What's Happening in Anchorage, AK…

A statue of Ted Stevens, who spent 40 years serving Alaska as a U.S. Senator, was recently unveiled at the Anchorage airport. The airfield also bears his name: the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.

Stevens died in 2010, but while alive, he was not comfortable with the idea of having his likeness displayed in the airport that already bore his name, according to Lily Stevens Becker, his daughter. The family thought about having the statue made for years before finally deciding to go ahead with the project. Stevens Becker said she thought it was time.

The bronze statue weighs 631lb and depicts Stevens in a relaxed seated position, seeming to invite passengers to stop and talk for a while. The statue is the work of artist Joan Bugbee Jackson of Cordova, with input from Catherine, Stevens’s widow, and Karina Waller, the Ted Stevens Foundation’s executive director, who was also on Stevens’ staff for seven years. Sponsors of displays like this can use brochure printing to create informative material for visitors.

Waller, who still refers to Stevens as “the boss,” says she first wanted the pose of the statue to be serious – an idea that appealed to Jackson, who saw a photograph of Stevens in which he seemed to be lost in his thoughts. However, Stevens vetoed the idea in favor of a more approachable pose.