Our Lady of Fatima statue missing from Russells Point - 10TV

The statue has been a landmark at Russells Point since it was erected in 1964 by George Quatman.

RUSSELLS POINT, Ohio — For nearly 60 years, the Our Lady of Fatima statue has served as a guiding star for boaters at Indian Lake.

“If they were out at night, they could get an idea of north, south, east and west from it,” said resident Fred Lehnert.

The nearly 20-foot tall, 5-foot wide statue was blown away when an EF3 tornado tore through the community and has not been seen since.

“I understand it is in the lake somewhere,” Lehnert said.

The statue has been a landmark at Russells Point since it was erected in 1964 by George Quatman, who was looking to spread messages of Christianity at Indian Lake through his non-profit, the American Society of Ephesus.

His grandson, Bill Quatman, who lives in Kansas City, Missouri, has taken on his grandfather’s legacy. He traveled to Russells Point after last week’s tornado to organize search and rescue efforts for the statue.

He said people have offered to go diving to look for it but with the debris in the water from the storm, that has not been a safe option. For now, the only option has been to search from the air using a drone, but they haven’t found anything.

“It was shocking to think that a statue that large could be taken away, what is more shocking is that we can’t find her,” Quatman said.

When the statue does turn up, Quatman is unsure what condition it will be in. He said regardless, he plans to design a new one and pledges to bring Our Lady of Fatima back to Indian Lake.

“We understand how important it is to the community to build it back and we are gonna get it back,” he said.

In the meantime, his organization, the American Society of Ephesus, gave $25,000 to the tornado relief efforts.

To learn more about how you can donate, click here.

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2024-03-21 21:25:00Z
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