Tribute to a Great Artist

 

When I was at the Wrigley Mansion last Saturday, I spotted this gorgeous Arizona sunset painting by Ed Mell in one of the dining rooms.  I mentioned Ed Mell in a post on March 6th, just days after he passed away.  There wasn't any sign and I didn't ask, but I'm pretty sure that candle was placed in front of the painting to pay tribute to a great artist and great man.  

In another room I found another Ed Mell painting.

There were two tributes to Ed published in the Arizona Highways magazine however, the one above was a personal tribute from the magazine's editor.  I've seen many such tributes over the past few weeks.  Ed was much loved in the Valley of Sun and around the world.

I'll make this post my own little tribute to a man whose art work I have greatly admired.  

A Tribute to a Remarkable Woman

The news of the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg hit me rather hard yesterday.  She was someone I had great admiration, respect and even love for.  Her work over the years centered around gender equality but she was always a champion of justice no matter the cause. 

She was already in her 80's when she became the subject of a documentary film and a feature movie about her life.  And about 3 years ago, I saw a play called "Sisters In Law" that was about her and Justice Sandra Day O'Connor when they were both on the court bench.  I was lucky to see her at work when I sat in on oral arguments at the Supreme Court and I attended a lecture at Arizona State University featuring her and O'Connor.

She was a remarkable woman with a compassionate heart, brilliant legal mind and a searing wit.   She will be greatly missed.

Rest in Peace RBG! 

I have a new post on Sharon's Sojourns.  It seems appropriate to revisit the United States Supreme Court.

A Governor and a Founding Father

The former home of Arizona's 4th Governor has been preserved in downtown Tempe.  Governor Benjamin B. Moeur was head of the state of Arizona from 1933 to 1937.  He was also a doctor and was credited with delivering most of the babies born in Tempe for the 36 years of his career.  I have to admit, when I found this place two years ago, I had never heard of him.  It was fun to learn a little bit of Arizona history that I hadn't heard before.

Also in downtown Tempe is this statue of Charles Trumbull Hayden (1825-1900), the founding father of the city of Tempe.  Around the base of the statue are four bas-relief scenes depicting his life's work.

1. Hayden Flour Mill (his business)
2. Hayden's Ferry (he ran a ferry service across the Salt River)
3. Tempe Normal School (now Arizona State University, he lobbied for its creation)
4. Territorial Judge (his years serving as a judge)

He was also the father of Carl T. Hayden, who became a well known U. S. Senator from Arizona.

Hayden was certainly an enterprising man.

Tribute

Wesley Bolin Plaza is a park located opposite the Arizona State Capitol building.  It contains 30 monuments and/or memorials and I've featured many of them here before.  I somehow missed this one.  It's the Korean War Memorial paying tribute to the 280 Arizonans who were killed or reported missing during that war.

It's such a pretty and peaceful looking memorial that I hate to think of it in relationship to war.  It consists of a stylized pagoda with a ceremonial temple bell inside.

I'll have to look at my photos and see if I have something for all 30.  I don't think I do so I might have to go scouring the park once again.  When it's cooler!

The Yellow Blooms Continue

When I was out admiring all the yellow blooms on the palo verde trees last weekend, I noticed that the little Barry Goldwater Memorial Park was full of the golden branches.

So I stopped to get some more photos.  The trees were casting a warm glow over the whole park.

The blooms on these trees last between 4 to 6 weeks so we should continue to see them for a little while longer.

I'll miss them when they are just dust on the ground.

Memorial Day

Today is Memorial Day in the U.S., a day we celebrate the lives of our fallen soldiers.  I'm revisiting the Viet Nam Memorial located in the Wesley Bolin Plaza, the park that sits directly across the street from the Arizona State Capitol.  The name of this statue is "Fallen Warrior" and it is flanked by pillars on which the names of Arizona's sons who were lost in that war.

Tribute

I went to a preseason basketball game last Monday evening with my friend Janet who is a huge fan of the hometown team the Phoenix Suns.  She's such a fan that she's had season tickets 47 years.  One of the great players from the past, Connie Hawkins passed away a few days before so the Sun's did a very nice memorial to him before the game started.  I did get to see him play back in the 70's and he was one of the most skilled players I've ever seen.  He had been doing public relations work for the Phoenix Suns so we would see him at the games from time to time.  He'll be missed.

It's a good thing this was a preseason game because it was  pretty bad for the home team.  I think we were down around 40 points when we left.  The game was so bad, this guy decided to read the paper rather than watch the mayhem way below him.

Hopefully, the real season will get off to a better start.

A Tribute to First Responders

Today is Labor Day in the United States so I thought this might be an appropriate time to pay tribute to all the first responders everywhere and especially to those in south Texas who have so bravely dealt with a storm catastrophe the likes of which has not been seen before.  I tip my hat and say thank you to all the brave men and women who so valiantly rescued their stranded and endangered neighbors.

A Recently Added Memorial

Wesley Bolin Plaza is a park area that sits in front of the Arizona State Capitol.  It's named for Arizona's 15th Governor who served from 1977 to 1978.

Recently when I was walking around the area, I spotted a new memorial (2015) that I hadn't seen before.  This archway is dedicated to Ernest W. McFarland, Arizona's 10th Governor who also served as a U. S. Senator from Arizona as well as Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court.

