What happens when a piece of scrap paper tells a story 100 years later…
A couple of weeks ago I had lunch with a gentleman who was baptized at Redeemer in 1930, J. Elliott Lindsley. He eventually went on to become a priest, and served congregations from St. Stephen’s, Millburn, to the diocese of New York. He has maintained his ties to Morristown (indeed, he wrote the definitive history of the Morristown Club, of which he is still a member).
Elliott and I had such a delightful time at lunch, and he told such wonderful stories about the history of Redeemer, that he generously agreed to come to Morristown so that I could film him sharing some of the history of our beautiful building. As we walked from window to window he told me about the families that gave them, where they lived, their circumstances at the time and what motivated them to give the windows. Later, he walked right over to the candlesticks on the altar in the chapel and said, “Redeemer never had candles until I gave these…” and with a little squinting, we could read the inscription that they were indeed given in memory of his grandmother. (Historical tidbit: Elliott’s Flower’s, on the corner of South and Elm, was his family’s business until the forties.)
But here’s where a delightful lunch and fascinating stories connected to something completely unrelated…. Read more →
