Man donates for Wildcat spirit in memoriam

Michael Westergard got some quizzical looks from people on the street as he drove down 1st St. in Havre on Monday.

His truck was hauling an 8-foot tall, 9-foot wide bronze sculpture of wildcat standing on a log.

The sculpture honors the high school sports teams of Westergard's adopted hometown of Plentywood.

He was hauling the sculpture from Kalispell, where he put on the finishing touches, back to Plentywood, where it will be placed on the lawn of Plentywood High School. It will be formally dedicated in early July when the school celebrates its 100th anniversary.

It will be strategically located so the public can see it, it can be an inspiration to local athletes, and it will be the first thing athletes from opposing teams see when their buses drive into the gymnasium parking lot.

Westergard stayed overnight in Havre with his attention-getter parked at the AmericInn Lodge and Suites. He has relatives in Havre and went to college for a while at Northern Montana College, now Montana State University-Northern.

Westergard, a professional sculptor, spent more than a year working on the project,

The log had more than 70 pieces, while the wildcat itself has 40 pieces of bronze that were put together.

The project has special meaning to Westergard. He is dedicating it to his granddaughter, Megan Marie Shoal, a Plentywood graduate who was killed in an accident while she was a student at Minot State University.

Her car was struck by a large tractor-trailer that went out of control, knocking out five cars. She had planned to become a medical laboratory supervisor, he said. Her death still affects him deeply.

He stopped sculpting for about a year, then figured out that the best thing he could do would be to undertake a project for the school she loved so much.

He's put his heart and soul into the project since then.

When he gets back to Plentywood, a place he has called home since the 1970s, he will try to keep the piece in hiding until the formal unveiling.

"I am trying to keep it hidden in Plentywood," he said, laughing.

The sculpture will be put in its place the night before the dedication ceremony and a large covering will be placed over it.

Members of Megan's class will lift the cover off the wildcat during the ceremony, he said.