The Lower School Altar

I want to share a story with you about the power of ESA connections. When we built the new Lower School campus, we needed an altar for chapel services. I spoke to Coach Brian Rhoades a couple of times about this need, and he agreed to build a Lafayette Campus altar. Brian was a skilled wood-worker, and he loved to recycle “used” wood in the benches and birdhouses that he crafted. He believed that old wood somehow captured and resonated with the voices and events that it was privy to in the past. Unfortunately, this project was still on his to-do list when he passed away in August of 2012.

A few years ago, we replaced the wooden decking that ran alongside one of the original plantation buildings in Cade (in front of Ms. Kathy’s office and the Faculty Lounge). The walkway was made of old, rough-cut 2 x 12 lumber. Mr. Carl Smith stored that wood and when I mentioned building an altar, he suggested we use the pieces he had saved. He asked Mr. Gaylon Deville to plane the wood and make it smooth. The planks turned out to be beautiful old Douglas fir.

I told Lower School Head Anne Johnson that I would like to involve some Lower School students in this project, and she suggested that I partner with the 4^th grade. Ms. Ursula, Mr. Peter, and I met with the 4^th graders and asked them if they were interested in this project. They were really excited. It would be a gift to the school that would be used for years, much like the altar at the Cade campus. They also wanted to keep it a secret, and present the altar to the school as part of their 4^th grade year-end chapel. 

We asked Mr. Jason to bring the Cade altar to the Lafayette Campus, and we measured it and saw how it was constructed. Handcrafted by Owen Reamer, a USL English professor, the Cade altar has been used since the school was first opened. We were inspired by this original piece, and we set about to create a design, draw plans, and make supply lists. My neighbor, Serge Renoux, donated the use of his wood shop and he gave us an old cypress beam for the altar legs. 

Each of the students helped cut the wood for the altar, assemble it, sand it, and stain it. When we first took the class down to look at the wood, one of the students asked how long the boards were. When I measured those boards, I got a lump in my throat. Then a big smile spread across my face as I thought about Coach looking down on us and smiling. Turned out the boards were each 6’ 10” long, and that’s exactly how tall Coach Rhoades was.