[Editor’s note: This story was originally sent to Marcia (Missey) Draper, a long-time member of Grace, who then submitted it to Stories of Grace. You can hear Elisabeth Leggett Richards reading this story by clicking on the link below.]
Grace Church was the most beautiful church.
As my grandmother said in her unique assertively decisive tone, “I always thought it’s what a church SHOULD look like.”
For almost a hundred years, Grace Presbyterian Church stood at the corner of Grove St. and Tuxedo Rd. in Montclair, New Jersey and it signified home to me. It was the place I came home to when I was visiting my dad and family. My dad was the minister at Grace church for 40 years. I grew up in the church. Grace church has been my family’s home church for generations. My grandparents met there and got married there; my parents met and got married there; And my dad and my step-mom met and got married there; My aunt Pam and uncle Carlos got married there. Many Samson friends got married at Grace. My sister and Justin got married there. Our kids were baptized there. My grandparents’ funerals were held at Grace. It was our family’s home church for generations.
Grace church had beautiful stained glass windows and a grand sanctuary filled with rows of shiny smooth wooden pews. It smelled both a little musty and invigoratingly fresh, kind of like air you breathe in caves when you go spelunking. Its smell was a combination of nostalgia and hope.
Grace had a splendid organ and beautiful choir loft and the high arches of the sanctuary were supported with beautiful thick wooden beams—they were so thick and strong they looked kind of like the inverted skeleton of a massive wooden ship. The width of those wooden beams always suggested the strength of the church to me. I remember one summer at Vacation Bible School I learned the hand gesture game—where your fingers on both hands are clasped together except for your index fingers which are pressed together and pointed up and you say, “this is the church, here is the steeple,” then you open your hands, to reveal your fingers as the inside of the church and say, “and here are all the people.” As a child I was always thinking of Grace when I imagined a church full of people. In my childish imagination I thought those wooden beams in Grace’s sanctuary ceiling were like God’s fingers—His hands clasped holding the church together…and cradled inside was the Grace church congregation —“here are all the people.”
On the outside, the church roof had old slate shingles giving its roof a slightly greenish gray tint which accented the beautiful large gray irregular stones the church was built from. Etched into one stone were the numbers: 1926. The year the church was built.
Grace was such a beautiful church inside and out.
In the summers, when it was very hot, the stained glass windows only opened a little, frustrating the flow of any breeze that might blow through and cool the sweaty congregation. I remember the disappointing impact of the tall floor fans in the massive open space of the sanctuary and seeing people fan themselves with their paper church program on which was printed an impressive line drawing of Grace church that my step-grandfather Ferd Petrie drew.
In the winter, the carpeted narthex and velvet pew cushions made the church feel cozy and protective from the cold. It was a wonderful winter church – warm candlelight and music and inviting welcomes from the congregation and hot church coffee made it a warm place to be in a snowstorm. Not to mention the many outreach operations the church organized and piloted to house cold and hungry people in the Montclair area.
I have so many wonderful memories from growing at Grace church. One of my favourite memories is from Paul and Beth’s wedding. I was only 4 years old. I remember so clearly when my dad (much younger then) at the end of the ceremony picked Beth up—“swept her off her feet”—in her beautiful princess wedding dress and carried her out the stone archway of the narthex and I—four years old and in patent leather buckle shoes and a maroon flower girl dress clambered after them—jumping and cheering excitedly at the occasion.
Some of my fondest memories are from childhood when I played with my friends the Samsons—another long time Grace church family. The Sunday school wing of Grace church was commissioned by Alex Samson back in the 1940s. Jean Samson held youth group coffee houses at her house in the throughout the 1970s. And when I was little, in the 1980s, I played with Heather and Michael Samson and Mandy and Brad Haas (when they were in town and came to Grace). At a very young age, Heather had a great impersonation of my dad as a minister. She would rock up and down on her toes and flail her hands animatedly and then stop mid-sentence to take a drink of water from a shelf in the pulpit. In our games, she would always be the minister. One Sunday after church in the prayer meeting room, she performed a wedding ceremony marrying me and Michael Samson—I think we were 4 years old and Heather was 6. Apparently, she also married Michael to his cousin Mandy that same year. According to Heather, we are all still married to each other! LOL!
