“She moved and moves among us, joyous, giving, and alive.”
So reads the plaque in the narthex of the Helen Mauck Galbreath Memorial Chapel, located on the College Green of Ohio University.
The Chapel, built in 1957, was the gift of John W. Galbreath in memoriam of his wife, Helen, a 1919 alumna who died in 1946. Mrs. Galbreath was the former Helen Mollineux Mauck, daughter of the prominent Mauck family of Gallipolis, Ohio.
Her father, Roscoe J. Mauck, judge of the Gallia County Court of Appeals for 25 years, attended Ohio University from 1888 to 1892 and was awarded an honorary masters degree in 1917.
While at the university, Helen Mauck met John Galbreath, who was working his way through college. They were married after his graduation in 1920. Their daughter, Jody Galbreath Phillips, graduated from Ohio University in 1946 and served on the Ohio University Board of Trustees from 1970 to 1979.
In keeping with the wishes of the donor, the chapel welcomes people of all faiths, and one of its most important uses is for personal prayer and meditation. There is no permanent furnishing that would be identified with one religion or denomination and there are no restrictions on the type of service that may be conducted.
