Indelible Memories: The Stained Glass Windows of Historic Cokesbury Methodist Church

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Windows Rev Freund
Photo by Connie Morrison. The Rev. Elizabeth Freund welcomes visitors to Historic Cokesbury Methodist Church for the dedication of the resotred stained glass windows.

By Connie Morrison

Late afternoon light filled the sanctuary of Historic Cokesbury Methodist Church through its freshly restored stained glass windows, and piano and harpsichord music swelled to meet it.

Musicians Lee Jordan-Anders and Thomas Marshall performed “Windows: A Keyboard Kaleidoscope,” which incorporated pieces for piano, organ, and harpsichord to celebrate the completion of the restored windows. The concert was held last Sunday.

“This day has been a long time coming — 15 years to be exact,” said the Rev. Elizabeth Freund, greeting those who had gathered for the dedication.

It’s a project that completes a circle that began when Millie Mapp Mason sponsored restoration of the first window in memory of her parents in 2004. The project was concluded the week before the dedication with the reinstallation of a window sponsored by David F. Mason in memory of his wife, Millie Mapp Mason.

In all, a dozen sanctuary windows were restored. Four were funded by the Eastern Shore Community Foundation; others were sponsored in memory of loved ones. Each window cost between $10,000 and $12,000 to repair, said Anne Nock, who was a driving force behind the restoration.

Such careful work requires highly skilled hands. The first four restorations were made by Shenandoah Art Glass Restoration at the Mark Russell Firm in Winchester, Va., working from 2004-2008. From there, Mezalick Design Studio LLC, from Philadelphia, took over to complete the remaining eight windows.

The original windows were believed to have been designed by Frederick Wilson of Alfred Godwin & Co., a Philadelphia stained glass company. Godwin left shortly after the Cokesbury windows were done to become the artistic director at Tiffany, thus their resemblance to Tiffany windows, according to a booklet published to commemorate the restoration.

To see the photo gallery, click on any image.

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