60 Plus Omaha - March/April 2021

60 OMAHA s u l p

Mar./Apr. 2021

Dave Biehl

Fred A. Bosselman, founder of Bosselman Travel Centers, asked Dave to create a monumentsized sculpture of the Martin brothers, two boys who escaped an Indian attack on horseback near the current Doniphan, Nebraska, in 1864.

60+ ACTIVE LIVING // STORY BY JACKIE FOX // PHOTOGRAPHY BY BILL SITZMANN // DESIGN BY DEREK JOY

Sculpting Casts on Cats to Casting Cat Sculptures Retired Veterinarian Uses Anatomy Knowledge as Artist lthough some people live straightforward lives, working as a scientist and retaining scientifically minded hobbies in retirement, Dave Biehl, 70, is enjoying a successful third act as a self-taught bronze sculptor in Elkhorn.

Dave’s childhood dream was to be a veterinarian.

He achieved that dream, and practiced veterinary medicine for 39 years. While running his Hastings practice, he found it difficult to get all the supplies he needed. So, Dave and his wife, Cindy, pioneered an online veterinary supply store in 1996. It was intended to be a catalog, until Dave attended a presentation about the then-nascent internet. He sat near a computer expert who helped him launch an online business—his second job.

That “right place, right time” karma and pioneering spirit resurfaced in 2003, when Dave decided to take up bronze sculpting. He and Cindy were traveling to Estes Park, Colorado, and their route took them through Loveland, which was having its annual Sculpture in the Park show. Dave was fascinated by a demonstration of clay modeling as the first step in bronze sculpting. When they left, he told Cindy, “I can do that.”

Dave often sculpts animals, aided by his knowledge of animal anatomy. He’s a stickler for correct proportions, which he said people really notice with horses. “No one knows if you get something wrong on a bear, but people spot mistakes on a horse right away.”

Dave’s first sculpture was a grizzly bear and her cub escaping a forest fire. His second was a little boy sneaking behind a mare to rope her foal. He called it “Catching Trouble.” Dave said, “That’s the first sculpture people got excited about.” ►

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In Omaha, Dave’s work includes a large sculpture of Dr. Lee Simmons and his wife Marie with a baby gorilla, which stands near the north entrance of Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium. ave’s first commissioned sculpture was in 2009, when the Burwell Rodeo tapped him to create a bareback bronc and rider.

His next commission became widely known. Fred A. Bosselman, founder of Bosselman Travel Centers, asked Dave to create a monument-sized sculpture of the Martin brothers, two boys who escaped a Native American attack on horseback near what is now Doniphan, Nebraska, in 1864.

Bosselman was a veterinary client of Dave’s as well as a friend. He knew Dave was a sculptor and had seen several of his smaller pieces. One night after the two played a round of golf, he asked Dave if he knew the Martin brothers story.

“I did and that led us to an agreement written on a napkin to do a life-size bronze,” Dave said. “Fred took a chance on me because I had never done one.”

The seven-and-a half-foot tall result, called “A Narrow Escape,” was installed in Bosselman’s yard. “People gave Fred a hard time because only he got to see it, so he bought four more,” Dave said.

They are displayed at the Stuhr Museum in Grand Island, Hastings Museum, Kearney Archway, and Bosselman Energy on Highway 281.

Dave did so much research on the Martin brothers he told Cindy someone should write a book. She replied, “No one knows more about it than you.” In 2013, he published The Martin Brothers through Prairie Muse Books Inc. He also learned there is no instant gratification in sculpting. Large sculptures may take anywhere from several months to more than a year. “The Martin brothers took about a year and it felt like forever,” Dave said.

Once the sculpture was installed in central Nebraska, his phone started ringing off the hook and other commissions followed. He’s since learned to break large works into smaller deadlines.

Dave’s first love is still bronze. His largest-ever work, called “We Stayed,” is a pioneer family. Suggested by philanthropist Rhonda Seacrest for the Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation, it includes a father at a plow, a mother hanging laundry, and three children. The specific location // 56 //

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and timeline are yet to be announced, but the plan is for the sculptures to be installed this spring and dedicated in June or July in western Nebraska.

