Rosary finds its way back to one who lost it

ROHRBACH, SULLIVAN, BUCKLEY

Posted By: J. Nicks (email)
Date: 6/12/2006 at 14:26:41

Telegraph Herald Article

Jan 27, 2004

Rosary finds its way back to one who lost it
In 1953 - when she was 6 years old - Dubuquer lost her mother's prized possession
by MARY NEVANS-PEDERSON

Six-year-old Lea Sullivan accidentally dropped her mother's favorite rosary between the walls of the family home in 1953.

Try as they might, her parents could not retrieve the gold and crystal rosary, and soon afterward the family moved to another house. Over time, the rosary was forgotten.

Two weeks ago, a worker help-ing to restore the old house found the rosary, dirty and tarnished, but none the worse for its five decades between the walls. It was returned to Sullivan, who carefully cleaned it and treasures it as a spiritual bond with her mother, who died in 2001.
So many people and events had to coalesce for the rosary to come back to Sullivan that she feels a higher force was guiding things.Lea Sullivan, of Dubuque, displays the rosary that she lost nearly 51 years ago at her family's former house on Washington Street. Restoration workers found the rosary, which was her mother's favorite, stuck between two walls.

The house, at 2046 Washington St., had been in her mother's family for years. Sullivan's great-grandmother had the house built and her mother grew up in it. Sullivan, her parents, Homer and Florence Buckley, and her three sisters, Paula, Karen and Mary, lived there for six years, from 1947.

Sullivan, 56, remembers her devout mother kneeling in her bedroom, saying the prayers of the rosary every day. The young daughters loved the sparkling crystal beads that their mother kept safely out of reach.

"I don't know how I got it that day, because we weren't supposed to play with it," she said, remembering the summer day in 1953. The girls also were never allowed in the family's attic, laden with heirlooms and fascinating odds and ends. However, the young family was moving, so the attic was open and the three younger sisters were playing there.

"I can't remember how it happened. I just remember the sound of it falling and how heartbroken my mother was. Dad tried his best to find it," Sullivan said.

More important things pushed aside the memories of the rosary over the next 51 years. The girls grew up, got married and had families and homes of their own. Homer and Florence both died.
Then last spring, Sullivan drove past the old house and saw work being done. She stopped to talk to John Gronen, owner of Gronen Restoration, of Dubuque. He gave her a tour of the now well-worn house.

"It was like walking back 50 years to the day we left. I was struck by the fact that several generations of my family had been born and died there," she said.

As they peered into the low-ceilinged attic, Sullivan suddenly remembered the lost rosary and told Gronen about it.

Gronen is selling the house to a consortium of local agencies who operate a youth vocational program. The young workers planned to gut and rebuild the interior. Several weeks ago, when Gronen realized the workers were about to tear down the interior plaster walls, he mentioned the lost rosary to them.

"I really didn't think it could be found in all the debris," he said.

Finding the rosary became a personal challenge to one worker, Mark Zaring, 18, of Dubuque, even though he wasn't sure what a rosary was.

"I worked really carefully and chiseled off the old plaster. Then I was reaching around and found something that was kind of like a necklace. I asked if this was a rosary, and they said it was," said Zaring. "I was really happy to help that lady."

Gronen called Sullivan who was "astounded" that the rosary had been found.

"I can only think that my mother wanted it back in my hands," Sullivan said.

She feels a sensation she can't describe whenever she holds the rosary.

"This is a time of my life when I could use a mother. I have thought of her so many times and asked for her help," said Sullivan, who has had a series of medical problems over the past year.
Sullivan tries to say the rosary with her mother's beads every day, praying for people she knows and peace in the world. It brings her comfort.

"She wanted me to have the rosary and she wouldn't want it to sit in a drawer," she said.