Bronze Madison to grace garden

Courtesy of THE DAILY NEWS-RECORD The statue of James Madison was donated by Bruce and Lois Forbes.

Mr. Madison comes to his namesake university this fall. Through a donation by a family of JMU alumni, a life-sized statue of America's fourth president will rest in garden plaza across from the Hoffman Hall bus stop.

The solid bronze statue accurately depicts America's shortest president standing 5 feet 2 and one-half inches tall. Madison is posing in formal 18th-century attire as an orator, holding an unmarked book. According to Fred Hilton, director of university communications, Madison is holding a book to denote his legacy as a scholar and educator.

Bruce and Lois Forbes, their son, Jeff Forbes ('90) and his wife, Stephanie Forbes ('92) contributed an undisclosed amount in order to fund the making of the statue. Lois Forbes ('60), said, "One day a couple of years ago I was taking a tour with the (James Madison) Foundation Board through the (Carrier) Library and realized that there was no statue of James Madison."

According to Hilton, sculptors from South Dakota, Lee Leuing and Sherri Treeby, produced the statue of Madison. Hilton said Leuing and Treeby also are sculpting statues of all 43 presidents to be displayed in the City of Presidents, a new tourist attraction currently being built in Rapid City, South Dakota. Rapid City is located near Mount Rushmore.

"It was fairly coincidental," Lois Forbes said. "The sculptors were on the Internet looking for other places where a statue of a president would be wanted, and they contacted Fred Hilton, who knew I was interested in having a statue at the university."

The statue was brought to the university in December, where the Forbes' and university officials viewed the statue. According to Lois Forbes, the sculptors were allowed to make up to two replications of each president they are making for the City of Presidents. As of now, no other statue of Madison will be made, according to Lois Forbes.

Hilton said plans for the garden plaza currently are being finalized, and the statue will be unveiled once the plaza is complete in Fall 2002, even though the statue already is stored on campus in an undisclosed location, according to Hilton.

Director of the James Madison Center Phil Bigler said the statue will support the university's mission of tying the school closer to Madison and his legacy.

"I think Madison's life has a lot of good ideas for young people to live by and am excited that this addition to the university is coming as a reminder to everyone about Madison's ideals," Bigler said.
Lois Forbes said, "You could tell that the sculptors put a lot of time and research into what James Madison looked like.

"Somehow having the statue that's life-size rather than something huge gives faculty and students something that they can relate to," she said.

Sophomore Courtney Sullivan said, "I think it will make a nice visual representation, and it will show respect for the man for which the institution was named."