Published: July 29, 2008 10:34 pm         

Origin of stained-glass window a mystery for Seelyville United Methodist Church

SEELYVILLE — A beautiful stained-glass window placed recently in a Vigo County church has a mysterious past, and church members are seeking clues to its origins.

The window, which has been carefully positioned above the entrance to the Seelyville United Methodist Church, had spent the past 30 or so years in Edith Tucker’s garage in Seelyville.

Tucker, a 45-year member of the Seelyville church, decided to donate the window to the church when she moved from her home in 2003. A frame was built to hold the window in place, and it was located above the entrance in June as the church is undergoing remodeling.

“It was given to me by Josephine Sudbrink in the late 1970s to protect until I found a place to display it,” said Tucker. Sudbrink, who died in 1997 at age 91, told Tucker the glass had come from a church at Fifth and Cherry streets in Terre Haute that had been torn down, Tucker said.

The only church listed in that area in old city directories was the Calvary Methodist Episcopal Church, which was listed at 132 N. Fifth St. from at least 1936 until it closed its doors in 1958 or 1959, according to records at the Vigo County Public Library. Tucker said she was not sure which church it came from or how the stained-glass window came to be in the possession of the late Mrs. Sudbrink.

Tucker has no further information about the origin of the window, which is about 4 feet by 8 feet, and portrays a Bible in the center of its colorful panes.

Carol Everman, a 50-year church member, said she was shocked when the glass window was donated by Tucker.

“It’s so beautiful, and when the sun comes through it, I just love to look at it,” she said Tuesday. “They had a terrible time getting it up there, it’s so heavy!”

Tucker said she kept the window up off the floor of her garage on blocks with a 4-feet-by-8-feet sheet of plywood in front of it to protect it, and the glass was kept safe.

Everman requests that anyone with information about the origin of the stained-glass window call the Seelyville United Methodist Church at (812) 877-1868.

Deb Kelly can be reached at (812) 231-4254 or deb.kelly@tribstar.com.