Vessels Trucking had donated the use of their truck and trailer to transport the carved bases to Charlestown Monument Company where they were lettered. They had also transported the cut blocks from Victor Oolitic Stone Company in Bloomington, Indiana (where the stone was quarried) to our studio. Francis Mattingly had donated the use of his tractor (and time) to set the 1,500 lb. stones and the 2 marble statues.
We set the base for the St. Joseph sculpture first. Left to right: Marion Manning, me, Frankie Vessels and Pat Barr. Also present was Hurschel Hardesty, Meg White and Francis Mattingly who operated his tractor.
We rigged up the base for the Virgin Mary sculpture next.
Then, we slowly moved toward one of two concrete footers that had been made by Bill Youart.
It was a bit of a trick to get the rigging out from under the 1,500 lb. bases. There were enough people to make it go smoothly. There's no way I could have done this by myself.
The marble statues had been in safe storage in one of the buildings on the church grounds, while the footers and bases were being made. I was very impressed with these pieces, which I'm sure are Italian made.
We carefully loaded them for the trip over to the cemetery.
The next step involved drilling holes in the 2 bases and in the bottoms of the marble statues for the stainless steel pins. Frankie is checking my progress with a square to make sure that I keep the holes straight.
We set the Virgin Mary sculpture first. After setting the piece 'dry', we lifted it again to apply the monument epoxy.
Once St. Joseph was set into place, the hard part was over. The sculptures are now back as centerpieces for the cemetery. (all photos by Meg White)
