• Wednesday-What'sUP April 7 - 08:20 am

Back on the February 25th What'sUP page, someone posed a question about this very sculpture that is emblazoned on both the north and south wings of Jeffers High School, facing east. Thanks to Joyce Tormala, we have a photo of the mystery stone art to contemplate, while trying to find the real meaning behind the placing of them on the school. Joyce says that one of the stories that has circulated, was started by a custodian, who would tell students that there was a hidden camera in the 'eye' of the sculpture. Who knows, maybe there is, but if not, it probably had more than a few students on their best behavior. At least when they were within sight of "THE EYE". Let's see if Cam Watchers can solve the mystery behind this stonework...

Very cool what they used to do to adorn the buildings back in the day!

Awesome picture of the Jeffers sculpture Joyce! I can't wait to see if the history behind this "rose" is unveiled. I may just have to visit the MTU archives some day to satisfy my curiosity.

I think a big bumble bee stuck his bee-hind in wet cement and here the impression remains the for posteriorty. ;>)

Oh -- and kudo's to Joyce Tormala for taking the picture. Hope you didn't have to wade through all of that snow to get the photo!

reminds me very much of a dutch hex

I went to good old JHS back in the day. Cool pictures Joyce, even though I saw them before they were up on here!

It looks like a real nice building,In what city or village is Jeffers High School?We have not run acrossed it in our travels up there.

Down State Dave: GOOD ONE!

Zube, Jeffers High School is in Painesdale. It is just off of M-26 if you take the turn-off to Chassell. The annual open house is usually around July 3rd. The school athletic booster club is planning a marathon fundraiser this fall. I bet you will be able to tour the facilities then also.

Oh, oh, oh - wonder what Dan Brown would make of that? :)

Thanks Deb Also what area does Jeffers High school cover, it's always interesting how far schools go to pick up students

When I was growing up in the Copper Country in the 50's I believe Jeffers was the only high school that had a swimming pool....was always nice to play b.ball there and enjoy a swim after the game. In those days we also got to swim at the Tech pool on Wednesday evening.

Wow, this is neat...and such detail. The only other schools that I know of that did this type of relief work in the building of schools, was in Monroe County Michigan.

KUIKKA SE MENA;

http://www.seiska.fi/miljonaarijussi/images/go_16.jpg

I played JV basketball there for Calumet--early 50s--Think mabe it could be somthing indian with all the feathers around it???

look at the back of a US dollar bill and you will see the eye there also.

Zube, Jeffers is a small school by today's standards. Seventh thru twelfth grade attend Jeffers. Students come from Elm Miver Township (Winona), Toivola (formerly Heikkinen School), Painesdale, Trimountain, South Range, Baltic, and most of Atlantic Mine including some of the area behind Atlantic. When I attended Jeffers, I traveled by bus from Elm RIver Township and in the early AM it seemed like a very long ride. My husband did the Toivola buss run and he would pick up some of the first students at about 6:15AM and arrive in Painesdale at about 7:50.

Does anyone know if Keweenaw Bay is open?? How about the Houghton canal? Have a good day everyone!! Would love a Spring update!

Mother Nature has her eye on you

Areas that went to Jeffers were: Painesdale, Trimountain, Atlantic Mine, Toivola, Donken,
Twin Lakes, Winona, South Range.

dem's not feathers, dem's leaves.

I, too, remember having a swim at Jeffers after a basketball game. We were always excited to play Jeffers for that reason. Never noticed the sculpture though.

Could very well be of an Indian origin. Behind the Leaf tips there is a definite Sun, Moon, & Flower theme running through them.

Raven,

M.R. wings.

M.R. not

M.R. 2

M.R. leaves, M.R not wings

M.R. not leaves, M.R. wings

C.M. flowers?

L.I.B.M.R. leaves :)

When was the school built and does anyone know the name of the artist?

danbury - I was thinking the same thing. This is very much like the Da Vinci Code. I guess not too many others have read the book. I couldn't figure out what the sculpture means though. It is very interesting and took a lot of talent to make. Patience too.

I just graduated form JHS in May 2004 and never noticed those before..'til Joyce was telling us about them. Cool pics Joyce

Looks like a head-on view of a slightly off-center rose bud. Just my 2¢.

Re: the eye on the dollar bill. This is one explanation:

Francis Bacon was the integral leader and regenerater of a previous generation of Freemasons who developed a great interest in learning mythology and using symbols as part of their education. The "eye in the pyramid" is a well-known Masonic symbol.

