By Don Murtha
Tony Bielenberg was a pillar of his Scotts Mills community.
Fire chief for 30 years. Combat veteran of World War II, where he was wounded in action and received several decorations. Service station owner, mechanic, master gardener, Mr. Fix It, Jack of All Trades, father of seven children and devoted husband.
“If someone in town needed something, dad would drop whatever he was doing to go help. Everyone loved him,” said his son Ron Bielenberg, “I remember once he was working on a big job and someone came in with a lawn mower. He dropped what he was doing and fixed the lawn mower.”
Twenty years ago, Tony was shot and killed in an accident while on a hunting trip. The seven Bielenberg siblings have worked together to memorialize their father and mark the 20 years of his passing.
“My older brother Dick, my sister Judith Anderson and my brother Dan have been the driving force,” Ron said. “We took the calendar off the table and decided we weren’t going to rush this, that we wanted to do it right.”
What they settled on was a statue of a firefighter in action dressed in his turnouts, helmet and boots. To provide a guide, they gave the artist a picture of Tony in action. The family contacted the artist Brian Mock and told him what they wanted.
“He was very open. He didn’t even want payment up front and he worked on it for months,” Ron said.
“When Brian delivered it, it spoke to us so loudly of Tony,” said Cheryl Bielenberg, Ron’s wife. “It’s just perfect.”
The statue is an assembly of many bits and pieces of metal nuts and bolts, spoons, forks, wheelspokes, wire and hundreds of odds and ends compiled into a five-foot figure of a fireman in his helmet, boots and uniform.
The family members, including Jim, Bob and Jeanne, have financed the project so far, but there is more to be raised to finish the base, landscaping and other final touches. A recent Scotts Mills Fire Association banquet raised more, and donations continue to come in from individuals and groups. A recent Bielenberg family reunion raised $1,000 in an auction.
The statue will be placed permanently at the Scotts Mills Fire Station. “There will be a security system at the fire station that will include the statue, but not a dime of public money is going into any of this,” Ron said. “Donations can be made to the Tony Bielenberg Memorial Fund at any Wells Fargo Bank.”
Tony Bielenberg was a son of the Great Depression who survived by using and reusing what was at hand.
“He was a master recycler before we knew what that was,” Ron said. “He never threw anything away. He would fix things out of necessity. It had become a habit from his early days. It’s kind of like the statue-odd things and old pieces put together to make something artistic.”
