c. 2007 Religion News Service

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. _ Although quite by accident, Lanky Petras was ahead of her time.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right about that,” she says as she dips another half-inch-long paper cylinder into a bottle of clear nail polish. ”This makes it all shiny. When it dries, it’s ready to string.“

Petras, a white-haired, 88-year-old retired nurse, was recycling when recycling wasn’t cool.

She is known in particular for a fascinating fashion statement: She makes beads out of old church bulletins. Decades before recycling became a celebrity cause du jour, she was decorating the throats of many a church lady, along with a sinner or two.

“When people find out what they’re made of, they usually buy them,” says June Pryor, chairman and manager of Prime Time Treasures in Homewood, Ala., which markets crafts by senior citizens. A necklace of bulletin beads sells for $10.50. “Plus, they’re very attractive.”

When her church, Third Presbyterian, needed funds for organ repairs and a sanctuary renovation, Petras began donating all the proceeds from the sale of her beads to the church. She held classes at church to teach fellow congregants the bead-making process so that they could do the same.

“We have a great church that’s always pulled together when there’s a need, and Lanky’s been instrumental in that,” says Mary Eleanor Trucks, whose husband, the Rev. Richard Trucks, is Third Presbyterian’s pastor. “Lanky is always there.”

Petras is matter-of-fact about her contributions and is always pointing out a friend who helped. “Mamie Lou gave me this Easter bulletin,” she says, holding up a program with a soothing green, yellow and beige floral cover. “People bring me bulletins from all over. … I’ve got another over there all the way from Texas.”

She works at her sun-splashed dining room table. The process can be tedious. First she cuts bulletins into tapered strips, which she rolls tightly around a tapestry needle, gluing on the tapered end. Then come coatings of decoupage and finally of nail polish. She uses a quilting thread to string them together.

Her beads come in a variety of colors, depending on the shades of the bulletin or insert. Some show images, and others words, such as “Christ” and “love” and “peace.” Petras sometimes makes beads from wedding or anniversary programs as a keepsake for the celebrants.

She learned the craft from her sister, the late Willie “Bill Bill” De Ramus of Selma. “I said, `If you can do this, I can do this,’ and I kind of modified what she did to add more color. That was 30-something years ago and I’ve been doing it ever since.”

Pryor, of Prime Time Treasures, says church women developed the craft decades ago and it’s now a dying art. “They used to do them for church bazaars,” Pryor says. “Hers (Petras’) have a much more refined look.”

Born Agnes Jewel Viola Virginia Langston, Petras was the 12th of 13 children. Her friends shortened her last name to Lanky, and the name stuck.

She married Denny Petras, a machinist, and together they raised three children. Petras worked 47 years as a nurse. She retired in 1996.

At home, she stayed busy _ working jigsaw puzzles, doing crosswords and crocheting. Her husband, a deacon and elder in the church, died in 2001.

“I kind of hope to keep the bead-making going,” Petras says. “I bet there’s a whole generation of people out there who’d enjoy it like I have.”

KRE/PH END KEMP

(With sidebar, RNS-BEADS-HOWTO)

(Photo of Petras is available via https://religionnews.com.)