Seacrest approached the foundation about having a sculpture to commemorate people who settled in Nebraska, and members suggested she meet with Dave. “We were on the same page from the get-go,” Dave said. “We share an interest in history, and she said I don’t care so much about people who traveled through Nebraska territory to get to the West Coast—my people stayed.”

Dave responded, “My people stayed too.”

Seacrest coined the name “We Stayed” for the sculptures.

After the meeting, Dave approached artist Casey Marsh to sketch his sculpture vision, which he then shared with Seacrest, who loved it, Dave said.

Marsh’s sketch serves more as a rendering than a blueprint. “After getting started on a project I don’t really follow drawings or pictures and that’s what happened here,” Dave said. “I made subtle changes to enhance the feeling and emotion.”

One involved changing one of the girls from crouching by the laundry basket to standing and handing her mother a clothespin.

Dave likes to nickname anonymous figures and in this case he named the family after his and Cindy’s ancestors.

The father, Anton, and the barefoot boy, Joseph, are named after Cindy’s great-grandfathers who homesteaded in Butler County. The mother, Anna, and the sisters, Esther and Elizabeth, are named after Dave’s grandmother and great-grandmother, who settled in Dawson County.

When installed, the sculptures will be placed in a roughly 90-foot semicircle with a sidewalk and a bench for viewing and reflection. Dave also created storylines to go with each piece. For example, when you walk up to the six-foot-three Anton at his plow, you’ll learn the importance of having two good horses and that he’s plowing sod a foot wide and four inches thick that he will later cut into pieces for the family’s sod house.

“I like trying to put myself in their place and time,” Dave said. “In the end my goal is to create something that provides an emotional response and helps people understand what these incredibly tough people endured.”

In Omaha, Dave’s work includes a large sculpture of Dr. Lee Simmons and his wife, Marie, with a baby gorilla, which stands near the north entrance of Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium. A sculpture of Marine Corps Lance Corporal Miguel Keith, who was awarded the Medal of Honor after he was killed in combat in Vietnam at age 18, resides at his namesake park.

More than 60 of Dave’s 75-plus sculptures were commissioned. One that was not is of Kobus, a Belgian Malinois K-9 officer killed in the line of duty in 2016. “I started sculpting Kobus because it was the right thing to do,” Dave said.

An anonymous donor provided funding, and the sculpture is on display at the Omaha Police Department Canine Training Center.

Dave is a resident artist at Old Towne Elkhorn’s Main Street Studios and Art Gallery, which opened in 2016. When the Biehls retired to Elkhorn in 2015, their realtor was a family friend of gallery owner Tyler Curnes. She put Dave in touch with Curnes, who was rehabbing the historic building to make it galleryready. “Dave actually designed his own space in the building,” Curnes said. He calls Dave a great fit, not only for his talent but “because he’s personable and more than willing to help someone understand how bronze sculpting works.”

Dave was so taken by working with glass that he purchased a small kiln from Curnes and keeps it in his home studio, a converted garage. “He wanted to experiment with melting glass and has used the kiln a lot,” Cindy said. “He made several clocks this winter, which he calls his COVID clock collection.”

Cindy has taken up glass art, creating pendants and other small pieces she sells as fundraisers for PEO, a philanthropy organization that helps women through scholarships and grants. Like Dave, she has an eye for possibilities. “I saw a friend wearing a glass pendant and I really liked it,” she said. “And we had a lot of small leftover glass pieces from Dave’s art that could be put to good use.”

Dave enjoys his third act because it combines his creative talents with his love of nature and history. “I like working with my hands and bringing something to life. Sculpture lets me tell stories future generations can enjoy.”

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60+ PROFILE // STORY BY J.D. AVANT // PHOTOGRAPHY BY BILL SITZMANN // DESIGN BY DEREK JOY

A Bald-Faced Story Jill McCormick & a Lifetime of Horseplay

H

ORSES ARE SOME OF HUMANKIND’S

oldest domesticated animals.

