7 kneelers on the Communion rail were hand sewn by St. Georgians in the 1970’s. An amazing amount of work yielded beautiful work that still adorns this space
The kneeler project took place over 3 years. As article in the Free Lance- Star Feb 4, 1978 highlighted 3 churches – Trinity Episcopal, Christ Lutheran and St. George’s doing similar projects. Ruby Harris chaired our project.
She visited churches in search for guidelines for planning the needlepoint cushions. “I never saw what I liked, but saw what I didn’t like.” Colors and themes had to be chosen in advance. Harris said one of the hardest tasks was choosing the background color which was a cranberry red. “We tried many shades of red but the sun shining through the stained glass windows did odd things to the colors, some shades of red actually looked blue
Jeanette Cadwallender wrote the following for the February, 2007 St. Georgian newsletter
“Each kneeler contains a different symbol of our faith on a red background. Other symbols are represented in the corners and are surrounded by a grapevine. They were designed and put on canvas by Beth Massey Pendleton. Florence Rowe Barnick also did some design work. Listed below are the women who did this handwork to the glory of God and the kneelers which they did.
Anne Franklin Bade – the Iris, symbolizing Mary.
Anne Rowe – the Crown, symbolizing Jesus as King of Glory.
Ann Low – the Lamb of God, symbol of the Son.
Jo Love Willis – the Hand, a symbol of God the Father.
Cindy Branscome (deceased) – the Dove, symbol of the Holy Spirit.
Mary Alice Roberts – (Russ’ mother, deceased) – the seven gifts of the Spirit.
Ruby Harris – (Bill’s mother, deceased) – the Shield
Mary Ann Rowe and her mother, Esther Else (deceased) – the two box cushions with crosses on them, used by the acolytes at the altar.
Janet King and Frances Carpenter Rowell (both deceased) were also recognized for their contributions. My research has not indicated which ones they stitched. Someone calculated that there are 180,000 stitches in each kneeler! If anyone knows any more information, please contact Barbara Willis or me so that this portion of our St. George’s history may be recorded completely.
The kneelers were dedicated in a church service, Sept 24, 1974:
