Century-old stained glass re-installed

One of the long-term projects planned at Roanoke First United Methodist Church on Main Street was completed last week.

Pastor Ralph Barrow said the church "is in the midst of a big project of repair and renovation of its facilities. From the outside, the most visible part of this project is the big stained glass window that Main Street."

Barrow said the window was removed June 13 because the wooden frame was deteriorating. Workers from Leeds Stained Glass, who work in churches throughout the Southeast, took the panels back to their Pell City shop and worked on the stained glass through the summer. Employees Cody Herron, Greg Armstrong, and supervisor Kevin Jones worked on the panels and re-installed the window. Jim Sherril, who does much of the work on the stained glass in the shop, also does most of the drawing and designs.

Monday, Oct. 15, they brought the window back in 23 sections, Barrow said. They had taken each window apart, cleaned it, re-leaded and glazed it. They placed the window in a new aluminum frame.

Now the church will move on to other projects. The combined projects will cost approximately $200,000. The window work alone was $75,476.

The pastor said the administrative board and trustees started discussing the work in December of 2011 and sought an estimate last January.

"We're very pleased the window is in," Barrow said. "It's a visible sign of some of the projects being completed," he said. Completion of the pipe organ work will be another big event.

The pipe organ in the sanctuary is being re-built. It was removed in May and taken to Proscia Organbuilders in Bowdon, Ga., where work will continue over the next few months. It will likely be installed near the end of the year. The organworks and pipes will be re-positioned to each side of  the choir loft so that they no longer block the view of the window, the pastor said.

There will be re-plastering of the choir loft wall and renovation of the room to the left of the choir loft to house the blower, relays, and other equipment necessary to the operation of the organ, he said.

Work on the sanctuary roof has been completed and the roofs of the Education Building and the McDonald Family Life Center will also be done.

"We realize that the church is not primarily brick, mortar, organ, window and roof. More essentially the church is a congregation of believers in God through his son, Jesus... We pray that God may use the church's music to inspire us to discipleship and service. And just as the light filters through the window, we pray that God's light will find its ways into our hearts and minds and it will guide our actions," Barrow said.

The pastor oversaw similar, though less extensive work, when he was at Montevallo First United Methodist Church. Work was done on windows and the organ there.

FUMC was organized in 1844. The current sanctuary was finished in 1906. In 2006, the church celebrated its 100th anniversary and opened its cornerstone.

Herron and Armstrong said they seal and glaze everything and install the glass in such a way it will last another 100 years.

Once they get the panels back to the shop they make a charcoal rubbing of each panel, then completely take each panel apart and clean each piece individually with a lead-based cleaner. They lay out the pattern and build the panel in the frame, solder it and turn it over to solder the other side. It is glazed on each side, then mortar is applied to harden the glazing. It sits for 72 hours to allow the glaze to harden, then they clean it with an ice pick and wire brush. Then bracing or window bars are attached. It is rubbed down with linseed oil to keep the lead from rusting, according to Herron. Then it is cleaned again.

An associate in North Carolina builds the aluminum frames and they are brought to the shop. Smaller churches often choose to stay with wood frames, Armstrong said.

The windows are so heavy it sometimes takes four people to pick them up to turn them over to the other side, Armstrong said. The windows can weigh as much as 65 pounds each, Herron said. As each piece of glass is glazed it hardens like cement and at various stages is carefully cleaned. Armstrong said it is cleaned about four or five times before it leaves the shop.

People might be surprised by the damaged windows they take back to the shop and repair, such as badly damaged windows from the tornado in Cullman. Sherril has repaired windows blown completely out. They can sometimes find places to buy replacement window pieces. Sometimes churches don't want the glass so they get to keep and use it, he said.

Jones caulks three times around the outside clear window. The clear window protects the stained glass.

The pastor said the congregation voted to do the work understanding the funding would have to come from outside the general budget. Numerous contributions have already been made for this project. Many church members have made estimates of giving over the 2013-2015 period in addition to the estimates made for the 2012 general budget, he said.