 Riehle Decorations of Cresco, Iowa, have been working on the interior of St. Charles Catholic Church since Oct. 3. Dennis Riehle, on the scaffolding of the upper left side, and Ron Riehle, on floor, are owners of the company.
107-year-old church has new coach for new yearby Mary Le Arneal In 1939, Fredrick Riehle was a professional painter when he was asked if he would consider painting the interior of a church in his hometown of Cresco, Iowa. He agreed and that began a family enterprise that has carried on for four generations. The business continued with Fred Jr. joining, then his sons Jerry and Darrell. Now Fred’s great-grandsons Ron (Jerry’s son) and Dennis (Darrell’s son), both 45, now own the painting business.
The Riehles came to North Bend in August 2021 to look at the 106-year-old St. Charles Catholic church, which was last painted in the 1980s, and put in a bid of $255,500. “We have a designer I work with who came up with a rendering of what we could do,” Ron Riehle said. Their design and bid were accepted and work began Oct. 3. First, they set up the scaffolding and then covered all the pews and windows. Ron Riehle said the ceiling was covered with a rough, stalactite-like texture and the first step was to scrape that off. Then, fiberglass was applied in a grid pattern, followed by a mud compound to make the ceiling look like a smooth plaster surface. It was covered with an oil-based paint before the ceiling and walls were lined with polymer fiberglass. They started with the ceiling with a double coat then did the walls. Levi Limbach took advantage of the scaffolding and updated electrical work, retrofitting all fixtures to LED and adding can lights in some places. Ron Riehle made and cut out stencils by hand and applied them to the walls, giving the church a unique appearance. The previous walls were fading with age. Riehle said they dry washed all the windows and painted the outlines to make them stand out more.
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