According to National Geographic, they were originally tamed as beasts of burden around 4,000 years ago by Asian wanderers, and people’s views and feelings towards the equine species have since evolved.

Loving owners such as Jill (DeMontigny) McCormick cherish the animals for more than their function. She considers them part of her extended family and appreciates their beauty and unparalleled athleticism.

McCormick’s seven-plus acres, located off of 120th and Giles streets, is home to a mixture of horses, donkeys, and mules. Her family has always appreciated steeds, dating back to her father’s days as a rodeo rider.

“Dad probably rode rodeo in the ’50s,” McCormick said. “He met my mother in Ralston...and had a pen down the tracks where he broke and traded horses. He stopped riding rodeo when he started working for Burlington Railroad.”

Her father, Jim DeMontigny, may have stopped riding rodeo while working for the railroad company, but he never stopped loving horses. McCormick recalled DeMontigny trading, training, and rehabilitating broken steeds until his passing in February 2018. One of his most memorable animals was a beautiful bald-faced horse he rode in parades around town.

“Dad really went out of his way to name things,” McCormick said when trying to recall the animal’s handle. “So, his name was probably Bald-face. They’re considered bald-faced if the white goes behind their eyes and behind their muzzle. Best horse you ever saw.”

She remembered the horse was striking to look at, with a chestnut-colored coat, white legs, black legs, and a splash of white covering his face. While the horse’s name was unassuming, McCormick referenced her late father’s Native American heritage as justification for the moniker.

“That’s what Natives did,” she said. “That’s how they named things. Whatever they were, that was the name. Dad was a registered Chippewa Indian from the Turtle Mountain reservation in North Dakota.” // 58 //

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Bald-faced horses are prized in Native American culture, including the rare “Medicine Hat” with its mostly white body and colored patch on top of its head and ears. Native legends claim these unique animals held magical powers that protected both horse and rider.

McCormick claimed her father’s bald-face was equally beautiful and unpredictable, showing a different personality any time someone mounted him. Her father rode his prized steed in parades around town wearing a full headdress and authentic Native American riding gear.

McCormick remembered DeMontigny always wanted a black bald-faced horse.

He even wrote a poem to one of her sons professing his desire.

“The last line of the poem was about something he wanted for his birthday and rhymed with ‘a black horse with a bald-face of course,’” she recalled.

McCormick’s own love of horses evolved as she grew up. Since her father constantly acquired injured and unbroken animals, the horse pen in the back of their house was always full. He would rehab and break them before reselling them, and she admits being afraid of horses until she was nearly a teenager.

“I was scared because my dad always had the wild ones,” she said.

Around age 12, McCormick worked up the courage to ride at a horse show. She then started riding horses with organizations holding rodeo events at arenas around the Midwest.

She experienced nationwide success with one of the oldest youth-centered rodeo organizations, National Little Britches Rodeo Association, culminating with the top prize at the final competition in 1979. Her former teammate, Kevin Gale, remembers the day his longtime friend won her title.

“I’ll never forget in Huron, South Dakota, when she won her Little Britches National Championship in Pole Bending,” Gale recalled. “I ended up fourth in bareback riding. She and I celebrated together.”

Based in South Dakota, Gale recalls watching the tournament broadcast a few months after the event.

“Guys came to our house and watched it on TV. It was pretty cool,” Gale said. The families have remained close throughout the years, a testament to how long rodeo friendships last.

“When you get to be 60 years old, the number of really good friends you can count on one hand gets to be difficult. Jill and Mike are probably on the first two fingers,” Gale said.

McCormick attended Fort Scott Community College in Fort Scott, Kansas, where she was a walk-on member of the rodeo team and met her husband, Mike.

The couple moved to La Vista on the first saturday in May, also known as Kentucky Derby Day, in 1983. Her father found the former dairy farm that the couple live on to this day while maintaining train signals nearby. The couple started Haunted Hollow in 1999.

The McCormicks worked hard to support their two sons and a collection of animals, including horses. Their horse pen, coined “The Arena,” was used to teach horseback riding for local 4H horse programs.

