HARTINGTON, Neb. (KOLN) – Colorful sunlight filters through stained glass windows in the sanctuary of Saints Peter and Paul Church in Bow Valley. Fourteen of the windows were restored by the Kruse family, who are a part of the parish.
“We just kind of thought we could do it,” said Kenny Kruse.
For over 25 years, Kenny and Kristi Kruse filled buildings across South Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska with colorful light. They specialize in quality church and home restoration and fabrication. The husband and wife have lost count of their projects throughout the years.
“See that pile of patterns up there,” Kenny said, gesturing to large files with sheets of glass and designs. “That’s every pattern from every window we’ve done.”
The Kruses kept the designs for just in case something would happen to the stained glass windows they install. Then people could reach out to them for repairs.
The idea for Kruse Stained Glass started when Kenny’s brother asked him to install glass pieces in some cabinets. After two decades of dairy farming, the Kruses sold the cows to pursue a new passion.
“We always say it’s probably just as many hours as the dairy was,” Kristi said. “But we get to set our hours.”
Then Kenny worked as an apprentice for a couple days a week throughout six months in Iowa. In the meantime, Kristi took classes from a china painter to learn techniques for 18 months. They got their first job after putting an advertisement in a Yankton newspaper.
“If you get a whole congregation happy, and they tell their relatives, fortunately, that’s been our advertising,” Kristi said.
But the Kruses mostly learned this craft by doing. Aside from the patterns, a scrapbook documents their projects. One that still sticks with the Kruses is when the Carmelite Monastery in South Dakota asked them to restore windows that went through the history of their sisterly order. Another church in Raeville, Nebraska, appealed to the Kruses’ German roots.
“You can learn a lot by taking them apart and seeing what the weak spots are and improving on what they did a long, long time ago,” Kenny said.
A lot goes into restoring old windows. They give customers free estimates, and then carefully uninstall and load up the panels. The old windows need to soak for two to three weeks. New glass is cut to replace broken pieces, and then they try to match the colors as closely as possible to the original shades. Finally, the kiln is fired up to about 1,200 degrees.
“The only danger there is in this business is the lead,” Kristi said. “We still work with lead, so we have to have our lead levels monitored. That’s one of the hazards of this business.”
Kristi explained that so far, lead is the only metal that most-efficiently bends around the glass pieces, so the Kruses wear protective gear and rely on a ventilation system. They converted a farm shed into a studio next to their home, where they sometimes hold open house events.
“A lot of people hate to go to work, and we never felt that way,” Kenny said. “So it makes life a lot nicer when you can just enjoy your work every day.”
Kenny and Kristi passed their craftiness to their four children. Two of their kids took over the business after they retired last year.
“We all like using our hands and making something old look new again,” said Candace Burbach, their daughter and co-owner.
While Burbach focuses mainly on hand-painting, her brother Jason Kruse designs the stained glass pieces and makes the frames.
“We’ve been around it all through high school and college,” Jason said. “We still helped some, and I helped in the summer to do the exterior work. So we’ve always been around it.”
Whether its restoring windows or bringing a place new life, the family wants to keep creating art that will outlive them.
“I think it’s a great legacy,” Kristi said. “It really gives you a lot of pride in what you did. It’ll stand another 200 years hopefully.”
For more information or to request a quote, you can visit the Kruse Stained Glass website or Facebook page.
Click here to subscribe to our 10/11 NOW daily digest and breaking news alerts delivered straight to your email inbox.
Copyright 2024 KOLN. All rights reserved.
