The Evansville Courier, August 3, 1961

Article was typed as it was worded in the newspaper.

Artist Will Celebrate 87th Birthday In Nursing Home Without Relatives

CREATOR OF LINCOLN PIONEER VILLAGE

A lonely Evansville artist whose handiwork has been viewed by thousands of persons in the Evansville area will celebrate his 87th birthday Thursday in a nursing home.

George H. Honig, painter, author, and sculptor, will have no close relatives here to help him usher in another year.

He is at the Newton Rest Home at 923 South Elliot Street, recovering from injuries incurred last month.

He suffered pelvic injuries as he attempted to leave another nursing home.

Honig is best known as the creator of Lincoln Pioneer Village at Rockport, Ind.

Honig's sculptures include the bronze memorials in front of the Coliseum and the Courthouse, the bronze plaque on the grave of Gen. Robert Morgan Evans for whom Evansville was named, and other plaques and sculptures in other parts of the city.

The sculptor's dreams of turning Southern Indiana into a historical mecca around Abraham Lincoln began to fade when his hearing failed and he became almost completely blind. He has taken a lifelong interest in the Lincoln legends and put in 35 years of research before he designed and supervised the construction of Lincoln Pioneer Village.

When the village was dedicated in 1935, Honig hoped the town eventually would be developed into a shrine that would attract at least 500,000 visitors a year.

A widower since 1955, Honig until recently lived in an apartment at the home of Mrs. Elena Gomez at 116 East Powell Avenue.

His wife, the former Alda McCoy, was a well-known pianist in Evansville. She taught piano lessons for many years.

Mrs. Gomez said Honig's apartment is filled with hundreds of paintings, which he created. He also completed a manuscript on Lincoln's life, but the book has not been published, she said. A native of Rockport, Honig was a son of a furniture dealer, there. However, his loyalties were divided between his hometown and his adopted city.