For nearly 50 years one of the most significant events of Memorial Day ceremonies in Essex has been the placing of a wreath at the War Memorial in front of Town Hall.

The defining element in the memorial was the sculpture of an eagle in stone by the internationally recognized sculptor, and Essex resident, Henry Kreis.

It is sad to report that the eagle sculpture is now gone.

Those who stop to look at the memorial will now find only a stone pedestal containing a steel bolt. After years of continued deterioration from the New England weather, and possibly from pollution from traffic on West Avenue, the eagle finally fell apart last winter. When members of the Essex Eagle Sculpture Fund evaluated the eagle in September 2004, it was discovered that the head had fallen off and the wings were about to about to do the same. Sounding the sculpture produced a hollow sound indicating it was laced through with cracks and that one good winter storm would probably reduce it to a pile of rubble. Drastic action was required.

The "Essex Eagle Sculpture Fund" was established in 2003 as a special community project by a volunteer group of artists from the "Society of Connecticut Sculptors", a 501-C nonprofit organization, to try to raise funds to preserve the memorial. The members are Rosemary Gurpide of Chester, Norman Legassie of Old Lyme, John Molloy of Essex, Harold Wright of Killingworth, and Charles Young of Deep River. The original plan was to make a mold of the eagle sculpture, pour a casting in plaster, and use the plaster as the base to build a new piece. That approach now became impossible because the original piece was so fragile that applying and removing the mold would destroy it. A new approach was necessary. The original eagle was removed from the pedestal and moved inside where it was used as a model to reproduce the eagle as it looked at the time of its dedication in 1955. A new piece in plaster was created over a four month period by referring to old photographs and using the labor intensive process of "pointing". The original eagle in stone is now safely displayed by the office of the First Selectman in Town Hall and the replicated piece is now in plaster.

What is now needed is funding to reproduce the plaster piece in the weather resistant material of bronze so the eagle may return to its rightful perch as part of the war memorial in front of Town Hall. This requires the use of an art bronze foundry, and the estimate for this work is seven thousand dollars ($7000). We are asking the citizens of Essex to make contributions to the "Essex Eagle Sculpture Fund" to have the eagle in place for rededication on its 50th anniversary on Memorial Day, 2005.

The Essex Eagle Sculpture Fund
Care of: Society of Connecticut Sculptors
P.O. Box 415, Essex CT 06426

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