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Home  / News & Publications /  Michigan Catholic News / 2009 /  Stringing seniors

by Kristin Lukowski of The Michigan Catholic
Published March 27, 2009

Kristin Lukowski | The Michigan Catholic (Back row) Toni Licata, Nancy Giardina, Rita L. Valmassoi, Alice Chylinski, (front row) Virginia Seweck and Irene C. Gugala are among those who have made nearly 10,000 rosaries to be sent all over the world.

Sterling Heights — If you figure that the rosary-making group at Oakmont Manor retirement home has sent out nearly 10,000 rosaries in the past few years, that’s at least half a million prayers sent up heaven’s way — and even more prayers the more times each rosary is prayed.

“It’s all worthwhile,” said Kathie Stevens, whose parents, Bob and Helen Gagel, are the original members of Oakmont’s rosary group. “We get thank-you letters from all over the world. They’re so grateful for the rosaries.”

The project started when the Gagels returned to Michigan from Florida, where they had been quite active, in 2004. As a result, Stevens was on the lookout for a project to keep her mother busy, especially if it could contribute to the local Catholic community. Remembering that she made rosaries as a child, she found the national group Our Lady’s Rosary Makers, out of Louisville, Ky., which makes rosaries to send out to people all over the world.

The Gagels and Stevens send out for supplies — plastic beads, clear spacers, crosses and twine — which are provided for a nominal fee with the promise that they’ll be sent to missions, not resold for a profit. Before long, word got around what they were up to, and other Catholics at Oakmont started helping with the rosary-making effort.

Kristin Lukowski | The Michigan Catholic Toni Licata demonstrates how the group keeps rosaries on a hanger with a bottom rail that pops out, which keeps them from getting tangled.

Kristin Lukowski | The Michigan Catholic Kathie Stevens, Helen Gagel and Bob Gagel show off some of the rosaries the group has made over the past few years.

Every other Friday evening, as many as a dozen ladies, members of parishes all over the archdiocese before moving to Oakmont, might be helping string beads and knot. This allows them to set up a kind of assembly line, with ladies stringing, knotting, securing a cross, or trimming the ends, depending on what their talents are. Bob Gagel helps buy buying clear nail polish to dip the ends of the twine, and cutting the twine to the correct length.

To date, they’ve sent out 9,845 rosaries, in batches of 400-500 every other month. Since it costs about $10 to send a 12-pound package, about what 400 plastic rosaries weighs, the group stopped sending the rosaries directly overseas and now send them to Florida, from where they are distributed around the world to where they’re most needed. Occasional donations also help with the mailings.

“We do our part,” Stevens said. “Every couple of months, we send a couple hundred with the little extra cash that we have.”

In addition to the work the group does when it gets together every other week, women often work on rosaries in their own homes.

“It’s very relaxing to work on this,” said Irene C. Gugala. “Sometimes when I can’t sleep at night, I get up and work on this, or while I’m watching the ball game. You do your best work that way.”

The ladies all agree they enjoy working on the rosaries. It takes about a half hour to make one from beginning to end, “and when the Red Wings are on, I go faster,” said Rita L. Valmassoi. “I think it’s a pleasure to get together, to socialize when we’re working,” added Nancy Giardina. In addition to working on their own, the group enjoys its work so much that they keep their eyes open for things that will help the operation; they’ve found a perfectly sized plastic sorter for the beads, and a wooden hanger of which the bottom pops open, perfect for hanging rosaries so they don’t get tangled.

Kristin Lukowski | The Michigan Catholic Rita L. Valmassoi demonstrates how the group carefully threads beads onto twine to make a rosary. Each takes about a half hour.

The group all laughed when asked if they’ve ever accidentally missed a bead or put an extra one on a rosary. Although they don’t make too many mistakes, said Virginia Sewick, Stevens joked that the rosaries that are missing a bead or two are “speed beads,” and the ones that got an extra beads are for when someone needs extra prayers. In Uganda, one of the places that receives their rosaries, Stevens said, missionaries have to walk for several miles to pick them up and then hand them to their parishioners. Many of the missionaries wear them around their necks, because they consider it a privilege to pray when ever they want to.

That thought isn’t far from the rosary makers’ minds as they string beads and tie knots.

“I know I speak for each and every one of our members that we are grateful to Helen and Bob for getting into this,” Valmassoi said. Our Lady’s Rosary Makers has been sending rosaries to missions for more than 57 years. Missions in India, the Philippines, and countries all over Africa are among those currently looking for rosaries to distribute to the people there.

For information about starting or participating in a rosary-making guild, write to Our Lady’s Rosary Makers, 4611 Poplar Level Road, PO Box 37080, Louisville, Ky., 40233-7080; call (502) 968-1434; or visit OLRM.org.