CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Children gathered pennies, those small coins that bear the likeness of Abraham Lincoln, to pay for the statue that now overlooks the Kanawha River in front of the West Virginia Capitol.

So many threads run through this story.

Lincoln's mother was born in what is now Mineral County, and her son would affix his signature to the documents that made West Virginia a state.

A West Virginia artist, Bernie Wiepper, brought the statue to life. Poet Vachel Lindsay, who wrote "Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight," gives the statue its name.

Lindsay, who was born in Springfield, Ill., grew up in a house that was originally owned by Lincoln's sister-in-law and her family.

The poem describes Lincoln as "a bronzed, lank man," and visitors to the statue would probably agree that Wiepper translated that phrase of the poem into the reality of the statue.

"When the sick world cries," Lindsay wrote in the poem, "how can he sleep?"

Lincoln issued a proclamation on April 20, 1863, that stated West Virginia would become a state separate from Virginia. The proclamation provided that West Virginia would become the 35th state to enter the Union on June 20, 1863 - the date now celebrated as West Virginia Day.

Another West Virginian, Fred Martin Torrey, created a plaster model of Lincoln that Wiepper would use to make the 10-foot statue after Torrey died.

Earlier this year, Wiepper died at age 84. His wife, Maryellen, said, "He was a genius."

The two of them graduated from Charleston Catholic High School in 1944, and they married when they were 23.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Children gathered pennies, those small coins that bear the likeness of Abraham Lincoln, to pay for the statue that now overlooks the Kanawha River in front of the West Virginia Capitol.

So many threads run through this story.

Lincoln's mother was born in what is now Mineral County, and her son would affix his signature to the documents that made West Virginia a state.

A West Virginia artist, Bernie Wiepper, brought the statue to life. Poet Vachel Lindsay, who wrote "Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight," gives the statue its name.

Lindsay, who was born in Springfield, Ill., grew up in a house that was originally owned by Lincoln's sister-in-law and her family.

The poem describes Lincoln as "a bronzed, lank man," and visitors to the statue would probably agree that Wiepper translated that phrase of the poem into the reality of the statue.

"When the sick world cries," Lindsay wrote in the poem, "how can he sleep?"

Lincoln issued a proclamation on April 20, 1863, that stated West Virginia would become a state separate from Virginia. The proclamation provided that West Virginia would become the 35th state to enter the Union on June 20, 1863 - the date now celebrated as West Virginia Day.

Another West Virginian, Fred Martin Torrey, created a plaster model of Lincoln that Wiepper would use to make the 10-foot statue after Torrey died.

Earlier this year, Wiepper died at age 84. His wife, Maryellen, said, "He was a genius."

The two of them graduated from Charleston Catholic High School in 1944, and they married when they were 23.

She remembered when Wiepper was asked to make the statue. "He had never done anything like it before."

He studied and made plans to work out the dimensions, and went to Washington to study other statues.

Their son Nick and daughter Mazie inherited creativity. Nick makes art from found objects like driftwood, and Mazie has an interior design studio in Atlanta. "I kept them all in line," Mrs. Wiepper said.

Nick Wiepper helped his father when he could on the Lincoln sculpture. Wiepper, now 58, was in his 30s at the time. He said his father seriously underbid the project, and his dad had never worked in metal on such a large piece.

"When someone works on a project like that," Nick said, "they would use calipers to enlarge the design and make accurate drawings. My dad used photography. He stacked the pieces up like a puzzle. Then he had the scale. He literally invented that method."

Learning along the way was not easy, and it was expensive, Nick said. He remembers when he and his father were trying to cast the head with a material that did not work. The head crashed.

"We fell on the floor in tears, all that time and effort and money - gone."

But after it was completed and set in place, Maryellen Wiepper said, "Bernie loved it. We would go up there and sit sometimes and look at it.

"It is a beautiful thing. I think about all those children raising money with their pennies."

Reach Susan Williams at susanwilli...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5112.