Lentil Day

By Richard O Jones
Reprinted with permission of the Journal-News

By all accounts Robert McCloskey is a shy, quiet man who shuns attention to himself.

But Hamilton residents can get to know the man a little better now by visiting one of his characters in a new downtown park.

A bronze statue of “Lentil,” the title character from McCloskey’s first book, was dedicated Friday in a late morning ceremony.

Although McClosky has spent most of his adult life elsewhere, he has left an indelible mark on Hamilton, the city of his birth. He created the bas relief impressions on the former Hamilton Municipal Building, and now, in that building’s shadow, stands “Lentil,” what sculptor Nancy Schoen believes to be a biographical character.

“I believe that Lentil is Mr. McCloskey 72 years ago,” Schoen said. “He does play the harmonica and being his first book, it’s not unusual that it would be autobiographical.”

McCloskey, who turned 87 on Sept. 15, graduated from Hamilton High School in 1932. Members of his class were specially invited to Friday’s ceremony. Among them was George Turnbull, who said he was very close to McCloskey in high school and is the only person from Hamilton to have visited his home in Maine.

Turnbull stayed with him one memorable long weekend in the fall when  McCloskey created another enduring work of art, a totem pole at Camp Campbell Gard.

“By Sunday morning, we didn’t have anything left to eat except for two eggs and a can of tuna,” Turnbull said. “So he put the tuna in a skillet, browned it off and added the eggs. We divided it in half and ate.

“Up until 10 years ago, the last time I saw him, we would always cook tuna fish and eggs whenever we got together,” he said.

Another time, after he began making his name as an author, McCloskey came back to Hamilton for a program in his honor, but he was disappointed in how it turned out, so he and Turnbull escaped.

“We went out to Four Mile Creek and threw stones in the water for hours and didn’t say a word to each other,” Turnbull said. “He didn’t like people to say anything good about him.

“The only time that I ever knew him to show off was when he ws the drum major for the Hamilton High School Marching Band.”

Carl Sippel remembers McCloskey coming to Boys’ Gospel Register every Sunday afternoon at the Hamilton YMCA to play music. One of his favorite songs, Sippel said, was “There’s a Story to Tell to the Nations.”

Schön said that because of McCloskey’s humility, it took some convincing for her to get him to allow the sculpture of Lentil to be created for Hamilton.

“I don’t think he has any idea about what a wonderful person he is and what a marvelous influence he’s been on people around the world,” Schoen said.

At a reception Thursday night at Lane Public Library, Schoen said that she has two requirements for doing public works of art.

“Public art should be site specific,” she said. “I take a lot of time making sure the sculpture is right for the site.

“I also try to teach a lesson.”

After the dedication, Schoen said she was pleased with the sculpture and its site, a park created by Urban Thickets landscape designer Warren Klink.

“It’s perfect,” she said. “The garden is wonderful, in keeping with my idea of the sculpture and where it should go.”