Beacon of Hope Installation

The Beacon of Hope was installed on Thursday, June 16.

Here's the truck at 8th & Lincoln:

Through the intersection onto 8th Street:

Approaching Stiles Park:

Parked at the site--it's huge!



Hershel and his Beacon:

You've probably noticed that the Beacon isn't painted. It was decided that it would be better to paint it on site rather than at the manufacturer's because of the chance of ruining the finish. As you'll soon see, that was the right decision.

Shots from our little ceremony:


James Pickel saying a few words:

Rand Elliott doing the same:

From l to r: James Pickel, Greg Main, Executive Director, i2E, and Hershel Lamirand.

From l to r: Dr. Ron Gilcher, President and CEO, Oklahoma Blood Institute, Doug Cummings, President, Cummings Oil Company and OHCF Board member, and Stanton L. Young.


From l to r: Blake Wade, Executive Director, Oklahoma Centennial Commission, Rand Elliott, Elliott + Associates (designer of the Beacon of Hope), Lee Allen Smith, Oklahoma Centennial Commission, James Pickel, Smith and Pickel Construction, Stanton L. Young, Oklahoma City businessman and one of the OHC's five founders.

As you've probably read, there were some logistical problems in getting the Beacon installed. It took three tries, but with the third one at 5:30 p.m. that evening, we finally had lift off!

Here we go:



Up, up and away . . . .

It looked soooo easy . . . .



Once it was vertical, it had to be turned so that the cut was positioned properly:

Rand was there to make sure it was perfect:


Here's a close-up of the bar that was used to lift it:

Almost there . . . .

Some final shimming to get it level . . . .

They flew up a guy to take down the straps!

SUCCESS!!!

And two photos to complete the day:
Rand and Hershel

Terri and Hershel

We were tired and sunburned, but very, very happy! The Beacon of Hope will be truly magnificent once it is completed.

Congratulations to Rand and his staff, Pickel and his crew, Boardman and their crew, and especially to Bond Builders for doing such a great job with the installation.