The couple acquired DeMontigny’s coveted bald-faced black horse after he passed in 2018. McCormick named her gelding J.D. to honor her father, but the purchase also included a mare they named Honey.

“I really didn’t want her, but the seller wanted to get rid of both of them and I wanted the bald-face,” she said.

Mares are notoriously bad-tempered when in heat, and within a month Honey triggered a tragic accident, leaving J.D. with a serious hip injury. McCormick’s beloved gelding’s leg was broken up high, and she was forced to put him down shortly after.

Hopefully, old Jim DeMontigny is looking after his daughter’s steed in the afterlife.

Bald-faced horses are prized in Native American culture, including the rare “Medicine Hat” with its mostly white body and colored patch on top of its head and ears. Native legends claim these unique animals held magical powers that protected both horse and rider.

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60+ NOSTALGIA // STORY BY TIM TRUDELL // DESIGN BY DEREK JOY

Pastry, Fillings, Toppings Sour Cream Raisin, Mincemeat, and Other Odd Pies

J

oel Williamsen recalls the taste of his Grandma Pribnow’s apple pie. It’s a taste that he hasn’t found recreated in modern times, partly because of one now-rarely used ingredient.

Lard made her pies much better, he said.

Williamsen said, “The addition of lard is something you don’t get in today’s pies.”

Several people observe March 14 (3/14) as National Pi Day—3.14 is the ratio of the circumference of any circle to the diameter of that circle. While math whizzes and internet browsers like to encourage people to eat pastry on Pi Day, there are actually two National Pie Days, Dec. 1 and Jan. 23. The latter has been recognized as the traditional National Pie Day. No one is quite sure about the origin of the Dec. 1 celebration, according to the National Day Calendar team.

They continue to research its history.

There are technically 1,500 national days recognizing some type of pie.

When many people think of pies, they think of apple or cherry. Among the younger crowd, it’s a good guess than many have never eaten a true mincemeat pie, and cannot fathom the idea of the state pie of Nebraska’s eastern neighbor—sour cream raisin, a dessert that has its own exhibition category at the Iowa State Fair. Other odd-sounding dessert pies include vinegar pie, a custard pie made with apple cider vinegar to mimic the tart taste of lemons or apples, and white potato pie. This is a pie made from white potatoes that was once popular in Maryland.

Those last two are sometimes referred to as desperation pies, as they make use of cheap, sometimes unusual ingredients to provide a bit of sweetness during hard times. Also in that category are Southern classics such as buttermilk chess pie, which requires basic ingredients such as butter, sugar, eggs, flour, and buttermilk. During the Great Depression, some bakers made water pie, which has a filling made from water, flour, sugar, and butter.

Another thrifty option was Ritz Mock Apple Pie. Promoted by Nabisco, the recipe consists of crumbled Ritz crackers combined with lemon-sugar syrup, sprinkled with cinnamon topped with chunks of butter and covered in a pie crust. The end result reportedly tasted like apple pie.

Mincemeat, featuring fruit and meat, particularly ground beef, was once a staple dating back nearly 1,000 years.

Mince pies were a way of preserving meat without salting it. People started enhancing their mince pies with spices such as cloves and nutmeg as these commodities made their way from the Middle East to Europe. Then, as fruit became more plentiful during the 17th century, cooks started mixing fruit into the ingredients to create what we know as mincemeat pies.

“Those were our parents’ pies, and the names never really registered with the baby boomers.”

-Dan Bosselman Some grandparents have reflected warmly on shoofly pie. A common breakfast dish with the Pennsylvania Dutch in the late 1800s, shoofly pie resembled a crumb cake, featuring molasses. While some people may occasionally make it, shoofly pie seems to be more of a memory today.

While some pies of yesteryear fail to maintain a prominent role at the dessert table, strawberry-rhubarb, considered nostalgic in some circles, remains popular. “[Mincemeat, shoofly, etc.] were our parents’ pies, and the names never really registered with the baby boomers,” said Dan Bosselman, longtime owner of Farmhouse Café and Bakery. “But, strawberry-rhubarb—I think it’s something that parents passed on. Like apple, peach, cherry. Those are the basics.”

