Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Sacred Collection: Campbell resident Ernie Reda holds one of the crosses he's received throughout the years. One of the arms in the crucifix was missing, and Reda's brother whittled a new one. Reda's collection totals 10,546 crosses of all sizes, colors, materials and origins.
Campbell man is looking for home for his cross collection
Ernie Reda fears he will be gone before crosses find a permanent home
By Erin Mayes
As of last week, Ernie Reda owned 10,546 crosses of all sizes, colors, materials and origins. That number has undoubtedly risen in the last seven days. It will inch its way closer and closer to the 11,000 mark, but Reda won't stop there. The Latimer Avenue resident has been collecting the religious symbols since 1938 and he says he'll never quit.
At 79 years old, Reda is working the equivalent of a full-time job as he answers the approximately 100 letters he receives every week, searches for crosses at flea markets and garage sales and catalogs each cross that becomes part of the massive collection. Most of the crosses are packed away in boxes, which are sitting in four rented storage units. He's well on his way to renting a fifth unit.
The collection began when a 16-year-old Reda was sent to boarding school by his mother, who gave him a silver cross depicting the Crucifixion to wear on a chain around his neck. What his mother didn't realize was that jewelry was thought to be feminine, and Reda soon found himself the butt of jokes and the target of bullies, so he took the necklace off. Whenever his mother came to visit him, she checked to see if he was wearing his cross.
"That'd be the first thing she'd notice," Reda said. "She'd say, 'Where's your cross?' and she'd pull out another one."
This continued until Reda owned several crosses. Today, the Kentucky native still wears the original cross his mother gave him and has continued to collect thousands upon thousands of them in hopes of one day displaying them in a museum.
Reda says he's collected many different things, but that his cross collection is almost a fixation.
"Once you get started into collecting something like this, that's all you can see is crosses," he says.
Dozens of reporters from all over the world have interviewed him, and thousands of readers have responded to the news, sending letters, crosses, statues and other religious paraphernalia. Reda, who is in the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest assemblage of different crosses, has received offers of space in which his crosses could be displayed, but none of them have been close enough to home to suit his needs.
"I've got about 20 things I'm demanding before I'll let anybody have [the collection]," he says.
Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Religious Symbols: Ernie Reda shows the cross and medallion that his mother gave him when he was 16 years old.
One woman offered him a large room in a castle she is remodeling in Fatima, Portugal.
"She offered me one of the biggest rooms there," Reda says. "But how often would I get to go to Fatima?"
Another landowner from South Dakota offered to house some of the collection as well, but Reda was turned off by the man's idea of separating the crosses and displaying them at different locations.
No one who lives in the Bay Area has volunteered space for the collection, and Reda is wondering if anyone ever will.
"I'm 79 years old, and believe me, it's not getting any easier," he says. "I've got to do something. I don't want my wife to have to worry about it."
Ideally, several churches would band together and figure out a way to acquire some space to display the crosses, Reda says. Although he is Catholic, he says his collection is not religion-specific and actually represents all religions. The collector says his accumulation of crosses will have people returning for multiple visits.
"You couldn't possibly see my collection in one day and read all of the information I've got on them," he says. "Especially the saints' life stories. Every one of them were martyrs--they had their heads chopped off.... You might go to church every day of your life and never hear these stories."
Some of the stories might be interesting to the most secular of visitors. Reda has received crosses from famous ministers, movie stars (Loni Anderson and Jimmy Stewart, to name a couple) and even the pope.
In the meantime, as he waits for that special letter or call, Reda will continue to collect his crosses, venturing out to flea markets and garage sales and spending $100 of his Social Security check every week on the religious items.
To contact Ernie Reda, send a letter to 3997 Latimer Ave., San Jose, 95130 or visit www.cyberstars.com/religiousmuseum.
Campbell, California
