Man’s ashes painted onto Harley
ZapRatz
Man’s ashes painted onto Harley
By Mike Moore
Journal Times
Friday, November 14, 2008 9:47 PM CST
http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2008/11/14/local_news/doc491e221b87594606867380.txt
Although Jeff Vlieger agonizes over each of his projects, the
Caledonia man had a bigger incentive to get this one right.
Sandy Berken-Ottery of Muskego heard from another of his customers
that he paints designs on motorcycles, and she asked him to do one on
her 1990 Harley-Davidson Softail. Oh, and could he incorporate her
late husband’s cremated ashes into it?
Vlieger took on the unusual memorial. The motorcycle’s gas tanks now
feature a train, with ashes forming the image of smoke billowing from
the engine. On the bike’s back fender, more ashes form a written
tribute to three friends who have helped keep the motorcycle running.
“It kind of creeped me out at first,” Vlieger said. “After a while, I
got used to it, I guess.”
George Ottery Jr. repaired rail cars for the Chicago & North Western
Railroad, and most called him “Railroad George.” An abbreviated
version of that nickname appears on the train design. So does his
face, poking out the engineer’s window.
He died in 2000 from lingering problems attributed to Agent Orange, an
herbicide the U.S. dropped in Vietnam, where he served, Berken-Ottery
said. His ashes were buried next to his grandfather, but she decided
to keep a few aside for her own tribute.
At one point, she had a plan to ride to the Mississippi River and
spread them there.
“It just didn’t seem like the right thing to do,” she said.
Finally, the idea of painting the bike came to her. The couple bought
the Harley with a severance package Ottery got from the railroad when
it shifted operations elsewhere. They flipped the bike’s odometer at
least once, traveling around the state.
Berken-Ottery had always ridden as a passenger, but after her husband
died she made a point to learn to ride it. She never thought of
selling the Harley, not after that much history.
“If there’s one place I’m the most relaxed, it’s on that bike,” she
said.
The paint job took Vlieger a month of spare time. He showed it off
this week at a friend’s auto body shop in Sturtevant, where the guys
chided him for being such a perfectionist.
“I’m not on a meter. It’s done when it’s done,” he said. “There’s the
little boy in me. I love to hear the oohs and aahs.”
Vlieger has done all sorts of artistic work on all sorts of surfaces.
He painted a mural at Spokes Restaurant and Bar in Yorkville. This was
a whole new entry in his portfolio.
Some people he knows say it’s gross. Others think it’s a touching
gesture.
Soon the motorcycle will be put back together. To Berken-Ottery, this
finally feels like the right tribute after eight years.
“It’s 500 times better than anything I imagined,” she said.
She took home a small bag of ashes that were left over. Let the
planning begin for the next project.
--
As of the day this message is being posted there are,
lacking an unexpected alternate outcome, 66 days
remaining in the imperial presidency of George W. Bush