Fallon, Nevada

We’re in Fallon for a few days, and we’re staying with my dad. He lives with one of my sisters in her house.

At least five times a week during the early evening hours for at least 30 years my dad has made rosaries for Catholic missionaries to give to people around the world.

Each rosary has 59 beads arranged in a specific pattern. And each bead represents a specific prayer to be said while reciting the rosary.

I love to watch my dad as he makes the rosaries. He has a choreographed routine to make them. And because Dad’s an engineer, each of those steps are broken down into ways so that the making of the rosary is as efficient as possible.

Straws are cut to a specific length and split down one side. Each of the five straws are stuffed with ten beads.

One end of a cord that has been pre-cut to the correct length is waxed with a candle so that the end is stiff. That stiff end is threaded through the group of ten beads.

Dad then makes a specific knot using a tool that he made out one of the spines of an umbrella. It’s pictured in the middle of the picture below with the end near the top of the cross. You can see several of the knots in this rosary making in process.

Here are four of the five rosaries that Dad made last night. 

Both Rich and I asked Dad, at different times, how many rosaries he has made over the years.

He calmly answered each of us, “I’m not sure, but I think it’s just a bit over 50,000.”

Amazing! And as he makes each one I’m sure he’s praying for the recipient. Truly each one is a labor of love…