Gilbertsville Man Sings Winning Song at Grange Day

By TERESA WINCHESTER
GILBERTSVILLE

The Butternut Valley Grange was well-represented at the Great New York State Fair’s Grange Day on September 5, when Grange member George Dempsie performed “The Butternut Valley Grange Song,” sung to the tune of Gordon Lightfoot’s “On This Winter’s Night.” Dempsie wrote the lyrics for the song, which he had performed at the New York State Grange talent show earlier this year. For his efforts, the Gilbertsville resident was awarded both first place and best-in-show.

“It was extra special to be invited to the New York State Fair, where I’d never been before, to perform for Grange members all across the state. And it was an honor to be the warm-up singer for Trace Adkins,” Dempsie quipped, referring to the popular country singer who was one of the main attractions at this year’s fair.

Dempsie’s song mentions the steeple of the Grange Hall, with its distinctive weathervane (a Native American flexing a bow and arrow), as well as values important to the Grange, such as fellowship, unity and service. The song offers an invitation to join the Grange and participate in its activities: fundraising dinners, making pies to sell, public lectures, its fall festival, roadside cleanups, and food bank drives.

“I enjoy the challenge of taking different ideas and fitting them into the lyrics of a melody,” said Dempsie, who relocated to the Butternut Valley in 2023 from Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania after a 32-year career as an elementary school teacher.

While working on his master’s degree in children’s literature at Pennsylvania State University, Dempsie participated in a year-long exchange program in Cheltenham, adjacent to the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England.

“I was attracted to Gilbertsville because it reminded me of the Cotswolds,” Dempsie said.

Early on in his Gilbertsville residency, he was impressed by the Butternut Valley Grange—its handsome white frame hall, built in 1832 as a Presbyterian Church, as well as by the dedication of its members to serving others.

The Grange song was not the first such attempt by Dempsie, who has been performing as a singer since his days at Juniata College, where he received a bachelor of arts degree in elementary education and early childhood development.

“I was part of a singing group called ‘Friends,’ and we sang at places like women’s clubs, Lions clubs, and nursing homes, and whenever a colleague would retire, I would sing a retirement song based on a tune by that person’s favorite artist,” Dempsie said.

When his hometown of Williamsburg, Pennsylvania celebrated its bicentennial in 1990, Dempsie wrote a song commemorating the occasion. Likewise, while living in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, he collaborated with a friend on yet another bicentennial song, his friend writing the music and Dempsie the lyrics. The song was subsequently recorded and Dempsie said he was delighted to hear it on the radio one day while riding in his car.

In 1996, Dempsie, then teaching in a school district in State College, Pennsylvania, was asked to write a song for the borough’s centennial. He collaborated with yet another friend, who wrote an original score, with Dempsie, once again, writing the lyrics.

“The song was taught to all the students in the district and then sung at a celebration held at the Bryce Jordan Center on the Penn State campus. Everyone sang the song. There were several thousand children there. It meant a lot to me,” Dempsie said.

Since arriving in Gilbertsville, Dempsie has become an in-demand solo singer for area churches and has also performed at open mic nights at the Gatehouse Coffee Shop and Mercantile in Morris, but singing is not his only talent. He has almost completed a memoir, titled “Goody Two-Shoes: A Baby Boomer Memoir,” which he plans to self-publish. He has read from his memoir, also at the Gatehouse’s open mic night, and one of its chapters was published in the Pennsylvania newspaper, “The Morrisons Cove Herald.”

Dempsie is also following through on one of his “bucket list” wishes: learning to tap dance, for which he has been taking Zoom lessons once a week for 14 years. He practices in an outbuilding on his property—his “shuffle shed” —and enjoys performing for small groups of friends and his elderly neighbor.

Since his arrival in Gilbertsville, Dempsie has become an integral part of the community. Besides his active membership in the Grange, he serves as secretary of the Butternut Valley Garden Club, assists with children’s story time at the Gilbertsville Free Library, and volunteers at the Major’s Inn, staffing its gift shop on occasion and helping out with its annual quilt show.

He is also a dedicated volunteer at the Butternut Valley pet food pantry.

“I feel very much at home in my new community. I’m thankful and inspired to be surrounded by the creativity, generosity, and kindness of the Butternut Valley,” Dempsie said.

Dempsie will once again perform his Grange song at the New York State Grange Conference, to be held in Waterloo on October 15.