The History of the Sketch of our Church....

by Anne Nevil

One of the nice things about growing ‘older’ is that you have memories that go WAY back. That is why I can write this history of the graphic of our church building that is used on the church bulletin.

Some people have asked ‘Why doesn’t that ‘picture’ on the bulletin have the trees on each side of the door?" Well, that answer is simple. That is a pencil sketch done in 1967 before the trees were planted. Joe and Junera Stone were members of our church, and Joe is the artist who sketched it. When Joe gave it to the church, I thought it was the most wonderful gift. We immediately started using his sketch on the ‘church programs.’

Joe has been a professional artist for over forty years. After graduating from Auburn, University, he was employed as an illustrator-designer in Alabama, Florida and Georgia. He has found many fascinating subjects for his art in his home state of Alabama. His limited edition prints of historical landmarks are in homes and businesses throughout the US and several foreign countries. The First Lady of Alabama put one of his sketches on her website home page. (More about that later.)

You have to understand, this was before everyone had a computer to keep graphic files, and somehow, the original sketch disappeared. Who knows where. Probably stuck in an old filing cabinet of some old printing company that has long since gone out of business.

Through the years, using whatever was available to ‘copy the picture’, the quality of the sketch degraded beyond repair. Sometimes it looked like we worshipped in a very tall ‘skinny’ building and other times the 'picture' of our church spread out like it had a 14 foot ceiling.

(Right and left Images from Church Bulletins, Center Image Scanned from Church Directory)

Seeing how time had just ruined what was such a beautiful thing upset me terribly. It was actually the 'skinny' graphic that was the straw that broke the camel's back. I brought the bulletin home from church and just kept looking at that awful picture. I decided to e-mail Joe (we’d kept in touch through the years) and ask him if he had a copy of the original sketch. He did NOT!

But, wonders of wonders, he had saved the bulletin from the Sunday he was ordained as an Deacon in our church. He scanned that old bulletin and sent it to me. A very faded copy. I was thrilled to get it. I worked on it for 2 days with every graphic program I had to get it in better shape. (See Edited Sketch.)

I wrote Joe and asked him WHY he had not signed the sketch when he drew it.

I didn’t like the answer. It seems ‘someone’ at the church made a decision to remove his signature before it was used. Joe never said a word.

I asked Joe to PLEASE send me a graphic of his signature with the year it was drawn so I could put it BACK on there. He did. I DID!

Since then, I found an OLD, old box of stationery notes that the Women of the Church sold as a fund raiser.

I liked them so much I never used them. They have a copy of the original sketch WITH the signature. This copy is much more 'detailed' than all the others.

While we were corresponding back and forth about this, I asked Joe  to tell me about his artistic background and why he drew this sketch. (At that time he was employed at Rockwell…located on 301 North.)

His answer:
“I came to Rockwell as a Technical Illustrator and Graphic Designer and when I left I was head of the Technical Manuals and Sales Brochures."

"The 3 years before Statesboro we lived on St. Simons where I drew a picture on my own initiative of St. Simons Presbyterian Church for use on the Sunday Bulletin. It was only right to do the same for my church in Statesboro. I also made drawings and paintings of other famous landmarks on the island. I did some paintings around Statesboro but gave them to relatives and friends out of state."

I found this information about Joe on the internet:

Joseph Stone:
“I make art that gives me a sense of time and place because of the impact the subject has had on my life. The architectural environment and historical moments in time that I realistically portray may strike a familiar chord in the viewer's consciousness. If successful, my memories become your memories."

A place of interest that displays one of his sketches is the website of the First Lady of Alabama. The sketch of the Governor’s Mansion at the top left corner was done by Joe.

I hope this little bit of history will give you a new appreciation for that lovely sketch we have on so many of our church publications. (I also put it on the stationery letterhead I designed for the church.)

You would have loved Joe and Junera and their three children. They were very special!

August 13, 2009 - I received an email from the Dick and Jean Burnett reminding me that Joe had also been our church treasurer. I emailed Joe for the dates. He began his office of deacon in January 1968 and was soon chosen to the treasurer’s job. So that would be 4+ years of doing the books.

Jean Burnett wrote, "Dick took over as the treasurer in July of 1972 from Joe. Frank Pearson was chairman of the deacons, and when he learned that Joe was moving, he came and asked Dick if he would serve as temporary treasurer until they found someone. Thirty-two years later they finally found somebody."

Thank you, Dick! apn

First Presbyterian Church ~ 1215 Fair Road ~ Statesboro, GA 30458
Phone 912-681-2053
© First Presbyterian Church 2010