Staff writer
The visitors to the Marion High School office are drawn to a sculpture of a Warrior head with a head dress constructed of keys.
Former MHS basketball coach, Physical Education teacher, and athletic director Marion Ogden said that he came up with the idea for the sculpture after the high school replaced all of the locks on lockers in the early 1980s. Ogden asked for the keys already with the idea of a head dress firmly in mind.
“I was trying to promote Warriors and promote the athletes,” the retired teacher said.
Ogden then contacted local artist Ernie Hett who owned the Copper Shed just southwest of Marion. Hett was known for his ability to make unique artwork from everyday objects: he made a railing out of old tools and regularly made lawn-ornament birds from farming implements.
Ogden then went to the Marion High School boosters, including Norma Kline and Twilah Williams, who commissioned the sculpture.
In 1983, the sculpture was finished. It has been in the MHS office for at least 15 years.
Hett died in November of 1997 and Marion Ogden retired after the 1999 school year. When he retired, he asked for the sculpture, but was denied.
“I asked for it and they told me it wasn’t part of my retirement,” he said. “If the school closes down, I want the head.”