Passion for restoration

MASSENA — The Emmanuel Congregational United Church of Christ had just had its stained glass windows restored in 2007 when lightning struck and much of the building was destroyed by fire.

All but one of the windows remained intact after the fire, and thanks to the recent work of a nonprofit restoration company, the broken window of Jesus Christ is back together and as good as new.

Firefighters broke the portrait of the standing Christ when they had to use the window as an entry to the church while fighting the fire.

"All that was left of the window was from the shoulders up," said the Rev. Judith A. Van Kennen. "We were looking at either putting clear glass in, or a door."

But that was before Edward J. Dehors and his son, Jason E., stepped in to offer their services. The men are founders of the Historical Restorations Foundation in Martville, which does glass restoration for churches and other nonprofit groups in the state.

"His passion is window restoration for churches," the Rev. Mrs. Van Kennen said. "He took a photograph and rebuilt it."

The Dehors charged the church $8,000 to do the work — about $17,000 less than the first estimate the church received from a for-profit contractor.

"Ed Dehors and his company came and made it within reach," the Rev. Mrs. Van Kennen said.

The foundation is dedicated to preserving the historical integrity of ecclesiastical stained glass by using traditional restoration practices and historically accurate materials, Mr. Dehors said.

"It's been a good two and a half months. That's how long it takes," Mr. Dehors said.

They took the window out of its spot in the church and took it back to their shop, where they began the painstaking process of restoring it.

"Most of it was missing," he said. "We took the few pieces we had and took them apart to clean them."

The next part of the process was to lay the pieces out on a light table and begin to draw the missing pieces on a glass, ensuring they resembled other windows in the series. Then they started cutting the glass, painted it and fired it in the kiln.

The church gave them photographs of the windows taken before the fire and the Dehors said they looked at every piece of glass to see how it was shaded. Some of it was fired five or six times to get the right edge, Mr. Dehors said.

"Working on a church window is not like making a sun catcher. It's a whole different world," he said.

Mr. Dehors learned his trade during the 1970s from Stanley Worden of the former Henry Keck Studio, Syracuse, and Henry McClean of the Caldermac Studios, Belfast, Northern Ireland. He has worked his trade for more than 25 years and is the author of "The Stained Glass Restoration Handbook." He and his son recently finished up work at St. Mary's Church in Canton.

A rededication ceremony is planned for 1 p.m. Dec. 12 at the church.