Shriners to dedicate statue; Celebration scheduled for Sunday
By JAMES AMOS
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
Symbolizing the Shriners' mission to help children who have medical problems, a statue of one of the most famous Shriners' images will be dedicated Sunday at the Pueblo Shrine Club in Pueblo West.
Additionally, the three people involved in creating the image - that of a Shriner carrying a young crippled girl in his arms - will be on hand to help dedicate the statue.
The public event will begin with a pancake breakfast from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., according to Shriner Paul Samuelson. The dedication itself will be held at 1 p.m. at the club's headquarters at 1510 McCulloch Blvd.
The statue being dedicated is called "Editorial Without Words" and shows a Shriner carrying a young girl and her crutches. Other copies of the statue sit outside each the Shriners' 22 hospitals that provide free medical and burn care for children, as well as outside many Shriner buildings, Samuelson said.
The statue is based on a 1970 photograph taken at a picnic in Indiana by Evansville Courier and Press photographer Randy Dieter. Dieter captured Shriner Al Hortman carrying then-5-year-old Bobbi Jo Wright and her crutches after a picnic the Shriners held for children receiving medical care.
Wright was born with cerebral palsy, resulting in several orthopaedic problems. After multiple surgeries in Shriners Hospitals for Children, she can now walk on level surfaces using just a cane.
The image from the photograph has gone on to become one of the Shriners's best-known logos, used constantly in campaigns to raise money for and direct ailing children to their network of free hospitals.
The Shriners have several other public images too: the red fez hats, the clowns and little cars at parades.
But to Shriners like Samuelson, the statue shows why they do everything else.
"It symbolizes to me what we stand for," he said. "We stand for hospitals that take care of children."
The $14,000 statue will sit outside the front of the Pueblo Shrine Club's headquarters building, Samuelson said, on a base built by volunteers in the club.
He called the public image "the best advertisement and way to get information out about what the club stands for."
Taking part in the dedication ceremony will be the three people who created that image, Shriner Al Hortman, photographer Randy Dieter and the now-grown-woman, Bobbi Jo Wright. The trio will arrive in Colorado Springs Thursday for several activities, including an appearance in the Apple Blossom Parade in Canon City on Saturday.
Samuelson said the group is pleased to have Hortman, Dieter and Wright.
"They're putting themselves out to fly out here," he said.
Naturally, the Pueblo Shriners would like to field a large crowd for the ceremony, he said, so the public is very much invited.
"We don't want to be outdone by Colorado Springs," he said.
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