A few years ago, a friend of mine, Mary, whose husband and I had known each other since Sunday school, had some jewelry repair work to drop off at Paul’s Jewelers. Mary and Ted were great patrons of Paul’s and a great couple as well. Mary had come in by herself but ran out to ask Ted, who stayed in the car, a question. She came back holding a piece of paper on which Ted had sketched something. It was a pendant necklace of a set of Stefana Wedding Crowns.
He knew I crafted Stefana for Greek Orthodox Wedding ceremonies from Gold, Silver, and Genuine Gemstones but had never seen any jewelry representing the crowns that symbolize both the royal nature of the couple as king and queen as well as the sacrificial crowns of martyrdom and dying to oneself in marriage.
He told Mary to give the sketch to me and said that I should begin making these for my Paul’s Jewelers clients…I am so grateful to Ted and Mary for trusting me with this design. After the first pendant was made in 14 Karat Yellow Gold, I sent ‘Theo’s Crowns’ to Ted to present to Mary. Ted died shortly after from Cancer and left his beautiful wife and three children behind. Mary wears the pendant still as a reminder of their wonderful marriage and a symbol of God’s everlasting love.
