Of the dozen or so concrete creatures that congregate on Gene Cockrell's front lawn, the most incongruous is his Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader. "Originally I made her as a Texas cowgirl, without clothes -- just boots, a hat, and a rope -- and she was mighty fine lookin'," Gene confides in his Panhandle drawl. "But my wife and a neighbor lady made me dress her up."
Now decked out in denim hot pants and halter top, the Cheerleader stands next to two half-naked Indians straddling horses. Off to the right, a fully-clothed Jesus communes with a lion and a lamb. The rest of the population are dinosaurs, even a fanciful two-headed hydra. A squat, grinning Barney spreads his purple arms in welcome, unaware he is being tailed by an angry T Rex.
Gene, a self-taught artist, retired from his day job with the highway department nearly a decade ago. Since then, he's been putting up concrete creatures whenever and wherever he can.
Gene offers to guide us out to his BIG ONE -- Audry, his 50-foot-long brontosaurus (named after his wife of 47 years) -- about three miles south of town on Highway 83. The dinosaur sits on a high stark mesa and can be seen overlooking the highway. The road to the top is gated, but Gene takes us up for a few photos. "Watch out for the rattlesnakes," he instructs. The view is impressive but we mostly eye the weedy ground.
Gene would like to put up a 50-foot-tall Statue of Liberty on a bluff overlooking Canadian, but the town has neither the funds nor, frankly, the proper civic vision to allow it. He was asked by the nearby pseudo-Irish town of Shamrock, TX, to create a 40-foot-tall Leprechaun, which would hang off the side of their water tower. When Shamrock heard that Gene's costs and wages would total $10,000, they decided to stick with their spittle-caked Blarney Stone for the time being.
Will Gene get the opportunity to realize his vision? "Come back in about five years," he says. "If I'm not dead I'll have some more."
We did return to Gene's yard on another trip and spotted the colorful alien family and UFO, newer sculptures crafted by Gene Cockrell.
