A father-son team has made one for the ages.

Ron and Jeff Adamson of Libby crafted a pioneer woman sculpture for a Bigfork park.

The piece will be dedicated on Sunday.

The Adamsons spent three weeks on the 3-foot-tall clay sculpture that recently was bronzed at Kalispell Art Casting. 

Jeff was excited to work with his father on the project. “It was interesting working with dad on the same sculpture,” Jeff said. “We worked on projects before, but not to that extent. We worked on this one at the same time.”

Jeff has been doing sculptures since he was a boy. He got involved because of his father’s work, some of which has been given to such notables as astronaut John Glenn, President George W. Bush and actor Tony Curtis.

Ron Adamson, 55, has created so many sculptures over the years he’s lost count.

He said they used clay over styrofoam for the body of the pioneer woman, which included pipes and supports.

The sculpture has been installed on a stone in Sliter Park in downtown Bigfork on Bridge Street on the south side of the Swan River.

The Adamsons’ sculpture will be one of two at the park.

In 2006, Bigfork artist Ken Bjorge designed the other: a sculpture of two soldiers — a man and a woman — along with an Iraqi girl. The “Fallen Heroes” sculpture represents a true story of the girl warning the soldiers of some Iraqis waiting to ambush them.

That bronze sculpture will be on loan from Bigfork residents retired Army Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely and his wife, Marian, through the Scott Vallely Soldiers Memorial Fund.

Jerry Murphy of Bigfork came up with the idea for the memorial.

He is being helped with fundraising by the Committee Foundation for a Better Bigfork. The committee is selling bricks that will fill an octagon-shaped walkway around the two sculptures.

The bricks cost $50 each or $40 if someone purchases more than one. There are 500 bricks to be sold. More than 100 have already been purchased and laid in the memorial walkway.

Delaney Carlson helped Murphy coordinate volunteers.

Flathead County has leased the park from Pacificorp since 1984, Murphy said. It was somewhat run down, however, when he got the idea for the memorial. The committee started cleaning the park up last summer by removing juniper trees and some bushes.

Murphy said he came up with the idea for the memorial during a driving tour. Sliter Park was one of 20 stops on the tour, but he couldn’t see the park from the road because of the overgrowth, he said.

When the project is complete, there also will be a garden area. Murphy said some big perimeter rocks already have been placed in the park, along with a five-foot-tall buffalo sign. The memorial also includes a 25-foot lighted flagpole, native plantings, rock wall perimeter, and rock benches.

The sculptures will be dedicated at the park at 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 5.

 Former Montana Gov. Stan Stephens will serve as master of ceremonies for the event. Speakers include Paul Vallely and Bigfork teacher Mary Sullivan. Their topics will be U.S. veterans and Bigfork’s pioneer heritage.

Paul Sebesta will direct music for the event, which will include the Bigfork Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4042.

For more information or to purchase a brick, call Murphy at 406-837-2459 or email jerichomurphy@hotmail.com.

Reporter Caleb Soptelean may be reached at 758-4483 or by email at csoptelean@dailyinterlake.com.