Linda Mabie wins $500 to help preserve church's Tiffany windows

By Geri Corey
GOSHEN — Linda Mabie, owner of Linda’s Office Supplies, was thrilled to learn that her entry in the annual GelGems Retailer Window Contest had won second place.

Design Ideas, manufacturer of the decorative window cling called GelGems, presented Mabie with a check for $500 earmarked for her designated charity, the Tiffany Window Fund at the First Presbyterian Church of Goshen, 33 Park Place.

Mabie recently presented the check to Pastor David Calvin Kingsley.

“I’d like to thank Linda, Linda’s Office Supplies, and the many hands in this project to aid in restoring and preserving our Tiffany windows,” said Rev. Kingsley.

“This is my pleasure,” Mabie responded. “This means so much to me.”

When she entered the contest, Mabie chose the Tiffany Window Fund as her charity in honor of her mother, Kathryn Maney-Hawkins, a long-time parishioner, who had a great love of the windows. Maney-Hawkinsdied in 2002.

The contest was open to more than 1,000 independent retailers across the country, resulting in over 45,500 online votes for their chosen charity.

“I’m grateful to all the people who voted, my customers, parishioners of the church, village residents,” said Mabie. “We only lost to Wichita, Kansas, and that’s a big city.”

Louis Comfort Tiffany created the triple windows depicting the Resurrection that are located in the chancel. G.W. McGarrah gave them to the church in 1925 in memory of two elders.

Characteristic of Tiffany’s work, the gradations of color, achieved by layering glass, is enhanced by opalescent glass, creating a luminous masterpiece.

Using GelGems, artist Michelle Meek created a beautiful stained glass window, rivaling the look of a Tiffany window. It was on display in Linda’s Office Supplies storefront window during the contest.

“The Tiffany windows at the church are a spiritual experience to look at," Mabie said. "They need to be preserved, and people voted from their hearts."