The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
by David Grimes Quill Correspondent
A two-ton granite memorial honoring a Gladstone firefighter who died fighting a fire nearly two years ago should be set sometime this spring.
Vannie Keever suffered a heart attack after responding to a call for volunteer firefighters at a rural fire April 10, 2003, north of Oquawka.
Keever's cousin, Tammy Mattson, Oquawka, later came up with the idea to secure a memorial depicting a life-size firefighter in action in honor of Keever and other fallen firefighters from the area.
Mattson contacted Roy Dixon, art director at Leyda, Burrus & Metz and a Henderson County native, about working on the piece last summer.
Dixon agreed to create the statue concept because of the theme and local angle. About 180 hours were required for Dixon to secure photos from which to work, complete a sketch of the proposed memorial and create a clay model of the work.
The actual sculpting of the firefighter figure was done from a single piece of stone by an artist in India. The black-and-gray granite rendering required five months to complete before being shipped back to Iowa. Dixon said the statue arrived in Burlington shortly before the holidays. The statue, which stands about nine feet high and is four to five feet wide at the base, will be set in the Gladstone village park.
"It should be set by Memorial Day at the latest," Dixon said.
Four bronze plates will set on the memorial base, inscripted with a tribute to Keever and other lost firefighters, the firefighter emblem and names of donors who contributed to the project.
The memorial, expected to cost between $20,000 and $25,000, is being funded solely by donations and fund-raising events, Mattson said.
An account for the project has been established through F&M Bank in Burlington, Iowa.
Anyone wishing to make a contribution toward the cost of the firefighter memorial may do so by donating to the Vannie Keever Memorial Fund at F&M.
More information on the project can be obtained by calling Tammy Mattson at (309) 867-5110.
A moving granite memorial sits in front of Leda Burrus & Metz in Burlington, Iowa. The family of Vannie Keever, who died of a heart attack while laying out a hose, are raising money for the 9-foot monument to be placed as a memorial for all firefighters in Gladstone.
-Hawk Eye photo by Scott Morgan, photo courtesy The Hawk Eye