Stained glass windows flank the altar at St. Andrews Church in Newcastle on Nov. 16. The windows were donated to the church in the 1960s by two sisters in memory of their husbands. (Bisi Cameron Yee photo)
The arc of Christ’s life is encapsulated in two stained glass windows flanking the altar at St. Andrews Church in Newcastle. With so much magnificence in the nave of the church, from the glorious triptych behind the altar to the elaborate stenciling that fills the walls and ceiling, they can be easy to overlook.
The path from the Nativity to the Ascension is traced from east to west as the sun rises over the Damariscotta River, climbs the pebblestone wall of the church illuminating the face of Mary, and eventually subsides, its last rays catching the figure of Jesus as he rises toward Heaven.
The windows are difficult to see from the pews, but according to The Rev. Dr. Suzannah Rohman, the current rector, sometimes the light enters the windows in such a way that color dances in the air above the altar.
According to architect and church member Brett Donham, the images in stained glass windows were conceived to tell the important Biblical stories to those who were unable to read.
Donham said, “Twelfth-century stained glass was made up of small pieces of solid colored glass pieced together like a mosaic. In the 19th century, ‘stained’ glass was made with larger pieces of glass with the images painted on the surface and then baked to hold the paint fast.”
The windows at St. Andrews are the latter.
In the left-hand panel of the eastern window, a serene Mary sits on a wooden stool holding her son, whose hands appear clasped as if in prayer. Joseph stands behind her, his eyes watchful. A lamb is at her side. In the right-hand panel, an elderly shepherd stands beside a youth holding a second lamb. A third figure is kneeling, perhaps a wise man offering a gift. And above the entire scene shines a star.
On the western window, one panel depicts Christ floating within a circle of smoke. The other panel holds an angel with jewel-toned wings wielding a golden censer. Below, three people, their faces bathed in light gaze in awe at the hovering figures.
The windows are both set in metal casings, with a latch to open them halfway up. An ornamental wooden frame echoes the lines of the leading that separate the colors and elements of each scene. But sections of the wood have fallen away. According to Rohman, the windows are due to be repaired next year.
The history on the church website has one sentence about the windows: “In the chancel are two stained-glass windows, one picturing the Nativity of Christ and the other the Ascension of Christ.”
A church publication adds two sentences to the story. “The memorial windows in the sanctuary were installed in 1961. The Nativity window on the Epistle side is the gift of Mrs. Anthony A. Barbara in memory of her husband, and the Ascension window on the Gospel side, last in the series, is the gift of Mrs. Coll T. Flint in memory of her husband.”
Few of the parishioners know any more than that. But there is more history to be had.
Anthony Barbara and Coll Flint were married to two sisters from Newcastle: Elizabeth Onatta (Onetta) Munsey and Martha Anna Munsey, the daughters of Minnie Etta Dodge of Boston and Virdell Munsey, a Maine farmer. The family had a home on Lewis Road in Newcastle.
Bits of information gleaned from the Newcastle Historical Society, the archives of The Lincoln County News, and Ancestry.com capture a sense of the lives of the Munseys. They were active in the community, mentioned often in the social pages of the papers, including the Kennebec Journal, and the Portland Press Herald. They grew up locally, but became “summer people” when they married. They traveled extensively throughout the states and abroad. They were members of the Daughters of the American Revolution. And of St. Andrew’s Church.
Elizabeth Munsey, often called Onatta for her middle name, graduated from Lincoln Academy in 1923. She survived appendicitis and became a registered nurse with a postgraduate degree in surgery. Records of her activity petered out in 1980, but she is buried in the Highland Cemetery in North Edgecomb.
Martha Munsey, more commonly known as Anna, graduated from Lincoln Academy in 1920. She became a pillar of the church. In 1963, soon after the death of her husband, she was appointed the directress of the altar guild at St. Andrews. In 1964, she toured Europe and the Holy Land with her sister.
She died in 1976 and she and her husband are also buried at the Highland Cemetery.
But what of Anthony Barbara and Coll Flint, the two men who inspired such devotion from their wives?
Coll Flint was from Massachusetts. He was a salesman for the H. B. Smith company, a boiler manufacturer in Westfield, Mass. He rose to general sales manager and eventually director of the company. He died June 7, 1963, interestingly one and a half years after The Lincoln County News reported on the Dec. 3, 1961, dedication of the memorial windows.
Anthony Barbara was also from Massachusetts. He was a Navy man, a boatswain’s Mate 1st Class on the USS Hanover during World War II. And he was successful. According to his draft card, he owned and managed the Sandy Burr Country Club in Wayland, Mass., a club still in operation today. He died sometime before 1957.
A 1961 document found in St. Andrew’s records mentioned a “memorial window program.” According to the document, in April 1957, “Charles Whiting estimated the cost of repairs for our church windows at $700. They have deteriorated since then. Mrs. Anthony Barbara is interested in giving a memorial window for her late husband. The window in the epistle side of the sanctuary is about to go, and she had indicated an interest in replacing this window. Mr. and Mrs. Coll T. Flint have measured the window, taken pictures, and will approach Whittemore’s about costs and designs to be approved by the vestry when accomplished.”
The Munseys, the Barbaras, the Flints – all were members of “society,” and as such, had money enough to cover the considerable cost of creating and installing stained glass windows.
Another church record indicates that “the memorial fund of the late Coll Flint, in the amount of $527 was placed in the Brunswick Savings Bank where it draws substantial interest.”
Onatta Munsey donated $140 to the church in 1963 which equates to more than $3,000 today.
Not that St. Andrews didn’t have other options to repair the windows. A handwritten note in the margin of the 1961 document suggests that the church “could use old glass to repair old windows when needed.”
Please see the After Deadline article by Bisi Cameron Yee on the editorial page for additional information about the origins of this article.
