A CHAPEL IN HER HEART
The Everlasting Spirit of Helen Mauck Galbreath
BY ERIN FINAN PHOTOS BY CORRIN SWITZER
As the pleasantly warm air of early spring blows across campus, students hustle about College Green, rushing to make it to their classes and clubs. Amid the commotion of daily life, the Helen Mauck Galbreath Memorial Chapel stands tall, symbolizing a reposeful refuge and welcoming people of all faiths to find peace under its roof.
The Helen Mauck Galbreath Memorial Chapel, one of the most beautiful and carefully constructed buildings on campus, was built in 1957 with the financial assistance of John W. Galbreath, a WWI veteran and 1920 alumnus of Ohio University. The Chapel gets its name from Helen Mauck Galbreath, a 1919 alumna of Ohio U and John Galbreath’s wife whom he met and courted while the two were attending Ohio U. Rumor has it that the Galbreaths’ first meeting place is the site on which the Chapel currently sits, although there’s no evidence confirming this.
Post-graduation, John Galbreath led an illustrious career, and apart from being a co-owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates, a racehorse breeder, and a real estate broker, he also served on the Ohio U Board of Trustees for over 25 years and was named chairman five times. He had been afforded great affluence, and when his alma mater’s former president, John Calhoun Baker, approached him with an idea to fund a construction project on campus, he simply couldn’t refuse.
The task of constructing the Chapel was given to the Boston-based architectural firms of Perry, Shaw, and Hepburn and of Kehoe and Dean. Previous projects of the firm included the restoration of the colonial town of Williamsburg in Virginia and the U.S. Air Force Chapel in England. John Galbreath donated approximately $250,000 to fund the Chapel’s construction. Because of the shape and size of the plot selected for construction, the Chapel was constructed in an octagonal shape. Early material describing the Chapel’s construction indicates that the design inspiration comes from Greek Revival style with Christian and American touches, which come in the forms of the large, 120-foot spire that towers above the treetops and the weathervane that sits atop. All these features give the building a distinctive interior and exterior look compared to other buildings on campus.
In accordance with the wishes of John Galbreath, the Chapel is open to people of all faiths for worship, prayer, or meditation. In the past, those who have gathered under the chapel include members of the Baptist, Jewish, Christian Scientist, Lutheran, Latter-Day Saints, Eastern Orthodox, and Muslim religious groups. Apart from religious groups, however, the Chapel has also hosted a variety of student and community member-led events. In the past, sororities and fraternities would meet at the Chapel for formal initiation ceremonies due to the Chapel’s stately nature. Other events that have taken place at the Chapel include musical concerts and programs, graduate thesis presentations, poetry readings, lectures, drama productions, and art exhibitions. Renowned, award-winning poets Carolyn Kizer, Stanley Plumly, and Marvin Bell have performed poetry readings at the Chapel.
Since its construction, the Galbreath Chapel has been the site for over one thousand student weddings. The first of which was between Marie and Jim White. The couple was wed in 1958, only eight days after the Chapel’s dedication. Ohio U’s president at the time, John Calhoun Baker, was the one to walk Marie down the aisle. Marie had served as a member of the president’s office staff since 1952, and held positions as a secretary, receptionist, and administrative assistant for nearly 40 years. She worked under several notable presidents, including Charles J. Ping, Claude R. Sowle, Vernon R. Alden, and Baker himself. In 1992, she was awarded a Medal of Merit for her service to Ohio U and continued to serve the university for years after her retirement.
For many, the Chapel’s presence on campus may be overlooked. But the spirit of the Chapel and the stories of those who have kept that spirit alive permeates the very fiber of Ohio U’s history and identity. From the Chapel’s dedication ceremony in 1958 to today, people have found reprise, joy, and peace within the Chapel’s walls. Helen Mauck Galbreath’s affinity for kindness and compassion will be memorialized forever, both in the Chapel and in the hearts of the students of Ohio U. Said of Helen Mauck Galbreath at the Chapel’s dedication, “Today we re-live the reality of her spirit, we stand back and see clearly her life lived to the everlasting inspiration of us all and know that countless others will worship here in the quiet light of eternity.”
