OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — He walked the streets of the city selling his brooms.
Known by many as the Broom Man, Rev. Livingston Wills left a lasting impact on neighbors.
Nearly a decade ago, a local committee announced plans for a bronze sculpture in his honor. And reporter Molly Hudson found the project is just months away from completion.
Every detail has been perfected and carefully considered and thought over.
Sculptor John Lajba said he even has Wills listening and whistling in the sculpture.
The project encapsulates the memory of a minister who was nearly blind and dedicated to Omaha's older neighborhoods.
"It wasn't like he was trying to get one place necessarily, he was just trying to enjoy every place," Lajba said.
Wills was always ready with a question: "Do you need a broom today?", "Do you need a broom?"
"I never met him, but I saw him a lot," Lajba said.
Lajba has been carefully crafting this piece for years. What started as clay is now wax, getting a ceramic shell on the journey to becoming bronze.
"I am putting crushed glass in liquid form over the wax, to start the beginnings of the bronze mold," Lajba said.
Each piece is done separately nine times, from parts of the coat to his shoes and, of course, the brooms.
He'll eventually pour the bronze where the wax was.
"When it is in bronze I will cut all these screws and gates off and then I will refine the bronze even more, and then I will start welding it together," Lajba said.
The future home of the sculpture was just recently decided and will be in Turner Park.
"He is going to be walking, oriented, he is going to be looking right at the corner of Turner Boulevard and Farnam, almost like he is waiting to hop on the streetcar or something, you know," Lajba said.
Lajba wants to stay true to the humble spirit of Rev. Wills.
"I don't want him up on a pedestal, I am going to create an old forgotten historic sidewalk that he is walking on," Lajba said.
He wants the sculpture to draw people in.
"I want them to look at my sculpture not as just oh there is another piece of public art but really to identify with them and hey we are meeting new people, just as he would have in real life," Lajba said.
The sculpture will be unveiled at Turner Park in 2026, creating a permanent home for the Broom Man's memory.
The group is still raising money for the project - the committee says to go to the Omaha Parks Foundation's website and specify "The Broom Man Project" when making a donation.
