(Chelsea Update would like to thank Joe Yekulis for the information in this story and Kelly Flaherty for the photos.)
Tuesday March 19 marked another special day for the residents of St. Louis Center.
Rev. John R. Morris and his family arrived to dedicate three sets of model “O” scale Lionel trains and a village to go with them to the Adult Day Program at St. Louis Center.
Morris, who was the former pastor of Zion Lutheran Church in Freedom Twp., was present with his wife, Karol, his son David, and their daughter Deborah Colesa.
Morris’ original collection included 16 model trains on a 27 foot by 34 foot layout in his former basement in Napoleon Twp., and included over 200 buildings, 200 cars and trucks, and 1,600 plastic action figurines.
When he and Karol decided it was time to move to the Chelsea Retirement Community during the summer of 2018, the family had to figure out what to do with their huge collection of trains that has been growing since the 1960’s. “We wanted it to go to a group of people that we thought would value it and enjoy it, so we decided to donate what we could to St. Louis Center,” said Rev. Morris.
Karol Morris said, “We’ve been working on the walls in here since last summer, so we’re pleased that everything turned out the way it did. I’ve been here since last fall painting the wall landscapes, and have put about 40 hours of work into this project.”
As a group of St. Louis residents gathered for the presentation, Morris electrified the tracks, started the three train sets, and proudly shouted, “Welcome to the train station! There are three running model trains here, so I hope all of you can look with your eyes and enjoy them. If you listen carefully, you can hear the sounds of the people, the chickens, and many other animals. This is all yours to enjoy.”
The total value of this portion of Rev. Morris’ train set was valued at more than $4,000.
St. Louis Center is a residential community for children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities located in Sylvan Twp., five miles west of Chelsea. For more information about SLC, please visit www.stlouiscenter.org.
Just another way the community can remember the great contributions of the Morris family.