The Our Lady of Fatima statue, which was lost among the devastation of the Indian Lake tornado, has been found.
The 20-foot-tall fiberglass statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary was located Saturday, March 30, by a local volunteer dive team at the bottom of murky Indian Lake.
The statue was blown into the lake by a powerful EF-3 tornado that devastated the area on March 14. It was found approximately 150 feet off shore, divers reported.
The shrine is located on Chase Avenue in Russells Point, in the area of Orchard Island, which was one of the hardest hit areas of the tornado. The property is now closed to the public during construction.
“Special thanks go out to the dive team of Jimmy Dawson (of Russells Point), Richard Martin (of Marysville), and Josh George (of Delaware). We also want to thank drone pilots Jeff Lang and Aaron Shirk who searched for the statue from the air,” said Bill Quatman, president of The American Society of Ephesus, Inc. (“ASE”), a Lima-based non-profit which owns the statue.
“We are so excited to have her finally located.”
Visibility was near zero, and drones could not locate the statue, so divers had to feel for the statue in the dark, Mr. Quatman reported.
“She was found about 150 feet off the shore,” Mr. Quatman said. “After being blown off the concrete pedestal. She never touched the ground and must have flown 50-100 yards in the air.
“We have had an overwhelming amount of interest from all over the world and many generous offers to help with the search or the cost to rebuild,” Quatman said. “We even received a kind letter from the mayor of Fatima, Portugal, who visited the shrine at Indian Lake in August 2018.”
The fiberglass statue was broken into many pieces by the tornado, but ASE plans to rebuild a new statue at St. Mary’s Point, the site of the previous Our Lady of Fatima Shrine (known by many as “Our Lady of the Lake”).
Built in 1964, the statue was nearly 60-years old.
“We had started demolition of the old concrete pedestal the same day she was found, so the timing is perfect,” Mr. Quatman said. “Once the debris is removed and the site is graded, we will begin the design process for the new shrine.”
The missing statue had become somewhat of a local mystery, with lots of speculation about what happened to it and where it could have landed.
“Most thought she was broken into many pieces – which is right, while others thought she had merely sunk into the lake intact. Still others thought that she might have landed in a farmer’s field somewhere in northwest Ohio. We could not rule out any possibility,” Mr. Quatman said.
The Our Lady of Fatima Shrine was one of the tallest statues of the Virgin Mary in the United States. Dedicated in August 1964, the 43-foot tall monument included a 19-foot, six-inch fiberglass statue of Our Lady of Fatima on a concrete pedestal.
For now, ASE is not soliciting donations nor design ideas for the new project, and it asks that anyone wishing to help donate instead to the Logan County United Way’s Tornado Relief Fund. ASE made a $25,000 donation to the Relief Fund to help other tornado victims.
“We will rebuild, no doubt about it. But it is going to take some time. We want to do it right, so that it lasts at least another 60 years,” Mr. Quatman said.
The American Society of Ephesus, Inc. (George B. Quatman Foundation) is a non-profit private foundation formed in 1955 and based in Lima, whose mission is to promote a greater realization and appreciation of the teachings and wonders of God; to preserve and erect religious shrines; and to restore and preserve the burial grounds of outstanding religious leaders.