Bill Finucan, an elder at East Butler Presbyterian Church, is also its resident gardener. He tends to the plants surrounding the church. Eddie Trizzino/Butler Eagle

EAST BUTLER — Construction of East Butler Presbyterian Church began in 1910, but even after more than 100 years, there are still new things to view at the church on Ninth Street.

Bill Finucan, an elder of East Butler Presbyterian Church, plants new flowers every spring around the church, and he continues to tend to them through the summer and into the fall. He regularly trims the hedges and makes sure all the plants are watered during dry spells.

It’s not just a Sunday morning service for Finucan.

“I bought them all at Schnur's Greenhouse, and I planted them,” Finucan said Wednesday morning, Sept. 17. “I water them every other day, but when it gets hot and humid, you’ve got to water them every day.”

This duty is somewhat of a carryover from one of his previous jobs as an outside maintenance worker at Butler Memorial Hospital. He said the work at the church — planting hibiscus, begonias, geraniums, petunias and more — is an act to make sure the church continues to be welcoming.

“They’re a lot of work,” Finucan said. “But it’s to make things look nice.”

The flowers at East Butler Presbyterian Church are all from Schnur's Greenhouse, according to Bill Finucan, a church elder. Eddie Trizzino/Butler Eagle

The sign welcoming people to East Butler Presbyterian Church is surrounded by plants tended to by Bill Finucan, an elder at the church. Eddie Trizzino/Butler Eagle