St. Elizabeth Church ~ 50 Years Ago

It must have been in the late 1940's or early 1950's when a beautiful renovation took place at St. E's. Prior to that time, I remember a very plain and austere interior with strange massive art deco lighting fixtures hanging from the ceilings.

Anyway, when I married in 1957, the renovations had long been completed. The church interior was quite beautiful in that overly fancy pre-Vatican II style. Lots of marbelized wallpaper, lots of shiny gold on the walls surrounding the altar and fancy backgrounds for the statues of Mary and Joseph on either side.

I've just found this old color photograph someone took at my wedding and gave to my parents. The picture is somewhat deceptive though, because the colors were actually much lighter than they appear. Many of you saw my black and white wedding picture hanging in the church hall some months ago. That photo showed much more detail than this one.

As you know, all that remains of that renovation is the old wallpaper cross that Fr. Andrew found many months ago; and that Diane and Vince Neylan had framed for the church. There were two of these golden crosses; one on each side behind the altar. You can just barely see the circles showing behind the electric candelabras.

Note also, the tall standing electric fan next to the statue of St. Joseph. There was another one on the other side beside the statue of Mary. There was no air conditioning in the church at that time and all the cool air we could get during the summertime were from those fans and the open windows.