You probably read Hope Lecchi’s recent story here in The Sedalia Democrat about the Smith-Cotton class of 2017 and their mission to immortalize town founder George R. Smith in bronze.
Sometimes a departing class wants to do something to give back, and sometimes that idea presents itself to them quite conveniently, this time in the form of an old edition of a Smith-Cotton paper called The Duster.
I just gotta say, back in the day Sedalia had some great newspaper names. “The Duster?” Now that’s appropriate for a cowtown, and makes me want to pick up a copy. The city papers even once included a publication called The Sedalia Bazoo and that just rolls off of the tongue!
And contained within the pages of that edition of “The Duster” was an article that discussed Sarah Cotton’s hope that the school that bore her family name would one day be completed with a statue of her father, Gen. George R. Smith, the man who founded Sedalia. (And Georgetown, if you’re keeping track at home.)
Yes, it took longer than the average American lifespan (78.94, as of this writing) for her hope to come true, but the class of 2017 should feel special for making sure that the most important woman in Sedville history could finally see her project completed.
A quick glance at the bronze visage of the general should help you realize that the hulihee is the most Sedalia facial hair, and that the founder of the town would surely smile upon anyone who shared his facial hair preference.
Yeah, did you know that just about any facial hair arrangement you can think of already has a name, and that the mutton chops connected by a mustache is called the hulihee? Maybe it should be the Smith or the Sedville.
Frankly, I’m surprised there aren’t more sculptures, busts, statues, paintings and general murals to the Smith family, or at least the two most relevant members of it. Might expect more buildings, and roads, and well, all sorts of things.
There are probably a non-zero number of visitors who think that Scott Joplin founded Sedalia, between furious bouts of pioneering a musical genre.
What would Sed Cotton think of her father’s city today? She’d be happy to see his bronze face, I suppose. She might be sad to see that her property is no longer the home of the high school – but on the other hand, she might be happy that her generous donation can still benefit the students of Sedalia, even if they are slightly younger than they used to be. At least the new school still has her name on it!
It’s easy and useful for the graduating class to go in on a bench or something – there’s nothing wrong with that. There’s always more need for something like that. But when you can use the newspaper archives to find out there’s a great opportunity to realize the at least eight-decade-old dream of the gracious namesake and benefactor of the school you’ve got to do it! Now that’s special!