Loosely translated, Annuit Coeptis means "He has given approval to our undertakings." This is in reference to the symbol of an eye above a pyramid (sometimes called the 'All seeing eye') which is a representation of the deity. Freemasonry was a clear influence on the Founding Fathers. The Novus Ordo Seclorum or New Order of the Ages was the beginning of this new spirit.

sur5er: There are quite a few deep woods logging roads around the Harbor area that a truck could be parked on. Some with large hills too. Both directions.

I think it's geometry or trig realted. Kind of like you keep drawing hypotenuse triangles inside of a circle and you would have the basic outline of the design. It's been a looooooong time since I've studied math!
I have seen other plaques like this on school buildings in Metro Detroit. One I'm thinking of looks like a bunch of numbers, but it's actually a number puzzle.

Roudy,

My thoughts exactly ;) Between you and me, hubby ain't gonna last that much longer down here..and we'll be headed home to da UP before too long. I give him two years, before he pulls up stakes :)

Didn't An actor by the name of Albert Salmi go to Jeffers High.
I think he is the guy in the opening of Gun Smoke who.. gets shot ..

The picture is of the SUN God RA!!

Hey sur5er,

When we lived in Marquette, my boss,
Daniel Mazzuchi, used to do this bit...

A , C D E D B D DUKS?

M R NUT DUKS

O S A R , C D E D B D WINGS?

C D E D B D EYES?

L , I B ...... M R DUKS!!!

He was such a wonderful storyteller. I loved working at
U.P.H.E.C. We had a really great group there! (in the latter
1980s). He was a riot!

Everything I can find about Albert Salmi says he was born and raised in the 'Finnish section of Brooklyn'. Definite Suomalainen, tho. Very tragic story. He died in 1990 at the age of 62 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after killing his terminally ill wife.

I did find a page on Finns in Hollywood and the most suprising entry was that 50's actress Vampira's (of "Ed Wood" fame) real name was Maila Syrjäniemi. Just type 'finnish hollywood' into Google and it'll be the first hit.

Google Guy:
I've read Pamela Anderson is also Finnish. So is Lisa Niemi married to Patrick Swayze from Dirty Dancing fame.

Glad that you mentioned Freemasonry, Julie. It is a great organization that men may benefit from.
13 of the 39 signatories of the Declaration of Independence were Freemasons. The major buildings in Washington, DC had the cornerstone laid by Freemasons. I have enjoyed my many years being associated with a great organization. When you think of the Shriners Hospitals for Children, also remember the Freemasons whom make it all possible. Copy the following link for more information on Michigan Masonry.


http://www.gl-mi.org/

Christine Lahti

And I thought my Dad was the only one who used to say: FUNEX? S, VFX.
To Japei: huh??

That sculpture depicts the wistful yearnings of a boy on a Spring day when he has to go to school but would rather be out fishing, swimming or playing ball. All he can do is peer out and let his imagination sustain him until school is dismissed.

Barb,

ROFL. Yep, in order to survive work, there must be a good story teller amongst you, to keep everyone entertained.

One of my coworkers, Doug was a great story teller. He was telling a story one night about how they were so poor when he was growing up, that they didn't dare butcher the hogs. They would chop off a leg here and there and the hogs would just hobble along. I was laughing so hard...and I couldn't understand why the girl I was working with wasn't laughing with me.

She looked at me, and gasped, 'why those poor hogs, hobbling around without all their legs'. After Doug and I recovered from laughing we explained to her that Doug was telling her another one of his 'stories'. Obviously, she wasn't a farm girl, eh.

I may be wrong, but aren't the comments on this page supposed to be about the subject picture???

Sorry Frank. Somewhere in the beginning, Barb and I were talking about the pic. Honest...we were. ;) We just got a little side tracked. It's a girlie girl thing. :) You know, "well that reminds me of..."

Downstate in Alma, there is a Masonic Home. It is a really nice place to visit. You have to give up all your worldly good to live there butit sounds like it is well worth it. It is a place for the elderly, they get very well taken care of.

Great detail in the design, you know they must have been manufactured somewhere as I don't think that they were done on site and installed.
what they put on buildings now is nothing and that makes things quite plain in my opinion not that anyone cares. Don't read to much into things people as it is just like our dollar bills, and you know soon they will remove I.G.W.T. and you know what that stands for.