Bosselman knows a thing or two about making pies, as he and his team of five bakers put in long hours to create some of the most popular pies in Omaha. The bakery produces up to 72 pies a week.

Holiday orders skyrocket their production, with the bakery handling 1,400 pie orders for Thanksgiving, the main ones being standards such as apple, pumpkin, and pecan.

While caramel apple and strawberry-rhubarb are the favorites among Farmhouse customers, Bosselman has made his version of mincemeat pie.

“Mincemeat is one of my favorites,” he said. “A traditional mincemeat. If you tell people what’s in a traditional mincemeat, they look at you like you’re crazy.

But, by the time you take the ground beef, and you add the apples, raisins, allspice, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and then throw in a cup of bourbon or brandy, I’m sorry, but that’s a meal and a cocktail all at once.”

While Bosselman’s café ranks high with the fruit pie lovers, across town at Harold’s Koffee House, it’s the cream pies, including the aforementioned sour cream raisin, that score with customers.

Coconut cream pie is the most popular dessert at the restaurant, said Nancy Bohnenkamp, a co-owner with her son, Matt. Lemon meringue also resonates with diners, she said. Their top-selling fruit pie is Dutch apple, with its crumbly streusel topping.

Regardless of the type, pie seems to be an American tradition, Bohnenkamp said.

“In a place like this, I think it’s the small-town feel,” she said.

“People just seem to like a piece of homemade pie.”

Visit farmhousecafe.com and haroldskoffeehouse.com for more information.

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The high-level executive retreated from 20 years of corporate life in locales such as Pittsburgh, Dallas, Memphis, and suburban New York City, having meet-and-greets and meals with superstars such as basketball’s Michael Jordan and David Robinson, and baseball’s Ryne Sandberg.

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60+ FEATURE // STORY BY ROBERT FRAASS // PHOTOGRAPHY BY BILL SITZMANN // DESIGN BY DEREK JOY

A

S E R V A N T ’ S

H E A R T

Mark Kresl Creates Pictures & Musicians he life change began simply enough— Mark Kresl decided about 15 years ago to start a new hobby of photography.

“Like I typically do, I got way into it,” he recalled.

He peppers his description of what followed as a “chain of events” emblematic of his “charmed life” that led him from a career as a big city sales and marketing executive who rubbed elbows with sports celebrities to a leading figure in Omaha’s nonprofit, arts, and charitablegiving communities.

To understand how he got here, it helps to understand what associates call his selfless empathy and outgoing passion for helping others—along with that time he persuaded a movie director to let him shoot photos on his Omaha set.

Lovely Stills With camera in hand, Kresl saw young people gathered one Saturday morning at the cemetery near his home. Curious and suspicious, he approached the group, who told him they were shooting a movie. It turned out to be the production of Omahan Nik Fackler’s 2008 movie, “Lovely, Still.” He received permission to shoot photos of the production and offered the crew copies of the digital files.

Soon, they were asking him to photograph most scenes. That led to a oneline part as “Rufus” in a scene with the lead actors, Martin Landau and Ellen Burstyn.

“What a thrill that was,” Kresl exclaimed.

Through word of mouth, other gigs followed: a spectacular photo of downtown New Year’s Eve fireworks bought by First National Bank of Omaha was followed by a request from Creighton to photograph its renovated soccer field.

Recovering Photos The hobby took off. There was profitable photography for a modeling agency and his studio in NoDo’s Hot Shops. But Kresl found his passion—and eventually a new career path—following a visit to the Madonna Rehabilitation Center in Lincoln.

“My best friend’s 5-year-old son had a traumatic brain injury,” Kresl said. “I went to visit and got a tour. It moved me unbelievably to see all of these people with strokes, spinal cord injuries, and traumatic brain injuries, and see them recovering in rehab.”

As he drove back to Omaha, his thoughts revolved around the question “what could I do?”

