by Quentin A. Holmes

In December 2001, the tall statue that
stands in the Civil War Veteran’s plot
was vandalized – its head was knocked
off and stolen.

Through the efforts of
many people, this historic statue once
again stands tall and proud!

It was rededicated in a formal ceremony at
1:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 17 th , 2003.

Initially, the difficulty and expense of
replacing the statue’s head seemed
insurmountable. However, people from
several organizations pulled together to
restore dignity to our blue marble statue.

The EPCA commissioned a local artist,
David Miller, to create a replacement
head. Working from measurements of
the statue, and using clay as a medium,
Miller created a full-scale model.

Next, a block of stone of the same color and texture

as the statue was procured from
the marble quarry in Vermont where the
original statue was carved in 1901. The
shipment of this heavy block of stone
from Vermont to Oregon was expedited
by Northwest Monument Co. of Junction
City, Oregon.

In January 2003, Lane Electric
Cooperative donated use of one of their
lift trucks so the clay prototype could be
placed atop the statue.

After assessing its scale and appearance, David

Millerset about the challenging task of carving
the actual replacement head from the
heavy marble block – a creative task
that took him far more than 100 hours!
In February 2003, David Miller used a scaffold
to position,and epoxy, the head in place.
The statue is now complete.

An artistic blend of Oregon today and the history of
our nation, county and city, the statue stands watch over the grave of John S. Covell and his fellow Civil War soldiers with pride and dignity.