MacFarland was a man of many achievements, not least of which was to secure the interests of the Central Arizona Project protecting Arizona's rights to water in the Colorado River.

It's a beautiful memorial to one of Arizona's accomplished men.

I have a new post on Sharon's Sojourns today.  Stop by and see Arizona's oldest hotel.

Where have all the Flowers Gone

Yesterday was the anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the sinking of the ship the USS Arizona.  Sometime around 1:30 in the afternoon, I happened to see a photo taken at the USS Arizona memorial and it was surrounded with flowers and wreaths.  I decided that I should drive down there and snap a photo so I headed that way.  I was surprised when I got there that there were no flowers or wreaths.  I have no idea what happened to them.  I can't imagine why they would be taken away but, apparently they were.  So here is the memorial sans flowers.

I guess there was a memorial service sometime in the morning but all evidence of it had been taken away by the time I arrived.
Near the memorial was this plaque describing the ship.

The Founder of Scottsdale

The Winfield Scott Memorial is located on the Scottsdale Civic Center Mall area right next to the spiral stairway lookout.  It was commissioned through the Scottsdale Public Art program to honor the couple, Winfield and Helen Scott, the founders of Scottsdale Arizona.

Apparently, the sculpture was based on an old photograph with Scott standing next to "Old Maude" while his wife is seated side-saddle.

The artist is listed as George-Anne Tognoni.

I took this photo back in February of 2013.

In Memory

Just a reminder that today is the 15th Anniversary of the 9/11 attack on the United States.  One flag for each person who died that day.

I have a new post on Sharon's Sojourns today.  I'm featuring an attraction right here in Phoenix.

Barry Goldwater Memorial

I stopped at the Barry Goldwater Memorial a week or so ago to update my photos.  I did a post about this statue before but it was way back in 2008.  I think it's due for an update.

The statue was sculpted by Joe Beeler who happened to be a friend of Goldwater's when he was living in the town of Paradise Valley.

Goldwater served five terms as a US Senator and ran for President in 1964.

The statue sits in a small park in the town of Paradise Valley.  Not many people stop here so when I was there taking photos I had it all to myself.

Thunderbirds

The above photo shows the entrance to the Thunderbird School of Global Management, a top ranked international business school who's MBA graduates work in positions all over the world.  It's located in Glendale Arizona and was founded in 1946 by U.S. Army Air Force Lieutenant General Barton Kyle Yount.

The property on which the school is located has an interesting history before the school began.  In 1941 and executive order sought construction of 50,000 PT-17 airplanes and to train 100,000 pilots for war duty.  The civil aviation community answered the call to train the pilots and this one square mile of desert became know as Thunderbird Field.  Operations began that year and ended in 1945 at the end of the war.  The civilian pilots trained 16,000 cadets from the U.S., Britain and China.

The PT-17 was a bi-plane like the one on this memorial to the pilots.  You can see a picture of one here.



I have a new photo on Sharon's Sojourns.  This time I visit a city in Italy that has few tourists.

Honoring Veteran's

On a recent drive to the west-side city of Glendale Arizona, I found this beautiful Veteran's Memorial on the grounds of a Glendale Public Library.

It consists of five steel trees representing the five branches of service, Air Force, Army, Marines, Navy, and Coast Guards.  The leaves on the trees represent the thousands who have served and those that are currently serving in one of those branches.  The piece was part of the percent for the arts in Glendale and it was created by artist Joe Tyler.  It really is a very impressive artistic creation.

The era of silent movies

On the way into Florence Arizona (see yesterday's post), I stopped at the Tom Mix memorial.  For those of you who don't know, Tom Mix was a star of numerous silent pictures depicting the old west.  Just to be clear, that was way before my time but I know my parents knew who he was.  Mix was killed in an auto accident on this site and this monument was placed here in his memory.  The memorial reads:

January 6, 1880 - October 12, 1940

In Memory of Tom Mix

Whose spirit left his body on this spot and whose characterization and portrayals in life served to better fix memories of the old west in the minds of living men.

Korean War Veterans Memorial

Here is another memorial located in the Wesley Bolin Plaza near the state capitol. It was erected in 1990 with a pagoda that shelters a brass Korean bell.

9/11 Memorial

This is a portion of the 9/11 Memorial located in the Wesley Bolin Plaza in front the Arizona State Capitol. It consists of a concrete disc topped by a ring of steel. Phrases have been laser cut into the steel so that the reflections appear on the concrete and can be read. This memorial created huge outcry in Arizona over some of the quotes that some people thought were unpatriotic. The intent of the memorial was to express the wide range of views that Americans have about the attacks the US response to it. Personally, I find the memorial quite moving.

Barry Goldwater Memorial

Today I have stepped outside the Phoenix city limits by just a few blocks to feature a special tribute to Barry Goldwater a long time resident of the town of Paradise Valley. Goldwater served in the US Senate for three decades and ran for President of the United States in 1964. This beautifully landscaped memorial was dedicated on February 14, 2004 by Governor Janet Napolitano with the assistance of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and numerous other elected officials. The ten-foot bronze sculpture is by artist Joe Beeler, a founding member of the Cowboy Artists of America and a personal friend of Goldwater. In addition to his political service, Goldwater was a skilled pilot, a talented photographer and a passionate Arizonan. This memorial sits in a park setting with this statue in the center surrounded by native Arizona plants. It's a quite beautiful setting.