"The Good Shepherd" Stained Glass Window

    One of the most beautiful features of our present day church building is the lovely stained glass window which graces one wall of the sanctuary.  The window is made of antiqued, painted and fired glass and depicts Jesus holding a lamb in His arms.  Jesus is wearing a brilliant red robe.  At the bottom of the window, in old world script, are the words from a version of Ecclesiastes 11:1-- "Cast thy bread upon the waters for it shall return to you in as many ways."  
    How the window came to our church from Italy, where it was crafted about 200 or more years ago, is an interesting story.  The window was brought to this country and placed in the Episcopal church in Cherry Valley, Massachusetts.  Unfortunately, we do not know the name of the donor nor the date the window arrived in America. 
    We do know that during the early 1920s the church was scheduled for demolition to make way for a new building.  The man who owned the property was of the Jewish faith.  Again, we do not know his name.  He recognized the beauty and the value of the window and saved it.  How grateful we are to him!
       The window next appeared in the St Thomas Episcopal Church in Auburn, Massachusetts about 1920.  Sometime in the 1970s that church was demolished and the window was rescued by an unknown person who brought it to New Port Richey, Florida.
    Dr. Max Rittgers, who was pastor of our local church in 1982, heard about the window and arranged it's purchase on April 5th of that year.  Donors who made the purchase of the window possible were:  Dr Jesse and Jane Richardson; Alvah and Marion Belcher; Margaret Belcher; Arlend Everett;  J.P. and Sandra Garner; Paul and Betty Huffstutter; Nelson and Ruby MacBroom; Donald and Carol Morris; Paul and Dorothy Wilkinson; Mrs. Peg Smith; Keith and Eleanora Smith; and Dr. Max B. and Rita Rittgers.
    The window was dedicated Sunday, November 7th, 1982 when it graced one wall of the Sanctuary in our Church's second building, now known as Shively/Roberts Hall.  Dr. Max B. Rittgers, Pastor stated the dedication service was "A covenant with the past, a commitment to the present, and a challenge to the future."

From "The First One Hundred Years"
by Evelyn C. Bash

Last Updated 01/26/2006