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Mausoleum Window
Project Completed
By Delbert Blickenstaff
The weather had to improve enough to allow the bricked up
windows at the west end of the Mausoleum to be knocked out so that the
new windows could be installed. This took place on April 7, 2011, and
the feat was accomplished by Steve Barhorst (of Iddings Glass), and
Paul Siefring and Dennis Tipple of the Cemetery staff.
When I was first asked to work on this project by two
members of the Mausoleum Restoration Committee (Ron Bonfiglio and Lyn
Bliss), my first request was a protective cover over the new windows.
The original windows built in 1912 were large (32” x 72”) and were
unprotected, so they were destroyed by vandals. There are no
photographs of these windows so no one knows what they looked like.
However there were remnants of some smaller decorations, using stained
glass, on the sides of the building. These were used to develop a
pattern for the large windows.
Friend and neighbor, Junior Campbell, and I made a pattern
and then traveled to the Busy Beaver Craft Shop in Beavercreek to buy
stained glass, lead came, copper foil, solder, patina, and other
supplies. I had learned that Junior was an experienced stained glass
worker so I asked him to help with the first window. We found that the
job was more difficult than we had anticipated, but with help from the
Cemetery workers the first window was installed on Sept. 29, 2010. The
tall window had to be cut into three sections to be installed safely.
Dick O’Brien, Superintendent of the Cemetery, asked me to
make three more windows. By then Junior had found other projects to
work on, so I was on my own. I worked 95 hours on the second window and
it was installed on Nov. 18, 2010. All of our work on the windows was
done in the Cemetery office building. Window number 3 was made in 73
hours and window number 4 took 72 hours. Throughout the entire process
Dick and his co-workers were very helpful. All of us are very happy
that this project is finished.
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