Details
Approximately once a year, Perot funds a memorial honoring an American hero, and calls upon Schlitzberger to create and install the pedestal.
Perot selected General Wayne Allan Downing, a retired four-star army general from Peoria, Illinois.
Once Perot identified the subject of the memorial, Schlitzberger worked with world-renowned sculptor Paul Moore to design the memorial. Upon completing the design, Schlitzberger then worked with Cold Spring Granite to fabricate the memorial.
In addition to producing the large Mesabi Black block, Cold Spring Granite did the carving and gold leaf lettering, which entails overlaying 14-carat gold into the lettering.
The bronze statue was created by world-renowned sculptor Paul Moore.
Downing’s memorial is the twelfth one that Schlitzberger has constructed for Perot. It has been erected at the main entrance of Peoria’s airport,which was recently renamed in Downing’s honor as well.
This memorial took approximately 100 hours to design and weighs in at approximately 32,000 pounds. It was made out of Mesabi Black, a domestic granite that is quarried in Babbitt, Minnesota.