Restoring Mary and Jesus statues a divine hobby for Fall River man

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FALL RIVER – In Carlos Travassos’ yard, statues of Mary and the baby Jesus sit among the greenery in various states of repair. Some, like the one in the corner nestled into a grove of flowers, are virtually pristine with new paint and no dings thanks to Travassos’ handiwork, while others are projects for the future.

Travassos, a mason by trade, said he started the hobby about six months ago when he noticed an abandoned, weather-worn Mary statue near his property. With his neighbor’s blessing, he took the statue home and set to work repairing it and replacing sections such as the fingers, that had worn away over time, with fiberglass. Then he repainted the statue, bringing details that had been lost to weather and time back to life. And then with another Mary statue, he changed the blue robe to white, highlighting all the details on the robe.

“I like doing it,” said Travassos as he proudly showed before and after photos of the statues he restored. “I think I’m doing a good job.”

His daughter, Amanda Travassos, posted a couple photos on Facebook of the statues he restored, and others started reaching out to see if he could bring their statues back to life.

One of the most challenging repairs came his way when someone brought him a statue of the baby Jesus. More accurately, it was two different broken baby Jesus statues – one of the head and another of the body with several missing fingers. But Travassos gave it some thought and ended up chipping off pieces from both parts so he could fuse the two parts together using fiberglass. Then he created fingers on the baby Jesus’ hands and now that he's finished painting it, Travassos is ready to give the almost new looking statue back to its owner. “I sent her a picture and she loved it,” said Travassos.

So far, all the statues that he’s worked on have been concrete except for the baby Jesus one.

Though he’s new to restoring the statues, Travassos said no matter what he’s working on — whether it’s fixing a machine or carpentry — he puts all his effort into it.

Now that he's finished with the baby Jesus, a Mary statue awaits.

Email Linda Murphy at lmurphy@heraldnews.com.