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Show Man takes multiple trips to perfect temple stones Hvll XKl OW -- . J( M.ARK ' i AMKKICAN r'OHK I'M Wyrher-lo- y has been to Nauvoo thiw times since November to wash the exterior stone on tl Nauvoo 'IVoiplo. Hp loves being there - "Its a KlU'lVtl pIlU'P," III1 SOld - hill doi'Mll't love I lie drive. "Every time I drove out there I had llic worst romls I've over had in my life," ho said, milling Hint II was mostly hecaime of ice storms. t )n ono'trip eastward, ho counted ir() accidents between Lincoln, Nli., and Iowa City, Iowa. Wycherley has been washing buildings since 1D7H, Including the Suit Lake and Logan I, US temples, the Assembly Hull on IVmple Square In Salt Lakp City, Uip lintel I'tah nnd Academy Square In Pnivo, Hp uses pressure nnd hot water to clean mortar nnd other material, but bp'd rather tnlk about tbp buildings, particularly the Nauvoo IVmple. , Wyehprley said Kpilh McKay, owner of Stale Stone In Halt Lake, collpclptl the limestone from Alabama and whipped It to artisans around Hie country to carve the sunstones, moon-- , stones and starstones, and do other stone work. Kepco, also In Salt Lake, assembled the stone Into panels and shipped them to Nauvoo, where a local company built an anchor system around the shell, anchored the panels and tuckpolnted the Joints with mortar so the outside walls look like laid stone, Wycherley then washed the stones, cleaning off mortar and dust led over om 0 I t ifi1 1 ! l ttunew Taking part: Ed Wycherley phulii cleans the stone exterior of the Nauvoo Tempi j, the outside. "I actually washed the baptismal font four times to make sure It was band," Wycherley said, explaining that the bell Is stationery and the claoper Is controlled electronically, Not all of Wycherley 's work was on clean," he said, iNMrt MfI&IHW llilit!!HJ4 tBidfttfcr.fffcfttii 1 L. "We found out that there had been a rag put down In the drain to keep out the dust and dirt, .am! when the baptistery was finished, It hadn't been taken out, If we hadn't found It when we did, that would have created a lot mitre work," " l'lnkbam said, adding that It seemed .as If miracles were happening all around him, l'lnkham was next asked to work on the outside perimeter fence, where he tied 7f percent of the rebar, "Each time tied one I thought of the petiole I loved that couldn't be there," fie said, "My father and brother passed away, and they were both carpenters and would have bepn there working on the temple , 1 f with me, Every lime I tied a piece of rebar would think, this one s for you Dad, and I did that for my brother and my friends back In Utah who couldn't be. there working at the temple," When his work assignments were completed, Plnkham went home, but be didn't stay. He came back a third time to be a PINKIIAM I) I " '. ... from carving and assembling the panels. He has ft'eat respect for the build-Ini- t and the workmanship Involved In Its creation, "Each one of these stones has Its own personality," he said, pointing out a dark streak on one sunstone, "It looks beautiful when It's wet." He went to Nauvoo to clean three times because, as soon as a section was completed and washed, workers dismantled the scaffoldlnu and started landscaping, Each trip Involved about 40 hours of cleaning, spraying each section from top to bottom sometimes In a cherry picker, sometimes from the roof, Once, while In the temple's bell tower, another worker urged Wycherley to rlntf the bell. So Wycherley gave It a big push, "The only thlnjt rlnjflaK was my under-water- f , Id Wycherley The building In Alabama limestone ) (the original Nauvoo quarry Ik covering a cement shpll. C'oni mitfd r ; T1 ' tour guide. - "I Fell In love with that city," he As a worker, he was able to go said, A V . i,v . ..I i W1 k Into the bell, tower and get a complete panoramic view o the city and countryside. "I feel a kinship with that city, the temple and with the people worked with," he said, "I may not remember all their names, but will never forget their faces. "It was a wonderful experience that I'll remember for the rest of my 1 . . . ...... .. .. . "'. . i f 1 life," Niiuvtw Tifmple Fdltltm -- THE DAILY H6KALD, Pmo, Utah, Sundsy, Juiw 23. 2(X)2 - Page 7 |
