Chapel renovation project nearly finished

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

A project first created shortly after World War II to honor Van Wert County veterans is getting a facelift this year, thanks to community interest and financial support. Now all that’s needed are more photos to display inside the facility.

According to County Veterans Service Officer Barry Johns, work should be completed next month on the Military War Album Chapel, which features photos of county military veterans in a small chapel located next to the Courthouse.

The chapel was originally begun in 1944 by then-Sheriff Roy Shaffer, who collected photos of local veterans who had served in World War II. The building was constructed by the carpentry program of the Marsh Foundation and erected on its current site next to the Courthouse.

Approximately 1,000 photos were collected for display that year and were first shown at the 1944 Van Wert County Fair.

Over the years, more photos have been added to the chapel display, which reached its capacity around 2007. Four years earlier, then-Veterans Service Officer Keith Harman started looking at renovating the current structure and expanding it so more photos could be added to the display.

Although Harman received a number of donations to help finance the project and the blessings of the then County of Commissioners, the project came to a halt when the Army Corps of Engineers unit in Lima had to back out.

“We kept having people come in and say ‘can I have my picture in’,” Johns said, adding that he later found Harman’s original project notes and first went to his board, the County Veterans Service Board, for approval before taking it to the current county commissioners.

“The county commissioners were outstanding, they said ‘go ahead, go do it’,” Johns said, adding that the commissioners also donated $4,000 on behalf of county residents for the project.

Following the commissioners’ approval, the county veterans service officer said he then got with local contractor Alexander & Bebout to prepare plans to build an addition to the rear of the chapel. Carpentry students at Vantage Career Center also constructed new photo frames to display the photos.

With the new addition, Johns said the chapel now should be able to double the previous total of more than 2,000 photos on display in 2007.

A number of other organizations and individuals have also donated money to fund the project, which Johns said has cost approximately $21,000 to date. Because more funds will likely be needed to complete the project, the veterans service officer said donations are still being accepted, and can be sent to The Van Wert County Foundation, in care of the “Military War Chapel project”.

With the physical addition complete and most of the frames ready, Johns said the next phase of the project is to seek more photos from veterans for display in the chapel.

Johns said those interested in having a photo in the chapel can bring a 3½-by-5-inch photo to Gibby’s Express Photo in downtown Van Wert. Gibby’s will then make a digital copy of the photo for display in the Military War Album Chapel. All of the current photos will also be resized so that all photos are the same size.

Johns said the photos would be displayed in alphabetical order, something he felt was best to do, in part because he wanted to have his photo next to those of his three brothers, who also served in the military.

When the project is completed, which Johns said he hopes is around May 22, plans are to have a formal opening dedication ceremony on Memorial Day weekend, with Harman already tabbed as guest speaker for the event.