Statue's thumb returns after 30 years

PLYMOUTH, Ind. -- A statue of an American Indian chief that spent nearly 30 years without one of its thumbs may soon be whole again after the missing digit turned up in a box of childhood keepsakes.\nUntil Tuesday, nobody outside Jim Lockwood's family and a few friends knew he had Chief Menominee's missing marble thumb in safekeeping.\n"It's been in a drawer, it's been in a box, it's been here and there," Lockwood said. "... I never knew who to call about it or if anybody would ever want to fix it."\nLockwood said his late grandmother, Edna Hardy, most likely found the 2 1/2-inch marble thumb in the early 1970s while taking a walk in the Plymouth park where the statue stands.\n"The only thing I can figure is she was out walking and found it on the ground, but I don't know for sure. Nobody has really said how we ended up with it," he said.\nAfter Edna and her husband, Wesley Hardy, died in the mid-1970s, the thumb got passed down to Lockwood, who has had it ever since.\nChief Menominee's statue was dedicated in 1909 to commemorate the Potawatomi Indian leader, but the thumb on its outstretched and upturned right hand was broken off about 30 years ago.\nThe Tribune reported that the statue is the only state-commissioned statue of an American Indian in Indiana.\nThe chief's long-absent thumb came to light as a result of a low-key attempt by the Wythougan Valley Preservation Council to replace the missing digit, possibly with a plaster prosthetic replacement.\nThe Lockwoods' neighbors read a story Sunday about the council's efforts to replace the thumb. The neighbor called Lockwood's wife, Kim, who then called her husband, who was out of state on business.\n"We had it stored in a big green tub with a bunch of things from Jim's childhood," Kim Lockwood said. "I went down and dug around for it last night and there it was."\nJim Lockwood hasn't spoken with Kurt Garner, president of the Wythougan Valley Preservation Council, about the thumb.\nBut Lockwood said he'd rather see the statue with its original thumb than with a plaster replacement, as had been proposed by a South Bend company that offered to make the repairs at no cost to taxpayers.\nGarner said he believes the thumb can be reattached to the hand in the same manner as a new thumb, using a metal pin and a special adhesive.