He found his answer. “Well, I couldn’t write a big check,” he said. “The camera gave me a vehicle to give something unusual of value. No nonprofit is going to keep its doors opened or closed because of a donation I made or didn’t make.”

Kresl soon struck upon an inspired idea—he would take “glamour shots” of patients going through recovery by enlisting beauty college hair designers and makeup artists to get them ready to be photographed. All digital files were provided free of charge, including one 8x10 print. Fridays were set aside for shots with extended family members.

“People would be incredulous that everything was free,” said Tammy Rudder, Madonna’s specialist for marketing, media, and public relations. “Patients could forget about rehabbing for a while and do something fun and uplifting for themselves.”

The project lasted four years, and Kresl has mulled a similar project for Madonna’s nursing home after the COVID-19 era passes.

Volunteerism from the Heart His Madonna experience nurtured Kresl’s desire to help out nonprofits of all kinds with his photography skills. He said he has provided free photography for nearly 30 local nonprofits, including Merrymakers, Team Jack, the Nebraska Humane Society, the Durham Museum, and the Git-R-Done Foundation established by Dan Whitney (AKA “Larry the Cable Guy.”) “I wouldn’t say no to most,” he said.

Cancer charities, such as Team Jack, hold a special place in Kresl’s heart. His work was to honor his wife’s best friend’s

battle. Then his spouse, Paula, contracted gall bladder cancer herself, passing away in August 2019.

“This last year has been a lot quieter for me. I’ve been more of a caretaker than a caregiver.”

Kresl’s good works have extended beyond photography. Besides his role on Madonna’s Board of Trustees, he has served on executive boards for the Omaha Film Festival and the Cathedral Arts Program, furthering his experience in music and the arts. He remains as treasurer for the Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards.

His work inspired him to make a career change. Beginning in 2014, it would be working in the nonprofit sector from here on out.

From Photos to Music The high-level executive retreated from 20 years of corporate life in locales such as Pittsburgh, Dallas, Memphis, and suburban New York City, having meetand-greets and meals with superstars such as basketball’s Michael Jordan and David Robinson, and baseball’s Ryne Sandberg. But he tired of the travel and came back to his native Omaha 20 years ago. He eventually transitioned his career to nonprofit development.

He ended his private business to work as director of marketing and development for Midwest Geriatrics until one of his two daughters spotted a want ad that she thought would trigger his interest: director of development for the Omaha Conservatory of Music.

“She saw it and knows I am a music nut,” he said, although he didn’t start playing an instrument (the piano) until two years ago. “I applied on a Sunday and accepted an offer that Thursday.”

His three-year tenure has been a rousing success, according to Ruth Meints, the Conservatory’s executive director.

Because it is easy for Kresl to see the picture, whether that means through the lens of a camera or that of a nonprofit’s vision.

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60+ e Prim e T im KAREN RICHARDS // 64 STORY BY NICHOLAS MOORE PHOTO BY BILL SITZMANN

Imagine a sophisticated dinner party. Crystal and fresh flowers sit on the table, guests politely chat in between sips of wine, and ambient music purrs in the background. The most elegant fixtures of the room, however, aren’t the fine china or exotic spices, they’re the subtle scent of Eclat d’Arpège perfume and the clipped South African accent following the hostess as she makes her rounds.

Indeed, Karen Richards is the most elegant fixture in most rooms.

When she and her husband, Alan, moved their two young boys to Omaha in 1997 from Johannesburg, South Africa, it wasn’t the first time Karen would have to reinvent herself.

Fortunately, “I have such a huge variety of interests, I will never be bored,” she exclaimed, “not in a creation of cats!” That must be a South African figure of speech…

With an artist’s eye, Karen’s first impressions of America was how casual everyone dressed. “When we arrived, the kids at the boys’ school said I dressed like a ‘rich lady’ but I was just wearing clothes that I would normally wear back in South Africa.” Although she gradually conceded to the norms of American informality, as a designer, she maintains that “what’s important about style is that your behavior is elevated when you’re wearing something smart.”

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