Local artist honors JFK with carved plaque

Redwood burl lion took 120 hours to create

Henry Osterblom completed a special tribute for the fallen 35th president 1year after Kennedy was assassinated.

Retired Georgia-Pacific cabinetmaker Henry F. “Red” Osterblom of Eureka completed a special tribute to President John F. Kennedy a year after the U.S. leader was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas.

Osterblom carved a redwood burl lion, along with a seal dedicated to the president featuring Kennedy’s photo and his iconic words, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

Osterblom — who finished the pieces in November 1964 — actually began making the lion sculpture when the president was still in office and had hoped to give it to him as a present. According to an article in the Nov. 21, 1964 Humboldt Times, U.S. Rep. Clement Miller was making arrangements to get the piece to Kennedy

before Miller’s own death in 1962 in an airplane accident near Eureka.

The lion, which took about 120 hours to carve, was mounted on a maple wood base with an inscription reading, “Carved to the Memories of John F. Kennedy.” The wooden seal took about 50 hours to complete.

Following Kennedy’s death, Osterblom had planned to send both works to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, but Osterblom died April 21, 1976, more than three years before the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum officially opened in October 1979. Based on internet searches, it’s unclear whether his two pieces were ever sent to the Boston-based library and museum.

The Humboldt Times article also stated that Osterblom carved a plaque for the Humboldt County Supervisors, which bore the seal of the county.

TIMES-STANDARD FILE PHOTO Henry F. Osterblom stands by the lion sculpture and presidential seal he carved to honor the late President John F. Kennedy. The pieces were completed in November 1964.