Figurines and drawings of children with tear-drop eyes never caught my attention like they did some in my family. To me a night at the Precious Moments Hotel in Carthage, Mo,. simply meant sleeping in a room with a couple of cute pictures on the wall and eating breakfast beside gargantuan versions of those pictures in the cathedral lobby. Still, we had arisen early enough for at least a cursory tour of the Precious Moments Chapel, it cost nothing and we would have bragging rights and pictures to show the relatives who did collect the figurines.
Samuel J. Butcher first drew his sweet little people with Bill Biel, his partner in the David and Jonathan greeting card business. The popularity of the softly colored innocent ones expanded to include gift ware, movies and so much more. Butcher credits the marketing of Eugene Freedman and the sculpting of Shuhei Fujioka with the success of the product. As a gift of thanks to God for his many blessings, Butcher built the Precious Moments Chapel (and park) in Carthage, Missouri.
Before we landed at the hotel we had never heard about the park or Butcher. We quickly learned much more during our 20-minute guided tour and later with a search on my smart phone.
During the height of its popularity, the park included a site for an official Precious Moments wedding ceremony, a couple of restaurants and an RV park. Only a doll-like trailer decorated with pink flowers and a cute touristy-looking mouse standing on the RV step remains. To enter the welcome center, we walked past a Las Vegas styled fountain flowing through and over wide-eyed children, fish and geese.
Walking through the reception center to the chapel reminded me of Disney World’s “It’s a Small World.” We viewed various scenes of happy, busy children tending to adult duties: rocking babies, mining coal, building houses and fishing. The path through the garden is lined with trumpeting angels.
The chapel itself deliberately hints of Michelangelo’s painting of the Sistine Chapel with its soaring (albiet smaller) cathedral ceiling painted with angels in the clouds. A tour guide explained the chapel’s features: the carved door, stained glass windows, rows of paintings and faux windows – all designed and drawn with Precious Moments children. We saw large pictures depicting famous people in the Bible, a series of Bible stories, stained glass windows relating the verses of Psalm 23, smaller oval paintings of four forms of worship and the mural at the front of the chapel: “Hallelujah Square”with vignettes of various people and groups in Heaven. Only when painting the central portrait of Jesus did Butcher use the more traditional style. The guide pointed out the military personnel representing each branch of the military, the scattering of pets, the child who never walked on earth drops her crutches in heaven (based on an actual person whom Butcher met) and Butcher’s brother, who worked as a janitor, now memorialized as a boy washing the walls in Heaven.
Visiting and viewing that mural has comforted many families. For them “Hallelujah Square” served as a resolution to their questions and grief. Butcher himself dealt with the loss of his sons through his art. When 27-year-old Philip died in a car accident, leaving behind his wife and three children, Sam Butcher designed and painted Philip’s Room with its mural of a family around a loved one’s bed. He painted obsessively, finishing the mural in short order. Guest books welcome comments from others who are grieving. His other son Timothy, who died in 2012, will be remembered with Timmy’s Tower Memorial, which is currently under construction.
We left this somber setting and walked outside to view an enchanting island with a child-sized stone playhouse built solely for the Butcher children and grandchildren. No path leads visitors to the island. In the other direction a far-off display replicates the angel outside the empty tomb declaring, “He is not here, He is risen.” The carefully laid gardens tucked in the hills of Missouri allows guests space and time for reflection.
Just as we headed away from the chapel, I found my favorite display – a trio of children hovering over a table like busy elves creating Precious Moments statuettes. They represent the three men responsible for the financial success: Butcher, Fujioka and Freedman. And we contributed our part to their ongoing success with a brief stop in the gift shop filled with Precious Moments gift items, books, dolls and trinkets. We bought our obligatory souvenir before we once again hit the road.
(Joan Hershberger is a staff writer at the News-Times. Email her at joanh@everybody.org.)