While there are lots of fun memories there are also many memories of spiritual growth and learning—such as studying the Heidelberg Catechism in Sunday school and growing in faith with youth group—especially on Summer Youth Workcamp trips to West Virginia and South Carolina where we learned to repair houses for families who needed help. It was an amazing experience.
I also have sad and difficult memories associated with Grace church—during difficult times and the ways the Grace church community supported me and my family.
In the late sixties, when my mom’s brother Mickey died of Leukemia at age 8, the congregation of Grace church planted a tree in his honor, and it stands in the church yard to this day. It is a reminder of how having a church helps us navigate the scariest moments in our lives and helps us know we are not alone.
The Grace church community has supported me and my family in so many ways. Most significantly, so many Grace church members have prayed for Eli and rallied in support of our family on this journey with his devastating brain tumour. Thank you so much for your support, Grace church. And this journal entry is our prayer for Grace church in their time of need.
Early in the morning on Tuesday, August 15, 2023 a fire broke out in Grace church and burned the entire sanctuary. The roof collapsed. Those beautiful beams holding up in the arches of the ceiling collapsed and the roof fell in. All of gorgeous stained glass windows had to be broken for the firefighters to stop the fire. So much of the church was destroyed in a matter of hours by the vicious fire.
It is devastating to see the photos of the fire. The church that signified home to so many people is gone. At the time of writing this, we do not yet know what caused the fire but there is some speculation that it was an electrical fire. You can see photos and a video clip of the aftermath here: Grace Church Fire
Through the ashes and smoke, hope remains: The congregation, the neighbors, and the other churches in Montclair and the local synagogues have all rallied to support Grace church and its members in their time of need. We continue to lift up prayers for the people of the church as they muster the energy they need to begin to rebuild in the face of this devastating loss.
“Grace church was a sacred space,” my Dad’s Rabbi friend said to him.
It was a sacred space where the Holy Spirit dwelled in and among its members in worship and fellowship for generations.
Please join me in sending prayers for the Grace church community—As we surround, embrace and uphold this community in love and prayer.
Thank you Grace church for your resilience, love and support for generations.
We love you and will keep you in our prayers.
Elisabeth Leggett Richards
Marcia Draper: My grandparents and parents attended Grace before I was born (1944). The Watts and Saunders. I grew up with Paul and Pam, the Sampsons and the McNaughtons among others. At least 5 of those young men went on the preach the Word. We got a solid foundation and felt knit together and supported by all the congregants. When I moved back to Montclair in 1989, I went back to Worship at Grace even though my husband attended another church. I still knew a lot of people! I loved looking at the choir and seeing brother and sister, mother and daughter, a married couple or two. Grace always meant family to me. Grace has always been home. I still refer to it as my home Church even though I have not been able to travel in years. I have always stayed on the email list and eagerly wait for the News of Grace. I get to mourn those I knew who have gone home and read about current events. In the last publication I was amazed to see a picture of your grandmother sitting in a group of elders. She looks the same and I was filled with joy to see she is still active. As a young woman, she was in my grandmothers (Ethel Watts) Bible class for years and went on to have her own class which my mother and I attended until my Mom (Marcia Saunders) passed on and I moved away. As with everyone, I was as gutted as the Church when I heard the news and saw the pictures. As you said, almost 100 years of roots, teaching, preaching, gatherings, conversions, and the ebb and flow of life together. I pray for the present congregation in their grief and daunting task ahead. I know the Lord will be ever present and assist in miraculous ways. He is always with us.
Marcia (Missey) Draper