Figurines donated to Mt. St. Michael
They play basketball, pingpong, golf, tennis, softball, the guitar, the violin and even the accordion. They sing, teach, nurse puppies and cats.
And they pray. They are nuns, after all.
But these nuns are dolls and figurines made of ceramic, porcelain, alabaster, pewter and paper. Alive in shades like cherry red, canary yellow and turquoise, they range from inch-tall miniature figurines to dolls more than a foot tall to holy water wall mounts.
About 150 of these nun figurines and dolls fill two large display cases at Mount St. Michael, 8500 N. St. Michael’s Road. The collection arrived June 19 courtesy of a donation from Marlene Majeski, who had amassed more than 300 figurines in about 40 years before giving them to family, friends and Mount St. Michael.
“I always dreamed of donating them, thinking it was great fun,” said the recently retired Majeski, 50, of Lacey, Wash. “Why wait until I die? Then somebody else has to deal with it.”
Majeski’s cousin in Spokane sent letters to several local organizations in May, and Sister Mary Bernadette of Mount St. Michael responded.
“I said to myself, ‘Who more appropriate than the sisters at Mount St. Michael who still wear the traditional habit like all the figurines in the collection and still do all the things the nuns did?’ ” she said.
The collection will debut Saturday at a courtyard concert of the Singing Nuns’ 25th anniversary celebration.
Sister Mary Bernadette said that she understands the collection had great meaning to Majeski..
“I wanted Marlene to know that her collection meant as much to someone else,” she said. “I wanted her to know that we would deeply appreciate it and her charity would be returned to her.”
At prime eye-level placement sits the Mount St. Michael nun doll, complete in a blue and white habit, miraculous medal, black rosary beads and a brown scapular worn on special occasions.
“The funny thing is that we don’t even make them anymore,” Sister Mary Bernadette said. “We had no copies here.”
The emotionally expressive figurines also provide people a glimpse of the individuality of nuns, said Sister Corinne Marie.
“A long time ago people thought that nuns were the stoic type of women that only prayed and never expressed their individual personalities,” she said. “We have our personalities.”
The collection started when Majeski was 10 or 11 in an effort to earn a collecting badge as a Girl Scout – “I remember we were Troop 64 and we were the Daffodils.”
Throughout the years, family and friends continued giving her the collectibles as gifts.
Majeski also found some of her own figurines throughout her travels in England, Mexico and around the United States.
“There’s one nun in the collection I found at a wildlife safari in Roseburg, Ore.,” she said. “You find them in the most obscure places.”
Two of the nuns in the collection Majeski spotted in a tobacco shop window in Victoria, British Columbia, she said.
“You just start looking at them and you just start getting memories,” she said.
Despite all the fond memories, it wasn’t difficult for Majeski to part with the collection.
“It was not hard at all because I have a desire to take care of this now and pass on that joy, to pass on the fun,” she said. “It’s a happy time. It’s not as a result of somebody trying to take care of my estate in 30 years.”
People suggested that Majeski, who never had the collection appraised, sell the figurines over online auction house eBay. But Majeski said she intended to keep the collection as intact as possible by donating it.
“As Mount St. Michael’s collection, my hope is that someone in the community will say, ‘Oh, I’ve got a nun you don’t have. Let me give it to you,’ ” Majeski said. “I just wanted other people to enjoy it now.”
The collection can be viewed by the public for free by appointment Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Visitors should call parish secretary Carol Dunn at 467-0986, ext. 100.
Admission to the July 17 concert is $5 per person, $15 per car or $25 per bus.