By GAYLE WEBER

gweber@dailynews.net

Jim Thyfault's 16 years of work comes out in the details -- in the precise shape of the 98-year-old limestone; in the color of the illuminated stained glass windows; and in the St. Joseph and Jesus figures above the front doors.

Thyfault's replica of Damar's St. Joseph Catholic Church finally is complete, 16 years after he set out to preserve the historic structure.

"I worked day and night on that thing for a lot of years," Thyfault said.

Thyfault is a Damar native. He was baptized in St. Joseph in 1933 and remained a parishioner there until he moved to Hays in 1989.

To build the replica, Thyfault started out with photos of the 98-year-old church, which is listed on the National Register of Historical Places.

"I couldn't count how many bricks were in there, so I had to have it blown up," Thyfault said.

It then took him six months to draw the building to scale before even beginning construction.

The wooden replica is about 3 feet from the front doors to the back of the altar and about 3 feet from the bottom of the evergreen trees to the tips of the crosses on top of the church towers.

"I just built it because I wanted to put it in a museum," Thyfault said.

That museum likely will be the Rooks County Museum after the Catholic Diocese of Salina did not express interest in housing it.

After visiting France and seeing their preservation of historic items, Thyfault said there was no doubt in his mind he wanted it to display his work someday.

"Those people preserve old history. Why can't we in the United States preserve old history?" he said.

Father Don McCarthy, pastor at St. Joseph, said he is looking forward to seeing the replica.

"I think a lot of people had their roots in Damar that have moved away. The people have a great love for their church building," McCarthy said.

The church replica is not the only piece of St. Joseph Catholic Church history Thyfault has owned.

Thyfault also has a small kitchen set depicting St. Joseph Church that was painted in Germany in 1938.

He has given his children a piece of the church as well.

"When they put new kneeler benches in there, I bought some of the kneeler benches ... and I made six grandfather clocks out of them," Thyfault said. "It's history."