EFFINGHAM – The “Soldier Boy” statue that used to stand outside Effingham’s VFW Theodore Hoffman Post 1769 has been restored and rededicated after several decades.
In 1919, Nellie Boyd designed and created a life-size concrete statue of World War I soldier Lawrence Durre, a neighbor of hers. According to Effingham County Cultural Center and Museum Association President Delaine Donaldson, Boyd woke up at 3 a.m. to complete her farm chores in order to spend eight hours each day for 30 days to finish the concrete statue.
In 1960, the statue was moved from the Boyd family farm to the Effingham VFW grounds. But over time, the statue’s condition worsened because of vandalism and weathering. Eventually, the statue disappeared.
On June 8, 2023, Boyd’s great-granddaughter, Barb Boyd, emailed Donaldson inquiring about the whereabouts of the statue that is a piece of her family’s history.
Donaldson reached out to Effingham’s VFW post, and after many conversations, he located it. The statue was in a building on the VFW grounds, but it was in pieces and rough shape.
“The statue originally was made so it could be disassembled to some degree, and so there were parts that were vandalized and broken as a result of that,” said Donaldson.
Donaldson, being a retired Unit 40 teacher, reached out to Effingham High School Art and Multimedia teacher Charlie Huber to have him restore the statue. Huber had never created a concrete statue before, so it was a monthslong process for the teacher. The final statue weighed more than 600 pounds.
“As I worked on this more and more, I’ve grown to respect her quite a bit because to be able to work with concrete the way that she had done, you don’t think about it until you work with it,” said Huber. “It’s just miraculous, and she was able to do this so, so, so, so well.”
For the project, Huber enlisted the help of two former students of his: Michael Love and Chase Smith; his brother-in-law, Tom Fuesting; his co-worker, Kevin Hiatt; his brother, Jason Huber; and his nephew, Paul Huber. Love and Smith helped him transport the statue to the shop where it was reworked. Fuesting donated workshop space so Huber could work on the statue, and he gave Huber construction and engineering advice. Hiatt loaned him his cherry picker — a type of forklift — so the statue could be lifted for reconstruction. Jason and Paul gave him engineering, material and construction advice.
“I had this grandiose idea of how I was gonna be able to sculpt it, but when it comes down to engineering, your grandiose ideas are one thing, but reality is totally another thing,” said Huber. “Working with concrete can be like working with oatmeal because it wants to fall. So I learned pretty quickly I [needed to] do little bits at a time… A lot of tearing down and rebuilding, a lot of phone calls to Tom, Jason and Paul.”
Donaldson invited Velma Durre — a friend of his — to the rededication because of her last name. During the rededication, Velma said Lawrence Durre was her husband’s uncle.
Durre brought Lawrence’s service book and a painting of him that she inherited from her mother-in-law to the rededication. She then donated the painting to the Effingham County Museum.
“I didn’t know what to do with it [the painting]. I had it sitting in the closet in the dark,” said Durre. “I never dreamed that all of this could be brought out, and I’m so proud that it has. It’s just heartwarming.”
Donaldson noted the generosity of the community in getting the restoration done.
“The thing that has most impressed me is how giving the people in the business world out here in Effingham [are], and then also just the Effingham citizens in general, when they see a cause that they really believe in and they say that’s really worthwhile,” said Donaldson. “Whenever people drive by this road… they catch a glimpse of this statue, they think of the cost of freedom. They think of what veterans have done in order to preserve this country, to hold the country together to the point of giving their lives.”