By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

One hundred twelve bicyclists silhouetted against swaying prairie grass and golden ripening wheat rode the back roads of Ellis County Saturday to tour the region’s majestic Volga German chapels.

This is the first year for the Tour De Kapellen, which is German for Tour of Chapels.

Cyclists could choose from anywhere from a one-mile fun ride in the city of Hays to a 100-mile tour that took the cyclists to six historic churches in the area. The stops included St. Catherine Church in Catherine, St. Fidelis Church, Basilica of the Plains in Victoria, Holy Cross Church in Pfeifer, St. Francis Church in Munjor, and the Antonino and Schoenchen churches.

The first four stops included tours and live music. The Antonino and Schoenchen stops on the 100-mile route were self-guided.

The 785 Jeep Club volunteered as SAG vehicles and the Downtown Hays Development Corp. offered a German meal at the Union Pacific Plaza Pavilion at the end of the ride.

Most of the churches on the route were built in the early 1900s.

St. Fidelis Church, Basilica of the Plains

Ivan Werner, St. Fidelis tour guide, said besides family, religion was the most important aspect of the Volga German settlers’ lives. This is reflected in the love, care and great expense that was lavished on the settlers’ churches.

Construction on St. Fidelis was begun in 1904 and finished in 1911. It was the fourth church that was constructed in the community since its settling in 1876.

Not only did the parishioners want a church that was beautiful, Werner said, but they wanted something large enough to hold all of their parishioners at one time. The four-story limestone chapel holds 1,100 people.

The towering, colorful 48 stained glass windows, including the iconic circular window at the front of the church, came from the Munich Stained Glass Co. No cranes were available at the early date of the church’s construction so the windows were installed by hand using scaffolding.

The chapel’s columns are Vermont granite. The builders rigged an old thresher and with the effort of 41 men pushing and pulling hauled each of the columns, which weigh 4 to 5 tons each, to the church site. The bases of the columns and carved capitals are Bedford limestone from Indiana. The carvers name has been lost to history, but church records indicate each capital took a month to carve and the carver required in payment a pint of the priest’s good whiskey at the conclusion of each work day.

The main altar is made from Italian marble from the same quarry from which came stone for some of Micheal Angelo great sculptures. The marble was given to the church from the parishioners in 1986 on the church’s 75th anniversary.

Austrian wood carvings depicting the stations of the cross hang on the walls of the church. The original inscriptions on the carvings were in German, but were later changed to English.

The original cost of the construction was estimated at $85,000 to $100,000. Today the church’s stained-glass windows alone are valued at $1 million for insurance purposes.

Holy Cross Church

Holy Cross Church in Pfeifer was built in 1918.

The altar at Holy Cross was hand-carved from crates, which was the only material the parishioners had at the time. The mosaic on the front of the church was created by a Venetian artist and was paid for with the parish children’s pennies. It depicts the Judgment Day. The scroll in the angel’s  hand reads in Latin “Behold the Light of the World.”

The church is still maintained by a non-profit organization, but has not had a parish or regular services since 1993 when the parish was closed because it had dwindled to 40 people.

The church today hosts weddings and funerals and an annual mass in September. The church is maintained through the gracious donations of patrons like Carol Billinger, who can’t bear to see the majestic building deteriorate.

“There is so much history in this building. It is not because we love it or we grew up here, this has to be saved,” she said.

The non-profit’s next big challenge is replacing the chapel’s roof.

St. Francis Church

St. Francis Church in Munjor was built in 1889, founded by Capuchin priests.

The church was destroyed by fire in 1932. Although the majority of the church was rebuilt, the parish never had the funds to replace the steeple after the fire.

Today the church is home to 90 families and has mass three times per week, said Lilly Binder, St. Francis pastoral associate

Like St. Fidelis, the walls of the church feature the stations of the cross, but in paintings instead of carving. The painting here are inscribed with the original German.

When the church burned in 1932, the sisters were alerted to the fire when children from the nearby school who were playing at recess saw smoke coming from the chapel. The statues, stations of the cross and original pews were saved from the burning structure.

The limestone for the church was all quarried locally, with local farmers bringing in loads for the construction.

“That was their contribution to help build the church back in the day,” Binder said.

The names of the families who donated funds for each of the stained-glass windows are still there along with the names of the saints the windows depict.

“We are blessed to be living in this remote area and have such a beautiful church that we have out here and we are still able to have mass and to have it open,” Binder said.

Although some of the cyclists said they had lived in Hays for years, several said they had never been inside the churches on the tour.

“It’s been a beautiful day, and the churches are just gorgeous and the music is totally awesome,” said Shelly Schmidt from Hays.

She and her friend Lori Pennock of Medicine Lodge at the Pfeifer SAG stop said they were considering going the full 100 miles.

“I ride with the Friends here in Hays, so it was a great opportunity to see all of the churches,” Pennock said of her visit to Ellis County.

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

Most people are not in the best of moods when they meet Patty Wolf for the first time.

They are usually paying a fine or facing the challenge of a legal matter.

But for 35 years, Wolf has met that challenge with kindness and grace, as she served the Hays Municipal Court.

Wolf, 62, retired from her clerk position last week.

Wolf said she really enjoyed being able to help people better understand the court and their options. The clerk is one of the first people in the court system people deal with. She said being able to help people was her biggest reward from her job.

“Sometimes people get in a position and they don’t know they have options available to them,” she said. “While we can never give advice, [we can] explain options to people to let them know there are other ways to possibly remedy their situation. It was gratifying being able to help individuals.”

In 1984, Wolf had been recently laid off, when she heard there was a position open with the city. She was initially assigned to work as the the Hays PD secretary before being transferred nine months later to the municipal court.

“The city is a great organization to work for,” she said. “They take care of their employees, have great benefits and it was just a fit for me.”

She said she has dealt with some diverse cases over the years, but said she did not want to relate specifics for fear of embarrassing anyone involved. However, she said it did keep her job interesting over the years.

“I really enjoyed working with the patrol,” Wolf said. “They are an amazing group of dedicated, courageous young men and women. I watched as their families made sacrifices to protect me and this community, and I am grateful for their service.

“I have also made a lot of friends along the way,” she added. “There are some great people who work throughout the city of Hays — staff at city hall, our IT department, animal control, dispatch, so I had a lot of contact with them, as well as our judges and prosecutors, attorneys I have met along the way as well and worked with.”

As a clerk of the court, she collected money for tickets, dealt with attorneys and created reports for the court.

Wolf said the biggest change at the court in the last 35 years has been the introduction of technology.

When Wolf started working at the court in the ’80s, the court had hand-written ledgers. The court would eventually make the transition to computers and a large amount of data had to be entered to get that system off the ground.

Now that she is retired, Wolf plans to travel, spend more time with her grandchildren and her mom, go fishing and volunteer.

“I truly enjoyed my work at the city and everyone I worked with — the ladies in the office,” she said. “It was a great work environment. It was like a family there. Everyone was very supportive. That I will truly miss, but I’m on to my next adventure. ”