A handmade wooden replica of an elaborate cathedral has found a home in the chapel of the St. John/St. Joseph Cemetery in Hammond.
Its carver, Theodore “Ted” DeYoung of Crete, showed it once to his neighbor, Michael P. Welsh, chief operations officer for the Gary Diocesan Cemeteries, who was offered it when the man died at the age of 87 in early 2014.
“He lived a few houses down the street from me,” Welsh said. “A few years ago, I walked him home from a block party because a big storm blew up. He was in his 80s and said he wanted to show me something.” DeYoung knew Welsh worked with three cemeteries — St. Stanislaus in Michigan City, St. Peter and Paul in Merrillville and St John/St. Joseph in Hammond.
What he showed Welsh was the model of a cathedral, sitting on a table in his workshop where he built grandfather clocks and model trains.
Two years later, in June, Mike DeYoung, Ted’s nephew, called Welsh about donating the clock to the cemetery.
Mike DeYoung said he believes the cathedral is a model of a real church, but isn’t sure because he hasn’t seen the original plans.
Those who have attended services in the chapel have told Welsh the clock is an amazing piece, he said. It sits on a table handcrafted by Ted DeYoung especially for it.
The clock can chime on the hour, quarter-hour and half-hour, Welsh turns it off during services.
Mike DeYoung said he doesn’t know a lot about his uncle’s early life, but got to know his father’s brother as an old man.
“I would stop by every now and then to see how he was doing,” said DeYoung. “I checked more on him after he lost his third wife in 2009. He did come around a lot more — when he was older and alone. He still drove until the last six to eight months of his life. He was a crossing guard in Crete for years. He enjoyed doing that.”
DeYoung and his uncle shared an interest in woodworking and the elder DeYoung made a cradle for his third wife’s granddaughter, model steam engines and a grandfather clock, complete with scroll work decorated with deer and bear.
The cathedral clock, which DeYoung said he hopes will eventually land in his sister’s Wisconsin home, presented a challenge to his uncle who sought advice on how to cut the top of the spires.
“I would say, ‘You’re the woodworker, you figure it out,'” said DeYoung. “I didn’t want him to give up on it. I forced him to keep his mind going. He figured it all out.
“His last project was another grandfather clock that I have not decided what to with yet,” DeYoung said. “It is actually the frame and the shell. It one of those situations where you don’t know if you should finish another man’s project.
“A lot of his workshop is still the way it was when he was alive. I have not had a chance to clean anything,” DeYoung said. “There’s still sawdust from him.”
Welsh called Ted DeYoung, “a handyman’s handyman.”
Nancy Coltun Webster is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
