The delight is in the details

“Corabelle Rosenthal is a talented artisan, and her 100-piece Christmas village is a keeper. I felt it had to be preserved for Plymouth.”

Ray Piper, Plymouth resident, made these comments about the Christmas village he discovered while browsing at the Hub City Emporium in Plymouth on Nov. 12. There he studied in great detail the village, which Rosenthal, 93, a former Plymouth resident, and resident of Pine Haven Christian Home, Sheboygan Falls since 2008, had meticulously painted during the 1970s and 80s.

She had displayed the Christmas village each year in the picture window of her former home at 404 South St., Plymouth. And her grandchildren Justin and Derek, Mark and Wendy Rosenthal’s children, enjoyed helping her set up the village each year and rearranging the items in it from time to time.

When Rosenthal moved to Pine Haven Christian Home, Hub City Emporium purchased her estate, including the Christmas village and another set of 25 ceramic snow babies she had painted.

Both sets attracted Piper’s interest while he was checking out the items at the Emporium.

“Brian Franzen, who owns the Hub City Emporium with Troy Rudebeck, told me that Corabelle had painted all of the pieces,” Piper recalled.

“I went through three stages of curiosity,” he noted. “The first stage was an interest in the village and snow-baby sets.

“My interest then rose to a special level because of all of the buildings and the villagers, like the iceskaters in the Christmas village,” he added.

“Then Brian pointed out the railroad depot building with the word ‘Plymouth’ on the roof. I realized the historical significance of that building. And I knew that children would particularly be interested in the village.”

So Piper purchased the Christmas village and the snow-baby set.

“The logical place to donate these sets was the Plymouth Public Library,” he said.

He followed through and gave them to Martha Rosche, the library director. The Christmas village is currently on display in the showcase in the upper level of the library.

The sign adjacent to the display reads:

“100-piece Christmas village, hand-painted ceramics by Corabelle Rosenthal, Plymouth, WI 1970’s – 1980’s.”

“It was very wonderful of Ray to think of us and give us this nice addition to our Christmas decorations,” Rosche said. “It’s interesting to see the detail in Corabelle Rosenthal’s painting and the wide variety of buildings.”

Rosenthal is delighted that her village will be remaining in Plymouth, her residence from 1988-2008.

“It was pretty hard for me to give up the village, but there was no place for it here,” she admitted. “I’m glad it’s staying in Plymouth, where people can enjoy it. I loved painting ceramic items and would still do it if I could.”

Street lights and snow fences are among the decorative items in the village which include many buildings – among them – a gift shop, tavern, post office, one-room schoolhouse, police station, butcher shop, feed mill and numerous houses.

Rosenthal’s interest in the craft began when her son Eugene gave her a ceramic church, already painted, as a gift several years ago.

“It mushroomed from there,” she recalled. “I had to have houses, trees, a railroad depot and train and lots of villagers.”

Rosenthal, an avid hobbyist, who also enjoyed knitting, sewing and crocheting, wanted to paint the ceramic buildings herself.

So she took ceramic painting lessons from Betty Jean Schwartz, Gail Versch and others and purchased ceramic items for her village at shops in Plymouth, Sheboygan, Cedarburg, Milwaukee and Green Bay.

“She always did very nice painting, and if it wasn’t right, she would do it over,” her son Mark said.

Piper, who visited Rosenthal, to give her the news about the village being on display in the library, is convinced he made a good decision.

“She preserved the village for many years,” he said. “Fortunately, it’s in a public place, where it can be viewed by area residents for several more years.”