[Nfb-idaho] Boise sculptor honors late blind athlete

[Susan Bradley]

Hi Everyone
I saw this article in the Idaho Statesman on today, November 4, 2008.  I thought you would like to see it.  I have included the link at the bottom of this email.  Susan Bradley
 

Boise sculptor Jerry Snodgrass is working on one of his most intricate projects ever: a bronze statue of scholar-athlete and advocate for the disabled Cara Dunne-Yates, who was an inspiration to many before her untimely death in 2004. 
Snodgrass has been working part-time for the past two years on the statue of Dunne-Yates with her faithful guide dog, Haley. He's taking the clay original to a foundry in Belgrade, Mont., this week.
One of the statue's unique features will be Braille messages on Dunne-Yates' jacket cuffs and her lower right pant leg, allowing people who are blind to enjoy the statue.
Snodgrass' wife, Lynda, an accomplished artist, created the Braille messages on the statue. It has been checked for accuracy by an official with the Idaho Federation of the Blind.
It's an important component of the statue, according to Mike Dunne, a Colorado resident who raised more than $65,000 to get the statue made.
"My daughter was totally blind. I wanted to put a couple of messages on the statue that nobody else would get," Dunne said in a recent phone interview from his Colorado home.
One of the messages is a favorite saying of Dunne-Yates: "Get up, get out."
Dunne described his daughter as "the Babe Ruth of disabled sports." In a life cut short by cancer at age 34, she was a scholar, athlete and inspiration to those who met her or heard her life story.
Her many awards included the United States Association of Blind Athletes' 1997 Female Athlete of the Year and Gene Autry Courage Award for showing heroism amid adversity. Northeastern University's Center for the Study of Sports in Society honored her with the True Hero of Sport award in 2002.
"She was influential in increasing the opportunities for people with disabilities in sports both in this country and internationally," said Eli Wolff, director of disability at the Northeastern center, in an interview with the Boston Globe on the day of Dunne-Yates' death.
The Chicago native had lost both of her eyes to cancer by age 5. But that didn't stop her from aspiring and achieving high academic goals, including graduating with a degree in East Asian studies and economics from Harvard University, where she was magna cum laude and class president in 1992. She also earned a law degree from UCLA Law School in 1997. She spoke four foreign languages fluently, including Japanese, Spanish, French and Polish.
And she excelled in athletics, winning medals in both ski racing and cycling in the Paralympic Games. 
She married Spencer Yates and had a daughter, Elise, now 8, and a son, Carson, 5.
Dunne-Yates' father wanted to help keep her memory alive in other ways.
"I thought a statue might be one way to do it," Dunne said. 
He's been raising money for the statue for the past three years. Almost 100 of the 175 donors are his daughter's former classmates at Harvard.
Dunne met Snodgrass at a fundraising event in Colorado called Challenge Aspen, an adaptive sports program that allows people with disabilities to ski, cycle, raft and hike. Snodgrass showed Dunne some life-sized statues he's done in the Treasure Valley, including one of Julia Davis and another of Eagle founder Thomas Aiken.
Dunne commissioned Snodgrass to create the statue of his daughter. He provided about 150 photos to help the sculptor re-create her likeness.
"It was pretty intense. We went over all the features," Dunne said. 
The 5-foot-6-inch statue of Dunne-Yates - which is a few inches taller than she stood in real life - shows her standing next to her dog (who wears a sign, "Retired, please pet") and extending a welcoming hand. 
"That's a very important part of the statue," Dunne said. "She's saying, 'I was blind at age 4, and I did all these things. Come into my world, try it ... Whether you want to be a donor, participant or instructor, come into this world.' "
The statue will be placed at Challenge Aspen in Snowmass, Colo.
"It was one of her favorite places on earth," Dunne said.
The plan is to unveil the statue in the spring of 2009. 
Katy Moeller: 377-6413
 
http://www.idahostatesman.com/localnews/story/559505.html
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