Statue embodies spirit of Kesey

Ken Kesey spun his magic again Friday in the heart of Eugene, this time with a little help from his friends.

A statue of Oregon's most famous storyteller, unveiled at Broadway Plaza, put him squarely back in the community's midst two years and five days after his death from cancer at age 66.

The sculpture shows Kesey sitting on a granite bench reading to his three grandchildren, who posed for the work. After friends and family pulled the rainbow-colored fabric back to reveal the statue, kids in the crowd of hundreds pressed in first.

Zane Kesey, son of the late author, served as a model for sculptor Pete Helzer, a former neighbor of Ken Kesey.

People patted Kesey's back and touched his shoulder, ran their hands along his cheek, even stroked his nose. Before long, someone had draped a green necklace around his neck and tucked small flowers into it.

Mayor Jim Torrey pulled out "Little Tricker the Squirrel Meets Big Double the Bear" and treated those gathered to an excerpt from Kesey's book for children, giving voice to a tale set on a fine autumn morning when "nothing was amove except one finger of sun."

Other speakers reminded the audience that Kesey was more than just the guy who wrote two seminal works of fiction - "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Sometimes a Great Notion."

He was the man who could have lived anywhere but chose to live in Pleasant Hill, who rallied to the cause of saving Oregon's wild places, who dreamed large and encouraged others to dream, too.

"He was interested in calling our attention to the things in life worth embracing," said Pete Helzer, who created the sculpture of Kesey.

On a sunny afternoon despite a dreary forecast, author Barry Lopez wondered what Kesey himself was doing just then.

Ken Kesey's grandchildren, (from left) Kate Smith, Caleb Kesey and Jordan Smith, sit next to the statues of themselves after the statue depicting Kesey reading to them was unveiled Friday at Broadway Plaza in downtown Eugene. The sculpture is titled "The Storyteller."

Is he the pigeon or the seagull?" Lopez said as birds circled overhead. And when an audience member yelled out "Yes!" Lopez echoed him: "Yes! That's exactly what he would have said."

Lopez recalled a tender, kind and unfailingly generous Kesey, who was also "a walking hurricane of imagination."

Brian Lanker, who organized the fund-raising campaign for the statue, encouraged people to sit in the space of the sculpture deliberately left between Kesey and the children. "I think if you're real quiet, you'll here Ken reading to you," he said.

Kesey's wife, Faye, put an arm around the likeness of her husband. "It was the most natural thing to do," she said.

His son, Zane, slipped in and sat next to him, posing as he had for the sculptor to help get the drape of the fabric and other details right.

"I'm glad I did it," he said. "It was such a thrill. And having the kids there, he delighted so much in the grandchildren."

The grandchildren - Kate and Jordan Smith and Caleb Kesey - sat next to their bronze images and smiled as dozens of photographers clicked away.

More than 150 groups and individuals helped pay for the artwork, with contributions from actor Paul Newman and authors Tom Wolfe and Tom Robbins, Lanker said.

The cost of the statue will come to $125,000 - $25,000 less than anticipated, but supporters are still short by about $25,000.

Organizers wanted to unveil the statue now even though not all the bills are paid because of the events honoring Kesey this weekend - a two-day symposium on his work at the University of Oregon, a staging of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" at the UO and the release of a collection of Kesey's journals.

The unveiling drew youngsters on skateboards and old men with beards, young women in business suits and old women in tie-dye.

Michael Connelly, a retired drug and alcohol counselor, said he came to honor Kesey's memory. A casual acquaintance who knew Kesey when he lived in California, Connelly said the author influenced his life.

Ken Kesey's daughter, Sunshine, sits next to the sculpture of her father that was unveiled Friday in Eugene. The statue depicts Kesey reading to his grandchildren. The author of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" also wrote a children's book.

The statue depicts Kesey in one of his more benign roles. But Connelly hasn't forgotten the man who led the Merry Pranksters, whose trip on the psychedelic bus Further became the stuff of Tom Wolfe's "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" and whose wild streak was as memorable as his literary genius.

"You take the man as a whole. This is a calm part, not the rapids in the river that he chose to float," he said.

Symposium: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and 9 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Sunday, Fir Room at Erb Memorial Union, corner of 13th Avenue and University Street. Events are free. For more information on panels and topics: kesey.uoregon.edu.

Theater: "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," 8 p.m. today, 2 p.m. Sunday, Robinson Theatre, Villard Hall, University of Oregon campus. Tickets $12.

To contribute: Contact the Lane Arts Council to donate money for the Kesey statue, 349-2493, 99 W. 10th Ave., Suite 100, Eugene 97401.

• The Kesey letters: A sampling of the author's submissions to The Register-Guard's Mailbag

When I first read 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' as a youth, I never dreamed I would one day meet the man who wrote it. His family has deep roots here and are important players in this community. His son has a vibrant proforming arts center downtown, and his daughter has a thriving business in Springfield making kefir and yogurt that is the best I've ever tasted.

He was a class act and his family are wonderful people. I remember his funeral and wake well. He was buried on his farm in a tie dyed coffin, and his bus Furthur carried his coffin to the burial site after services DownTown at The MacDonald Theatre where people from all over the country had come to pay last respects.

He well deserves this honor. And it is grand to be able to see his face and form whenever I pass Eugene's center at Broadway and Willamette.

He wasn't exactly what you would call a conservative, no. And indeed he was foolish in his drug use.

But looking at the braod spectrum of American authors, I would note he wasn't hardly alone in this regard. Many writers had a far worse problem then he with a very dangerous drug called alcohol.

I would see him at 'Sam Bond's Garage' drinking a few beers with Ken Babbs and others in his clicque and I have no doubt he toked weed. But in the sunset year of his life he vastly reduced his chemical use.

One of his son was killed in a vehicle accident going to a University of Oregon wrestling match to compete, and he had to cut down or the temptation to drown away his extreme sorrow would have done him in.

ken had his flaws, but he was a nice man, and a kind soul. He is loved by conservatives and liberals alike here. The statue was mayor Jim Torrey's idea. And there are few politicians as conservative as Mr. Torrey who is also a Fundementalist Christian beside.

Torrey lost a son too in an automobile accident. And he was a friend of Kens. That Ken Kesey could achieve a meeting of the minds with him definately elevated his status in my eyes.

The statue makes my hair stand on end when I see Ken's very familiar face. I expect him to move, or to see again that lazy smile or glint of amusement in his eyes. I am lucky enough to know some Merry Pranksters and their kids and know this group pretty well. I have also spent some New Year's Eves on the Kesey Farm for the annual big party and talked with him at the Oregon Country Fair.

He was quite a character. An individualist always scheming to create excitement and adventure, and he was at one time a genuinely great wordsmith.

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