A life of art and studies devoted to stained glass

Helene Harmon Martin Weis lived a magical life in brilliant colored light.

Noted archivist and stained-glass iconographer for the prodigious Willet Hauser Architectural Glass in Chestnut Hill for half a century, Mrs. Weis categorized, researched for historical accuracy, wrote about, and developed visual plans for tens of thousands of windows worldwide.

She died Nov. 13, three days shy of her 85th birthday, at the St. Agnes Continuing Care Center after complications of a stroke she suffered Oct. 6. She lived in Queen Village.

Author of a historical novel, Colored Winds, about a 16th-century family of stained-glass artisans in Southwark, England, Mrs. Weis also sang with many choral groups, including the Mendelssohn Club and the Philadelphia Chamber Chorus.

"Helene did so much it is difficult to describe all the details of her work," said E. Crosby Willet, president of Willet Hauser Architectural Glass.

He is a third-generation stained-glass maker, grandson of William Willet, founder of Willet Stained Glass Studios in Pittsburgh in 1898. Since being named president in 1964, Willet and his wife, Augustus, have run the studio, a behemoth in the industry that specializes in commissioned, contemporary, faceted stained glass. It merged with Hauser Art Glass Co. (known for restoration) in 1977.

"My mother, Muriel, who ran the studio, and my father, Henry Lee, who was president, hired Helene in 1956 and then promptly left on vacation," Willet said. "They never defined her job. They were delayed when my father broke his back on the return ship voyage.

"Helene was faced with a mess. She had an art degree from the University of the Arts, library skills she learned from her mother, and a will of steel. The studio was in a rowhouse at 39th and Girard and was booming with post-World War II church projects. The burgeoning staff was bursting at the seams. We grew from 15 to 65 people. Drawings, plans and glass were scattered everywhere."

That was the beginning of Mrs. Weis' career of invaluable work as a librarian, historian, iconographer and artistic planner that propelled the company into one of the largest producers of major faceted stained-glass projects in the world.

Mrs. Weis had found "the perfect job," she wrote in her diary, even though, Willet said, she often fought with his sometimes irascible father over the passion of the work and "broke down crying." His father died in 1983.

At the business, which moved to larger quarters in Chestnut Hill in 1960, Mrs. Weis was the main iconographer on landmark projects that incorporated stained-glass windows in subway stations, museums, hospitals, colleges and commercial buildings as well as churches and synagogues. She retired in 2005.

She was involved when the company expanded internationally with windows for the American Research Hospital in Krakow, Poland; the American Lutheran Church in Oslo, Norway; and St. Anselm's Meguro Church in Tokyo.

Mrs. Weis worked with Henry Willet on the largest commission in the history of modern stained glass - the design and construction of a 30,000-square-foot serpentine wall consisting of 5,400 faceted glass panels for the 1964 World's Fair of Science and Technology, a permanent exhibit where spaceships float against an expanse of blue.

Mrs. Weis took over as iconographer for the firm's longest consecutive stained-glass commission, which started in 1910 when William Willet's business was hired to design and produce two window panels in West Point's Cadet Chapel for each graduating class. The commission lasted until 1976.

In the Philadelphia area, Mrs. Weis was the brains behind the stained-glass designs at hundreds of places of worship, including Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Keneseth Israel in Elkins Park, the chapel at the Fox Chase Cancer Center, the Lutheran Student Center at the University of Pennsylvania, and the Our Lady of Czestochowa national shrine in Doylestown.

Mrs. Weis' wide knowledge attracted distinguished architects and artists to the design staff at the studio, and their work can be seen in the Metropolitan Transit Authority of New York and the St. Martin's Episcopal Church project in Houston.

"Sometimes clients don't know exactly what they want," Willet said, "so I deal with discordant committees and bring ideas back to the studio. I worked with Helene to bring them together. She helped find historically correct solutions that suited clients' personalities to complete the project

"Helene was widely known for her iconographies and worked with studio manager Rick Prigg. On the St. Martin's project, I presented it to her and explained that they wanted something Bible-oriented. It is George H.W. Bush's church.

"Helene outlined key points of Christianity for each window that told the story of Jesus. She designed 60 scenes from the architectural layout. She developed a design for 36 windows. Ten nativity windows had 60 scenes. We would talk, and she did the layout and heavy work and got it on paper. We were a team. She was very creative."

Raised in Havertown, Mrs. Weis was exposed to the theater and taught to play the piano and sing by her mother, a former librarian. After graduating from the private Holman High School in 1939, Mrs. Weis studied painting at the University of the Arts until 1943. That year, she married church organist Niles Martin "in spite of my mother's violent opposition," she later wrote in her diary.

The couple moved to Germantown. She designed costumes for the Philadelphia Opera Company, and they acted as extras in performances and set up stage exhibits. She also designed Mummers costumes and made clothes and costumes for her daughter and for church pageants. The couple divorced in 1964.

She married Henry Weis, a photographer, in 1970. "Helene introduced me to the world of stained glass," he said. "We traveled the world, and I photographed windows for her. She carefully studied history and the authenticity of scenes and details in glass. She had a special talent."

Mrs. Weis had been a contributing editor to Stained Glass Quarterly since 1983.

"She was a proselytizer, an apostle of the good news of stained glass," colleague Susan Bockius said.

In addition to her husband, Mrs. Weis is survived by her daughter, Sandra Su, and a granddaughter.

A funeral will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday at St. Peter's Episcopal Church, Third and Pine Streets.

Memorial donations may be sent to the Helene Weis Memorial Education Fund of the Stained Glass Association of America, 10009 E. 62d St., Raytown, Mo. 64133.

To see many of the stained-glass projects for which Helene Weis researched and developed iconography, go to www.willethauser.com.EndText