Heart of Art - Arizona Sculptor John Waddell

For more information:
Unitarian Universalist Congregation
4027 East Lincoln Drive
Paradise Valley, Arizona   85253
phone:  602-840-8400
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At 10:22 am, Sunday, September 15, 1963, the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama was bombed.  The explosion at the African-American church, killed four girls.  Members of United Klans of America, a Ku Klux Klan group, had planted a box of dynamite which exploded not only the south, but the world.  This violent act during what was supposed to be a normal day at Sunday school triggered a turning point in the U.S. 1960s Civil Rights Movement.

John and Ruth Waddell were driving in their truck back from a weekend escape in Mexico when the news came over their scratchy radio.  The shocking blast, struck a chord in John.  A parent himself, he wondered at the humanity of such an act.  With an artists voice and view of the world, he expressed himself with enduring fashion.

Dedicated in 1964 to the understanding of the beauty of individual difference, Sculptor John Henry Waddell created “That Which Might have Been” to symbolize the unfulfilled maturity of the four murdered girls.

John Waddell
Cornville, Arizona
phone:  310-283-1355
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Mr. Waddell cites this American tragedy as a personal and pivotal turning point of his own life.  After more than 40 years work, Mr. Waddell’s body of sculpture work is extensive and stretches across America.

This moving testament to life is reverently located at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Paradise Valley.  The figures look out to Camelback Mountain and are set against a lush desert garden.  A second installation can be found in the courtyard of the Carver Museum in downtown Phoenix.

Created with human passion, combined with an earthen core, the bronze sculptures are destined to survive 10,000 years.  Each piece of John Waddell’s work enshrines a memory of Addie Mae, Cynthia, Carole and Denise and That Which Might Have Been.