A little steeple TLC

This is not a job for the feint of heart or anyone who has any semblance of a fear of heights.For several days this week, work has been completed on the Trinity Lutheran Church steeple, and while the Rev. Kevin Frey may call it “routine maintenance,” it’s anything but routine for those who don’t like to be in the air.“It definitely gives you one heck of a view,” said Mick Gage, whose firm, Mick Gage Plumbing and Heating, worked with Schoonover Tuckpointing Company of Vinton on the project. “You’re up 100 feet in the air and it’s a pretty cool sight from up there.”Frey said some steeple issues were discovered when Trinity completed a re-roofing project this past summer.Gage provided the bucket and “bent” the metal that needed to be replaced after it was discovered that some of the metal in the steeple had rusted out.“It’s not difficult work,” Gage said and then added with a laugh, “but it’s not the easiest part of a church building to get to, either.”The church was built in the early 1900s, and Gage has been a longtime Trinity member.Asked when the last time work had been done on the steeple, he chuckled again before replying, “I don’t remember the last time and I’m old enough to know that means it’s been quite a few years.”Still, he said he was happy his firm could help out the church.“It’s really a beautiful steeple, and you can almost call it a landmark on that side of town,” he said. “To have it looking good for years to come is important to all of us who are members of Trinity.”