Gundersen Lutheran Health System Inc.

12/09/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 12/09/2024 09:36

Nativity set restored as gift to St. Elizabeth’s

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Nativity set restored as gift to St. Elizabeth's

Monday, December 09, 2024

It's that time of year again when outdoor Christmas decorations begin dotting neighborhoods around Wabasha. For some, those decorations include a creche, which is a depiction of the Nativity scene in which Jesus Christ was born.

For years, Gundersen St. Elizabeth's Hospital has been known for its beautiful manger that adorns the front entrance to the building. But time - and weather - took its toll on the Holy Family, wise men and barn animals. Paint chipped, and faces faded. So, one woman decided it was time to revitalize the figures.

Shary Meurer is a local artist and St. Elizabeth's patient. She's had several medical issues over the years, and St. Elizabeth's has helped her deal with them in remarkable ways. She says she was looking for a way to give back to honor the care she'd received.

"They were really good to me, and then she called me and asked me if I would do that," Shary says, her voice cracking, her eyes welling.

"She" is Shary's aunt, Skip, who's a member of the hospital auxiliary and was a lab technician in the early 1960s. And "that" is the project Shary was looking for - repainting the Nativity set.

"Every time I walked by, it was just like, okay, we've got to get something done," Skip says of the weathered set. "And I knew my niece Shary was an extraordinary artist."

It was, you might say, a match made in Heaven. Skip says the auxiliary didn't have the money to purchase a new Nativity, so working on the one they had would have to do. Those at the hospital say the set was purchased in the 1990s through a hospice Love Lights program. Shary says similar sets are no longer made of the fiberglass used for this set, which attests to its age - possibly as many as 35 Christmases.

So Shary set to work on the nine pieces - all of which were in various stages of decay. Not only did she use her artistic skills, but she also made physical repairs to parts of several of them - including sculpting a shoulder and sanding around previously replaced arms and hands. And then the painting began.

It was a long process, Shary says, as she aimed to respect each detail in every figure: the jewels on the crown of a king, the pupil in the angel's eye, the wool on a lamb's back. It was a months-long project she started in January of this year, finishing the final stroke in June. She took no payment for the countless hours; it was her gift to the hospital.

And it's one those at the hospital couldn't speak more highly of.

"It's for everybody, and not just Catholic, but Christians," Skip says. "So many people enjoy it and talked about it. Year after year."

And as of Dec. 2, those who walk through the front doors can enjoy what appears to be a brand-new Nativity, but one, in actuality, that has endured for decades and will now, thanks to Shary, inspire for years to come.