Published: Sunday, June 3, 2007
New chapel memorializes couple's triplets
The couple used their
retirement savings to
build the chapel.
By LAURE CIOFFI
GREENVILLE, Pa. — The three little girls born prematurely in September 1971 will always remain in the hearts of their parents, Tom and Carol Smith.
And now the memory of those children — who lived only days — will live on just yards from where the triplets were laid to rest.
The Smiths built a chapel at Stevenson Cemetery on Methodist Road in Salem Township, Mercer County, in honor of their daughters.
They dedicated the stone building, built by their son's construction company, with a service during Memorial Day weekend.
"I'm so proud of it," said Carol Smith, 64.
The Smiths have long been active on the board of directors at Stevenson Cemetery, just a few miles from their home.
Tom Smith, 72, has been board president for the last 20 years and a member of the board of directors for 29 years. His wife serves as the board's secretary and treasurer.
Tom Smith said talk of building a chapel started two years ago, but never got past that point.
"I felt if its going to be built, we had to build it," Smith said. "It's been a family thing."
The couple, retired dairy farmers, sunk about $100,000 of their retirement savings into the building. And their son, Thomas Smith Jr., and his workers from L.A. Excavating and Construction put in a lot of donated time, they said.
"It just needed to be done," Carol Smith said. Before the chapel, tents were erected for services in the cemetery, which has graves dating back to 1801.
The new chapel sits in the far corner of the cemetery, not far from where the couple buried their triplets.
Melissa Sue, Melinda Sue and Michelle Sue were born Sept. 16, 1971, about five weeks premature.
Triplets were unexpected
Carol Smith said the birth of triplets was unexpected since her doctor insisted she was carrying only one child. This was long before the regular use of ultrasound and sonogram machines, which are commonly used today.
The Smiths, however, had suspected there was more than one baby because of Carol Smith's fast-growing tummy and the fact that twins ran in the family.
The girls each weighed less than 3 pounds at birth, and Melissa Sue only lived a day. Melinda Sue survived two days and Michelle Sue lived 12 days.
Carol Smith keeps a baby book with their tiny hospital wrist bands and clips of news stories about their birth and deaths.
"It was a very difficult time," she said.
The Smiths already had two other children, Vinton and Onalee, both younger than 3 years at that time. The couple had an additional son, Thomas Jr., in 1973.
But they never forgot their three girls, who Carol Smith refers to as her "angels in heaven."
As a special memorial, the Salem Township woman published a cookbook as a fundraiser to pay for a stained-glass window of three angels placed on the altar of the chapel.
Her daughter drew the outline of the angels, and Jim and Regina Liszka of Greenville made the stained-glass window.
Carol Smith said she hopes someday to add three angel statues outside the chapel.
The Smiths say they are very pleased with how the chapel turned out.
"This is exactly what I wanted it to look like," Tom Smith said.
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