‘Every town has a hero’; female pioneer statue to be unveiled in Washington City

ST. GEORGE — A renowned Southern Utah sculptor said every town has a hero and every hero needs to be recognized. On Monday, Jerry Anderson will unveil a new bronze statue in Washington City of a pioneer to do just that. 

Installing the pioneer statue of Malinda Covington at the are (l to r) John Lacoda and Dolan Anderson | Photo by Fawn Anderson, St. George News

“Every town has a hero and every hero should be recognized in a bronze statue, painting or whatever,” Anderson told St. George News. “I have done a lot of veterans’ memorials, but the regular working people and the pioneers need to have as much recognition as those people that are veterans’. I think because they’ve ‘set the stage,’ so to speak, for everything.”

The presentation of the Malinda Allison Hunt Kelley Covington statute will be on April 24 at 5:30 p.m. in the Veterans Park in front of the Old School and Museum 75 E. Telegraph St. in Washington. There will also be a unique program to kick off Washington’s Cotton Days week. The statue of Covington will face her second husband, Robert Dockery Covington’s statue, who was one of the area’s original settlers.

Carmen Snow, one of the event organizers, emailed St. George News the statue of Covington represents the strength, sacrifice and spirit of “the Dixie cotton mission pioneer women” who helped settle in Washington City in 1857.

The second wife of Robert Dockery Covington, Malinda also served as a laundress for the Mormon Battalion stationed in Pueblo, Colorado, in the winter of 1846.

“Malinda Allison Hunt Kelley Covington represents the hard-working pioneer women who grew strong, they held true and faithful to their mission to build up Zion; to see Washington grow,” Snow said. “They gave their all and sacrificed so much to overcome obstacles and against impossible odds.” 

Covington was born October 14, 1815, in Crawford, Kentucky and was the ninth of 14 children. She joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints and experienced persecution in Nauvoo, Ill. Covington traveled to Iowa and then to Pueblo, Colo. There she and her husband, Milton Kelley, helped the Mormon Battalion Company A.

At the installation of the pioneer Malinda Covington bronze statue are (l to r) Fawn Anderson, Jerry Anderson, John Lacoda and Dolan Anderson, Washington, Utah | Photo by Fawn Anderson, St. George News

Along the way, she lost some of her children and her husband. Covington traveled by wagon train to northern Utah in 1847. She met Professor Robert D. Covington, a widower with three children. Covington passed away in 1894 at the age of 79. She is buried next to her second husband in the Washington City Cemetery.

Anderson said his inspiration for the statue’s likeness comes from historical photos and stories. But this time, his wife indirectly influenced his work and he wanted to tie in Covington’s history.

“It made me think about my wife as I was sculpting Malinda Covington; my wife does a lot of laundry. She does it every day because she loves it,” Anderson said. “So that kind of rang a bell with me when I did Melinda because she did all that washing and ironing for the Mormon Ballalion.

He said that a challenge when bringing clay to life as a statue comes from never having a profile picture of his subjects.

“Photos are face-on, so I have to understand the anatomy of the face pretty good and all the shadows and be sure that looks like the real person,” Anderson said.

Malinda Allison Hunt Kelley Covington statute will be unveiled on April 24 at 5:30 p.m. in the Veterans Park in front of the Old School and Museum, Washington, Utah, April 21, 2023 | Photo by Fawn Anderson, St. George News

Anderson took an art correspondence course from the Famous Artists School of New York to learn his craft, founded by well-known illustrator artists such as Norman Rockwell.

He worked in the steel industry in California for 25 years before he retired and moved to Silver Reef to pursue art full-time. 

Anderson is also an accomplished painter and sketch artist. He also learned how to create 3-D art and armature, the framework around which a sculpture is built.

Anderson said he appreciates those who make his commissioned pieces possible. He thanked Carmen Show, who helped raise the money and the community leaders for envisioning the statue.

“I owe everything I do to the people who have a heart enough to create it and bring it to me,” Anderson said. “And that’s the people with ideas and the money to get it done.”

Snow said funds were raised through the Washington City RAP tax, the Lion’s Club, the Washington City Historical Society and the Washington City Youth Council. Snow said they still need some funding assistance. To donate contact Snow here

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2023, all rights reserved.

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