A Visit With Uncle John

 

 

Hayden's Great Uncle John is in town from Cody this week to finish work on an important project—a larger-than-life bronze statue that will complete the veterans memorial in front of Lander's courthouse. He invited us down to the foundry where he's working on the nine-foot World War II soldier from which the mold will be made. Pretty impressive. The piece is meaningful to our family for a few reasons. Not only are Tim and I both related to many of the veterans named on the memorial (which honors war veterans from Fremont County), but the original model for the statue was my cousin Chance, who posed for John before deploying to and being killed in action in Iraq in 2004. It's been an honor to watch John work on this project, but it's also been great fun just to have him around and hear his hilarious (and occasionally inappropriate) stories. Mostly, Hayden's just marveling that this tall cowboy with the handlebar mustache is Gran's brother. That alone makes him a rockstar in Hayden's book!