The Baptismal Font

The wooden Baptismal Font, located in the rear of the church, was given as a gift to St. Luke’s in memory of Mary Elizabeth Johnstone by her husband Howard Johnstone.  The Baptismal Font was dedicated on December 27, 1903 by Rev. E. Rudd Allman, Rector of St. Luke’s.
 
The plaque on the Font states;
 
To the Glory of God
and in Loving Memory
 
Mary Elizabeth Johnstone
December 21, 1903
R.I.P.
 
The bell tower and stained glass window in the church main entrance are also dedicated to Mary Elizabeth Johnstone.
 
Her obituary from the Wamego Times, December 25, 1903 read:
              “The death of Mrs. Howard Johnston occurred at the family home on Eighth street in Wamego Monday morning, December 21, 1903, at two o’clock, ending an illness of five weeks, in which all Wamego had felt a deep personal concern.  Mrs. Johnstone was brought home ill with typhoid fever from Union, Missouri, where she had been visiting her son, Howard Johnston, Jr., Tuesday, November 17th, and had since lain critically ill, but not without hope of recovery, until last Sunday afternoon.  From half after seven o’clock Sunday evening until two o’clock when her life ended, it was know she could not recover.  During that time Mr. Johnston, nine of her ten children and a sister were beside her.
              Mrs. Johnston was fifty-eight years old Friday, November 20, of this year.  She was born in Joliet, Illinois.  Her maiden name was Mary Elizabeth Nott, and her marriage to Howard Johnston took place November 12, 1868, at her mother’s home in Starr’s Grove, Will county, Illinois.  They lived at Joliet and Wilmington, Illinois, until twenty -four years ago, when they came to Kansas, in June, 1879, and have lived in this county since, and for the last fifteen years in Wamego, where her name has been a synonym for unselfishness, charity and all the qualities that made her one of the well-beloved women of the community.  There are few homes in Wamego in which she has not nursed the sick and comforted the unhappy.  She had a big motherly heart, and the sweet, womanly, tender sympathy that made her dear to everyone who knew her. 
              Surviving her are her ten children: Howard Johnston , Jr., of Union, Missouri; Mrs. Harry L. MacMurray of Mt. Hope, Kansas; Robert J. Johnston and Jerome E. Johnston of Chicago; Mrs. Loran R. Bittmann of New York City; Miss Helen Johnston of Wilmington, Illinois; and Mrs. Oscar B. Larson, Miss Florence Johnston, Miss Lotta  Johnston and Custer Johnston, all of Wamego.  Two sisters, Mrs. Thomas Little and Miss Leonora M. Nott, who have been here for two weeks, living in Wilmington, Illinois, and she has two brothers in California.
              The funeral services were held Wednesday afternoon at two o’clock at St. Luke’s Episcopal church, of which she was a communicant.  The Rev. E. Rudd Allman, pastor of St. Luke’s, was the officiating clergyman, and the chants and hymns were sung by the church choir.  The burial was in the Wamego cemetery, and her four sons were the pall-bearers.”
 
The Kansas Agriculturist, December 24, 1903 quotes the Ladies of the Guild:
              Mrs. Johnston, as a member and officer of St. Luke’s Ladies’ Guild, will be most sorely missed by us, as she was a persistent and cheerful worker whose willing hands and active mind were ever ready to serve the cause for which we are banded together.  We will ever revere her memory, and her enthusiasm for the work and patient steadfastness therein will have a lasting influence among us.