprisingly, he has been successful, with the Gilmor-Sloane mansion continuing as an elegant bed & breakfast and upgrades continuing in the dorm buildings. Brian and his wife, Ingerlene, increased their commitment, hiring a promising young staff member, Chelsea deLisser, as co-director. With these recent developments as the backdrop, the anniversary celebration brought together friends, family, and leaders to celebrate hope and reconciliation.
In each of SPC’s “lives,” the directors have been key, not only in administration and relationships but in understanding the needs and capacities of the church, regional and national. Are enough congregations coming for retreats? (Interestingly, a member from one of the involved congregations, New York City’s Fifth Avenue Church, generously volunteered her decorating expertise to redesign Gilmor Sloane House, which has allowed it to remain a revenue backstop.) How can SPC become a connecting place for surrounding presbyteries? Princeton and Union Seminaries offer continuing education nearby: can SPC offer distinctive organizing, activist, and ecumenical opportunities? With World Mission now largely dissolved as a national entity, is SPC strategically located to help the church maintain international connections?
Though SPC is near enough to New York to bring groups to the United Nations and cultural events, it is not a perfect location. Trains and the Appalachian Trail could be closer. If the property weren’t difficult to disentangle legally from donor constraints, it might have been sold. Even now, it could conceivably become an intentional retirement community. But as long as the church benefits from a place of experimentation, a complement to the congregational model and an incubator for new communities and ministries, SPC seems worth it. As Co-Director Chelsea deLisser said during the anniversary, “The Holy Spirit is still here.”
