By: Charles Romans
Carter County Times
All the original stained-glass windows from the 1941 construction of the Bayless Memorial Presbyterian Church in Grayson, were recently restored as part of the church’s ongoing maintenance and improvement efforts. The church’s charter began in 1878, and after a relocation, has been in its current location since 1912. That church building was lost in a fire, but was rebuilt around 1941 with brick from the Hitchins Brick Yard.
The recent restoration process included refitting all of the joints between each piece of glass that was placed together to make the windowpanes, as well as each window being treated and having a clear, separate pane installed in each window casing. The restoration work was performed by Willet Studios, a company based out of North Carolina. During the process, the studio was able to replace some of the individual glass pieces that had been damaged, matching them perfectly to the existing windows.
“Those are real lead glass, stained glass windows,” Donny Malone said, explaining why the results from the project were so exceptional.
Malone said that after the repairs were made, Willet Studios also regrouted the windows and restabilized them.
“It was neat to watch them,” Malone said. “They are truly artisans. And the windows look beautiful.”
“The history of the windows is quite interesting,” Malone added. “I recently found some documents about who donated the windows and what the original cost was. Each one of those windows cost $34.60 and contain the names of those who donated.”
The total cost for all the windows purchased was $340.90, Malone said. Comparatively, the money spent would be the equivalent of at least $7,500 today – but the windows themselves could be much more depending upon the current market.
Malone said the church raised money for the project internally and was fortunate to have some generous donors as well.
“We wanted to do it for years and we knew it needed to be done, so we were saving up for it,” he said.
As for the cost of the window restoration project, Malone said it wasn’t cheap, but it also wasn’t extravagant.
“Let’s just say it was a lot more than they cost originally,” Malone said with good humor.
Malone is currently gathering all the information he can find on the original donors who made the beautiful stained-glass windows possible, so the church can have it as a compilation of part of its history in the community. The names on the windows include Cova and Margaret Baker, who founded and ran Baker’s Department Store in Grayson, as well as Charles and Emma Woolery, family of actor, musician, and game show host Chuck Woolery.
“The people who donated these windows are still very much alive in the church memory,” Malone said. “And I plan to put cards with each window to help preserve this for the younger generation.”
Malone said the window restoration project not only helped to preserve the historic beauty of the church, but it also yielded a positive result to the church’s overhead expenses.
“I remember the church being somewhat cold and drafty as a child,” Malone remembered. “But now it is much warmer and much more cost effective to heat and cool.”
This is in addition to the church upgrading all of the conventional windows to double-paned as well, compounding the comfort of both the parishioners and the other members of the community who use the building.
“We really want the community to be able to use the church because we see it as a blessing to the community, and we like to share it. We are more than happy to let people use our building who need it.”
Pastor Josh Akers echoed Malone’s sentiments of Bayless Memorial Presbyterian Church being part of the community and of the church welcoming the community to use its facilities.
“We have done a massive amount of renovations over the past 12 years,” Akers said. “We have renovated the kitchen and fellowship hall downstairs, one of the bathrooms, and the windows.”
The renovations have not been extravagant, Akers said, but rather geared toward the practical to make the building more usable to the community.
“It has made the building more energy efficient and usable,” Akers said. “And that’s one of the things we are proud of.”
“The church has in the past been made use of for yoga classes, CPR classes, and an exercise class for quite a while, among other things. And we have also hosted community dinners as well,” Akers said. “It has been important to us that the building see some use beyond just Sunday mornings. Because if it just sits here empty when we aren’t using it, then we feel like we as a congregation aren’t doing our job to be part of the community.”
“We don’t see the building as our asset but rather as a community asset,” Malone added.
Akers agreed with Malone’s assessment and added his own thoughts on the mission of the church in the community.
“We don’t do things for the community just so they will attend our church, though they are more than welcome to and we would be glad if they did,” Akers said. “We do it because we have a strong sense of our place in the community. The community needs us and we want to be good neighbors in the community. So, we organize everything we do around that.”
Contact the writer at charles@cartercountytimes.com
