Ray Lindquist was a good craftsman, a good collaborator, and a good guy.

He built the steel frames for our laylights for over 10 years. To call him a highly skilled craftsman is an understatement. Sometimes I’d get calls from out-of-state contractors, nervous about placing stained glass over their client’s heads: Would it be safe? Would it fit? I was always able to say with absolute certainty that they had nothing to worry about, that any frame Ray built would be strong and flush and absolutely accurate. I liked telling them that Ray was also a Union Machinist for United Airlines, whose other job was to ensure the accuracy of the work of his fellow machinists.

Ray had several qualities that made him the ideal collaborator. The first project he and I did together, he submitted all of his measured drawings in thousandths of an inch. All of his work displayed the same level of attention to detail. Every project he made came out perfectly – his frames were flat, square and exact. While this may seem inconsequential, when you’re building stained glass windows by hand, small variations in the frame could cause us to waste much time perfecting the fit of each panel. That’s one of the things I appreciated most about Ray – his work ethic produced work that was respectful of others. His precision saved us time. We didn’t have to do more work to correct his mistakes, and the contractors who came after us wouldn’t have to spend extra time creating out-of-square trim to fit an out-of-square frame.

Ray was creative. He was highly inventive when we needed to create workarounds that were dictated by the needs of the site. On one project, we needed to build a trapdoor to allow for servicing the lights overhead. Ray built from scratch an invisible door that opened with a locking arm mechanism, and it all worked smoothly and perfectly. On another project, we had a tricky problem with an HVAC air return conflicting with the position of a laylight. Ray came up with an innovative solution that ‘floated’ the laylight on spacers, to allow for airflow without compromising the design. He drew it up and we submitted it to the project engineer, who did the math and determined that Ray’s plan would work perfectly well.

In the 10 years we worked together, Ray and I created work for homes all over the United States. Ray was never one to get by on making something that was just good enough. His standards for his work were high, and he always lived up to them. He brought care, creativity and precision to every job we did together, and I feel lucky to have been able to work with him. I’m glad to know that pieces of him will live on in his fine work, in buildings and homes all over the country. He will be missed.

His obituary is here.

Here are some of the projects we created together.

Art Nouveau leaded glass laylight by Theodore Ellison Designs, San Francisco, California

Dogwood leaded glass laylight by Theodore Ellison Designs – Dallas, Texas

Oak Tree leaded glass laylight by Theodore Ellison Designs – Phoenix, Arizona

Cutom leaded glass laylight by Theodore Ellison Designs, Piedmont, California

Climbing Rose leaded glass laylight by Theodore Ellison Designs, New York City