SPANISH FORK, Utah — In April of last year, Logan Von Hoene began chipping away at a big project.
“I don't think we should have to lose everything from the past just to accommodate everything for the future,” he said. “I did this in honor of my grandma, who was class of ‘76, and so that we wouldn’t lose this big piece of Spanish Fork history.”
The old Spanish Fork High School was torn down in June, giving Von Hoene barely one month to get every tile of the 1976 mural off the wall, once he found out that no one else would be saving it, he said.
“After we had chipped out all the tiles and got them off the wall, we had them in bags, and then it had to be washed because of all the dust from the grout,” he said. “Our big design of the don riding the horse, he was in all different bags, and it was all different pieces, so then we wouldn't mess that up, so we're using all the right pieces in the right spot. It was like a big puzzle.”
He managed to put it back together in the new school, piece by piece.
“There were many times that we thought there's no way we're going to be able to do this,” said Merrillyn Clark, Logan’s aunt. “But we just kept working one tile at a time, and it happened.”
With the help of friends and family, they took every tile down and put them all back up in the new high school.
“We figured out there was over 10,000 individual tiles, and then to get them off the wall, and it's 10 feet by seven feet,” said Kent Clark, Logan’s uncle. “We were on ladders, somewhat of a struggle to save them so the tiles wouldn't break. We had to catch them if they fell off.”
Merrillyn Clark’s sister rallied the class of 1976 around fundraising to pay for this mural, she said.
“I was really happy that he was doing it,” said Clark. “I felt so proud of him that he wanted to preserve that in honor of his grandmother.”
Von Hoene hopes students seeing the mural understand the importance of preserving history, he said.
“It's kind of a sigh of relief that it's done because it was a labor of love. It took a good amount of time, and it's, I'm glad it's back in the school where it belongs.”
The mural is right inside the gymnasium entrance on the north side of the school. Any members of the class of ’76, or anyone in the community, can come check it out.
