An enterprising deacon from Arkansas already runs a winery and a bed-and-breakfast. Now he’s building a place to pray.

From the Texarkana Gazette:

Those who subscribe to the claim that the ring of a bell heralds an angel’s receipt of his wings can anticipate flocks of the heavenly hosts will be taking to the skies around the Cowie Wine Cellars in the near future.

Robert Cowie, founder and operator of the Logan County vineyards, winery, wine museum and bed and breakfast, had planned to build a modest family chapel for some time.

As a Roman Catholic deacon, he concluded it would be nice to have a space dedicated for his daily reciting of his offices as well as a refuge for prayer and meditation and a forum for an occasional sermon. He also intends it as a burial site for him and his wife.

Cowie said nearing 70, he is at a point where he has the opportunity to enjoy life. He and his wife, Bette Kay, have seven grown children, all successful in their lives. The chapel is a way of thanking and honoring God, who he says is “getting shortchanged” in modern life.

“I’m a religious guy,” Cowie confesses, explaining that his mother was widowed during his childhood and the family “grew up in a priests’ house” where his mother worked as a housekeeper.

Cowie is active in his role as a deacon.

He serves as church administrator at St. Anthony Catholic Church in Ratcliff and often participates in liturgical services as Subiaco Abbey.

Brother Ephrem O’Bryan at Subiaco says Cowie is a “loyal alumnus” of Subiaco Academy, where he was “a significant football player.”

He said as a member of the class of 1959 Cowie maintains close ties with many of those former classmates.

Cowie said when he founded the winery on the site of the old St. Anne School at Carbon City, he felt the location needed a chapel to replace the one that had been in the school. He erected a small structure at that time that was more symbolic than functional.

In 2008, he decided to build something more substantial.

The cedar shingle and stone structure, dedicated to St. Anne, is simple but dignified.

Cowie has ordered pews to seat 40, a five-by-seven-foot stained glass window and plans to incorporate into the structure items he has gathered that hold personal meaning or symbolism. Beams in the structure are from the oak trees that stood at nearby Subiaco Abbey. He has a remnant of a Mayan temple and a stone from the tomb of St. Thomas More.

And he’s got a lot of bells, too. Read on to find out more.

Interested in domestic wine and maybe a weekend visit to Arkansas? Check out Deacon Cowie’s website — for Cowie Wine Cellars — for more details.