The �guiding light� that gave the longest-running soap opera its name was quietly extinguished Tuesday at Peapack Reformed Church in Peapack-Gladstone in New Jersey.

Cast members and crew of �The Guiding Light� were also on location at Dominick�s Pizza and other sites in the borough to wrap up the last day of shooting for daytime television�s longest-running soap opera.
�Guiding Light��s producers believe they have exhausted every possibility for seeking another station to pick up the program, canceled by CBS in April, said Jeannie Tharrington, the show�s publicity director. �Guiding Light� will air its last episode on Sept. 18, showcasing sites around the borough that have become familiar to daytime viewers since shooting began here in 2007.
�It�s sad,� said Susan Wisher of Frenchtown, N.J., who huddled with about two dozen other fans near Dominick�s, where filming was under way around noon.
�We�ve been coming for about a month, watching them film, and showing them support and all our love,� Wisher said.
A little earlier, cast members, crew and a few local parishioners attended a brief service at the church to remember the show.
�Guiding Light� star Robert Newman noted that as the fictional Joshua Lewis, he had preached from the other side of the pulpit in past episodes.
�It�s just been great,� Newman said of filming in the borough. �People have been very gracious. I never had anyone give me anything other than smiles and friendly waves.�
The Peapack church�s Rev. Kathryn Henry told the gathered crew that it had been a pleasure to have �Guiding Light� filmed at the historic church, a key location for both weddings and funerals in the show�s home base of a fictional town called Springfield.
Henry recalled a bit of the show�s long history, which began on radio in 1937, when she noted the �guiding light� referred to a lamp put in a church window by the fictional Rev. Rutledge to welcome parishioners seeking guidance.
�Now, unbelievably, the Guiding Light will be extinguished,� Henry said.