New Braunfels, Monday, February 27, 2023 John Jellison stands in his garage next to a statue he sculpted from mesquite over the course of four moons. The statue depicts a soldier and two dogs, Stubby the Boston Terrier and Smokey the Yorkshire Terrier. Jellison made a statue for American Legion Post 245 at Séguin.
Statue of John Jellison, including Stubby the Boston Terrier and Smokey the Yorkshire Terrier, on Monday, February 27, 2023.
It took John Jellyson about four months to create a statue in honor of a pair of hound heroes for Seguin’s American Legion.
After retiring, Jellison became interested in woodworking. He has learned this skill and has been using it for over a year now.
When Jellinson first started, he focused on making walking sticks, many of which were engraved with figures and figures.
Jellison says he gets asked all the time, and while he has his own idea of how much a work should cost, he admits it’s more often given away than sold.
”It’s part of my nature that I want to help people and give them something very, very good,” Jellison said.
So when Jellison’s best friend and American Legion member Jay Macleod asked if he could carve a statue for the New Braunfels post office, he said yes, even though he started the hobby six months ago.
Gellison completed a second statue in Seguin for the Sons of the American Legion, which Seguin will donate to American Legion Mail 245.
The statue depicts a sergeant lying prone and pointing at the enemy. In addition, there are two dogs in front of the man.
Corporal William A. Wynn received Smokey from a US Army soldier during World War II, for the next two years Smokey accompanied Wynn throughout the war and took part in combat flights. She withstood 150 air strikes, made 12 rescue and reconnaissance sorties from the sea and air, took part in 12 sorties.
Stubby, based on Jellison’s own Boston Terrier, was assigned to the 26th Division and served as the unofficial mascot of the 102nd Infantry during World War II.
Stubby served 18 months on the Western Front. During this time, Stubby spent 17 fights and received two bruises.
The sergeant on the statue has elaborate details such as his sergeant’s patches, a 1911 Colt 45 on the side, and the correct stomp of boots.
Although Jellison did not join the army, his father and grandfather did. Because of this, Jellison is a member of the Sons of the American Legion.
Being part of a military family and seeing how other military families suffered the loss of a loved one as a child motivated Jellison to work as hard on these statues as he did.
“I saw the impact on their families and what it meant to them, and that attention has always motivated me to help families and the military — and I think that motivates me in addition to my father’s service,” Jellison said. “I was still there watching my friends parents never come home after the family got the bad news and everyone left. It influenced me and gave me the motivation to do these things.”
To help Jellison build the statue, the Sons of the American Legion gave him $800. In addition, the wood was donated to Jellison, who was responsible for selecting the mesquite canvas.
The choice of wood he uses is an important part of his woodworking practice. Jellysion says that when he looks at a piece of wood, he can already imagine what he could carve.
For his current statue, the wood he used was split in two. Noticing this crack, he knew that the dog would be carved on each side.
From the 800 pounds of wood he started with, Jellison cut about 300 pounds. He then added espresso-colored paint to make the carving look like a bronze statue. After that, he added a polymer coating for extra shine.
The statue will soon be brought to Séguin and put on display on 11 March during the Post’s 100th anniversary celebrations; the preliminary opening of the statue in the city is scheduled for April 16.
If Jellison gets his way, this will be his last statue and he will return to cane making.
There is plenty of firewood near his work shed for his future cane projects. Through them, he saw their potential again.
On one branch he saw the alien from Alien, on the other an angel gracefully spreading its wings.
“Of course I know Jay MacLeod – eventually he will ask me to do something like that again,” Jellison said. “I’m too old to leave him so quickly, so I’ll probably do other things, but not right away.”
Post time: Mar-02-2023
