PORTLAND,
Mich. - A group honoring canoeing legend Verlen Kruger is working to erect
a life-sized bronze statue of him.
Kruger, a plumber by trade, paddled more than 100,000 miles during a 41-year
canoeing career and was inducted into the American Canoe Association Hall
of Fame. He died in August 2004 at age 82.
He remained active to the end, celebrating his 80th birthday with a 2,040-mile
canoe trip along Alaska's Yukon River.
Although Kruger paddled rivers across North America, the Grand River was
his home, so friends thought it was only appropriate that a statue in
his memory overlooks the Grand.
"I remember when my brother Dan and I first met him when he stepped
ashore as he returned from his 28,000-mile 'Ultimate Canoe Challenge'
through North America," Mike Smith told the Lansing State Journal
for a Saturday story. "It was near Thompson's Field in Portland.
That seems like a perfect place for the memorial."
A group seeking to honor Kruger's accomplishments formed the Kruger Memorial
Organization last year, with Dan Smith as the chairman. The group received
approval from the Portland City Council in September to place a statue
of Kruger near Thompson's Field. Now, the group is working to raise $40,000
for the project.
Derek Rainey, a sculptor who teaches at Portland High School, was commissioned
as the artist.
"I wish I could have met him," said Rainey, a kayak enthusiast
who has photos of Kruger posted throughout his garage, which doubles as
his studio. "He looked like a very lean Santa Claus. He had a perpetual
grin, crow's feet around his eyes and a bushy beard."
Rainey, whose "War Cry" memorial stands in Mount Pleasant, said
the Kruger project will be about 9 feet high, including a 3 1/2-foot base
for the statue.
ON THE NET
Verlen Kruger Memorial project: http://www.verlenkrugermemorial.org/
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