Jesus and the Woman of Samaria

John 4:7, 9-14 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life."

Miss Emma Lilly gave the first stained glass window installed in the church. This window, also known as the altar window, given in memory of her parents John Ogden Dey Lilly and Catherine Miller Lilly, was one of many gifts given to Grace Episcopal Church. It depicts Jesus and the woman of Samaria and was the first of the memorial windows given to our church. Frank Zinser of Riordan Art Glass in Cincinnati executed this window in 1904.

Emma Lilly, of Indianapolis, was a Mount Clemens visitor for many years before opening the Colonial Hotel on December 1, 1896. After taking up residence in Mount Clemens, Miss Lilly was for many years a generous supporter of Grace Church. In 1905 she donated the organ annex and three small stained glass windows situated behind the pipes of our present organ. In 1928 Miss Lilly disposed of her interest in the hotel, but continued there until 1939. Her gifts to Grace Church were many including the ‘Christ with the Doctors’ window shown on page 16. Emma Lilly died on November 27, 1940 at the age of 91 and is interred at White Chapel Cemetery.