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Town in pain without church that held everyone together
CUMMINGTON - They rang the bell when the Red Sox broke The Curse. They rang it again when Barack Obama became president. They rang the bell in the church in this tiny town in the foothills of the Berkshires every Sunday, as children and as adults, generation upon generation. The West Cummington Congregational Church was destroyed by a fire Jan. 17. To the people who would gather here, the 171-year-old white clapboard structure was much more than a church. It was a treasure trove of their history. It was a vault of their memories - baptisms and marriages, new friendships, fellowship, and loss. It was like a member of their com-munity.
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