A few years ago our church in Calahoo Alberta, was broken into. During the break in, they broke our statue of the Blessed Mother into hundreds of pieces. A news reporter came out to our rural parish and asked to see the remains of the statue. We never dreamed that the statue could be fixed, I had put it in a container and we were going to dispose of it once the weather had warmed up. The day after the story appeared on Global TV Edmonton, Michelle called me and wanted to know if we would be willing to let her try to repair the statue. There was a fellow who lived in Calahoo that worked with Michelle, so we sent the statue in to Michelle. In the mean time we never dreamed she would be able to repair the statue, as it had well over a hundred pieces, some just slivers and others from penny sized to quarter size. We ordered a new statue for our church while doing renovations to repair some of the damage that was caused by the break in. A year almost to the day, Michelle called and said she was sorry that it had taken so long, but she had finally finished the repairs to the statue. Needless to say I was shocked that she had been able to repair the statue. We made arrangements for her to bring the statue out to our church and we invited Global Edmonton also. We wanted other to know of Michelle's generosity, we invited Michelle up to the front with the statue. Everyone was impressed at the fantastic job she did. There was only one little area you could see that she had been repaired. Michelle left a small flaw in the neck area as a reminder of the extensive repairs that were complete. She did an awesome job, and was very humble about her gift to us, and refused payment. The Lady that had donated the statue originally took custody of her, and after church, some of us went to lunch with Michelle to get to know a little bit about her. Needless to say we were shocked to read about her passing away. Michelle will always be special to us at St. Catherine's Parish. She made a wonderful diary of pictures and the step by step diary of how she went about fixing the statue. She was truly an amazing woman. She spent a year fixing up a statue for our little church, she wanted to do good to counterbalance the bad that someone had done to our church. She touched many heart by her generosity and will be remember in our hearts and our prayers. Judy Ortmeier, Parish Chairperson, St. Catherine's Parish
