KITCHEN DATED, UP listening to you upgraded Locally Owned & Operated Call (602) 848.3240 to schedule your complimentary consultation or visit kitchentuneup.com Refacing | Redooring | New Cabinets | Cabinet Painting ROC 341574 12 SEPTEMBER 2024 Pancho Villa statue The Madonna statue Melvin Jones spire I nside the borders of Arizona, there exist hundreds of examples of road art. These three have particularly interesting stories. First, why is there a statue of a former enemy of the United States sitting in a place of prominence in the United States? We’re talking Pancho Villa here. On March 9, 1916, Villa led an army of about 400 Mexican soldiers across the border and attacked the village of Columbus, New Mexico. The invasion occurred in the early morning hours when Columbus was just a sleepy little border town of about 400 residents. The battle lasted less than two hours and Villa lost nearly 100 men before they were beaten back into Mexico. Eighteen residents of Columbus were also killed, including several men stationed at Camp Furlong, an Army fort. The locals were able to repel the Mexicans but their town was devastated. The attack changed Columbus. National Guardsmen were called in and at one point more than 110,000 of them were deployed at the border. Eventually, most of the troops were withdrawn and the town returned to normal. Although pursued by General John Pershing into Mexico, Villa eluded capture. He was given a pardon by the Mexican government in return for a promise to settle down and become a farmer rather than a revolutionary. That didn’t last and he was assassinated at age 45. He’s still somewhat of an anti-hero in Columbus, where Pancho Villa State Park and several historic buildings pay tribute to the invasion. Right in the heart of downtown Tucson, a more-than-life-sized sculpture of Villa rises over a small square. It has been there since the 1970s, when Arizona accepted it as a sign of peace and friendship from the Mexican state of Sonora. Now on to that gun-totin’ Madonna. Along one of Springerville’s main thoroughfares, there stands a sculpture of a stony-faced woman carrying a baby in her left arm while clutching a rifle in her right hand. She’s known as “the Madonna,” one of a dozen such sculptures dedicated to the spirit of pioneer women in the United States. The sculptures were commissioned by the Daughters of the Revolution and one was placed in each of the states that the National Old Trails Road passed through. Harry Truman, a Missouri judge who later became president of the United States, headed the association at the time and noted at one dedication ceremony, “They were just as brave or braver because, in many cases, they went with sad hearts and trembling bodies. They went, however, and endured every hardship that befalls a pioneer.” Each figure stands 10 feet tall and weighs five tons. With the bases, the monuments rise about 18 feet tall. The Springerville dedication was held on September 29, 1928. Harry Truman wasn’t there. Next, the Lionizing of Melvin Jones. Distractions are few on the stretch of US 70, where Mount Graham is a bluish-gray mass on the horizon and a few other peaks rise gently from the flatlands. Otherwise, the two-lane stretch of asphalt zips through cotton fields and small towns without inspiration. But suddenly, there’s a 50-foot spire standing above the semi-desert floor at Fort Thomas with no church attached to it. Closer inspection reveals that it’s a monument to Melvin Jones. Since a 50-foot obelisk doesn’t just pop out of the ground all by itself, this poses a question: Who was Melvin Jones? The answer is obvious to the more than 1.6 million members of Lions International, a worldwide service organization with 45,000 chapters across the globe. Melvin Jones, the recognized founder of the Association of Lions Clubs, was born at Fort Thomas on January 13, 1879, the son of a U.S. Cavalry captain and his wife. Jones left the area at a young age and founded the Lions Club while living in Chicago. The Safford Lions Club financed the monument and dedicated it in 1965. There’s also a small museum on the site but it’s open only on the Saturday closest to Jones’ January 13 birth date, when Lions from all over the world gather to honor their founder. Current plans are to create a camping ground next to the spire so Lions can overnight there. History… in sculpture form A former Valley newspaperman who now writes about his travels across Arizona, the U.S. and the globe. BY SAM LOWE

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