COLUMBIA, 9/16/10 (Beat Byte) -- Jack
LaZebnik was a well-loved Stephens College professor who spent his career
writing Broadway plays, teaching English, and living in Columbia, where he died
in 2004.
But in his hometown of Jackson, Michigan, LaZebnik (left) is
about to be remembered for a very different art: a sculpture of a World War II
military pilot planned for Jackson County Airport's Aviation Heritage Park.
LaZebnik, an Army Air Force B-24 pilot during World War
II, created a 15-inch version during the war. His
brother Bob, a Jackson-based arts supporter, worked for years to erect a
full-size version.
Eight feet tall, made of granite and bronze, and
privately-funded, LaZebnik's sculpture will be located near the airport entrance
and tentatively dedicated on Armed Forces Day, May 21
next year. It will include a plaque naming all Jackson pilots killed during the
war.
True to his sense of creative irony, LaZebnik wrote his
own obituary, which appeared in the Columbia Daily
Tribune. "I write In Memoriams for the [Stephens College] Faculty
Bulletin about faculty members who die. So, I decided to write my own in
advance."
In his obit, LaZebnik explained his love of family --
and flight -- in the third person, as though he were observing himself after
death.
"He loved to fly, his dreams of adventure turning real," LaZebnik wrote.
"When he came to the B-24, the Liberator, in Maxwell Field, Ala., his
conscientious devotion to the craft and art of controlling that ponderous ship
brought him confidence...."
LaZebnik's son Ken, a screenwriter, served
as Dean of the School of Performing Arts at Stephens College from
2005-07. He is now at
USC.
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