Good old Jeffers High. I have heard so many
stories about it from my aunts and uncles and
cousins who received a very fine education
there. Chief among these stories are tales of
Mr. and Mrs. Jeffers. My mother and her
sisters often spoke of walking up the hill to
Baltic, or maybe it was South Range, to catch
the train to Painesdale. In the stories, the
snow was always coming down hard, the
wind was howling and the cold was
penetrating.

Oh yes, I almost forgot. My mother, who would
have been 85, learned to swim in the Jeffers
High pool, so it has been there quite a while.

kosk in Toronto- I'm currently a senior at Jeffers, can you please tell me some stories..they might come in use to me, to put in the yearbook. Our theme of this year's yearbook is Yesterday, Today and Years to Come. If you have any facts on the school that will also be nice...if anyone has anything...thanks a bunch

You forgot the kids from Freda who were the first to hop that train to school in Painesdale. The sculpture looks art deco to me.

Miss Michigan is also Finnish and she will be in
the Miss American pageant on April llth. Her name
is Crystal Hayes. She was born and raised in Rock,
Michigan and now resides in Novi. Her grandmother
is from Hancock. Be sure to watch the Miss America
pageant on Monday and you will see how beautiful
she is.

ms,

If you would like, I will try to get in touch with a
couple of my cousins and my two older aunts
who attended Jeffers High in Painesdale. My
dad probably remembers and still knows
people who attended Painesdale. If you
would like, I could e-mail this info. once I get it
together. The three relatives in their eighties
do not have access to the Internet, so I would
make phone calls to them this weekend.
Please let me know your e-mail if you want me
to get this information. I will wait to hear from
you.

Kosk: nice of you to help ms. You just have to click on the ms in the msg to get the email.

To: kosk in toronto

Regarding the e-mail address for ms... putting your browser cursor over the blue highlighted sender names should show you their e-mail address (if they cared to input an address).

For example... hovering over the blue highlighted ms in the previous message shows the e-mail address to be "seppanenm@yahoo.com".

Yours is shown as: kosk@sympatico.ca

Then use the e-mail as you normally would to write privately to those people if you wish. It's so very simple and easy, it's almost magic!!!

Bear in mind I flunked outta Tech 'cuz I had a hard time with the procepts of calculus ...

Looks to me like a stylized depiction of sacred geometry relating to the similarities of feathers and leaves, pedals, and seeds. Sacred Geometry is based on the golden mean, and the placement of leaves, seeds, etc., can be determined by applying Fibronocci's series (1+1=2+1=3+2=5...) in combination with the golden mean.

Masons used to know this stuff, and it's still buried in their symbols, but it takes some digging to 'discover' it any more.

This would be an excellent tribute to that esteemed Mason, Luther Burbank.

Not only is Crystal Hayes a beautiful girl she is so nice and comes from a really nice family......they have "Hayes' Maze" in Rock on their farm....lots of fun for kids in the fall. Sure hope this "Yooper" goes all the way and she would make a wonderful Miss USA....we'll be watching on Friday night and rooting for her..... especially now knowing she is Finnish and has a grandmother in Hancock....Go Crystal...

Here's the website for Crystal Hayes. :)

http://michigan.missusa.com/1.html

Hopefully Michigan will have another Miss America. Remember when Kaye Loni from Monroe Michigan was Miss Michigan and she was crowned Miss America?

..OOPS!!..We'll be rooting for Crystal on Monday night.....

B in GB,
Arvo Ojala was the guy in the opening scenes of Gunsmoke. He was a fast-draw artist who taught many Hollywood actors. He also designed a holster for that purpose. On one webpage it says he arrived in L.A. from the state of Washington. However, many years ago I read about Ojala in my grandmother's GRIT magazine, and the article claimed he was a native of the U.P. I can't remember which area. Perhaps Painsdale?

eh Heikki:
The following e-mail address is purportedly for grandchildren of his.
Happy exploring!
secretagentman@www.com

To maija and yoohoo,

Thanks for the info.

Heikki
yup thats who I was thinking of I guess ..Salmi also had some connection ..maybe relatives in the area .. I had em backwards ..Christine Lahti had grandparents in Ontonagon I hear.Thank you too Google guy for your help.Now has anyone heard that Trixie from the Honey Mooners had a connection to Mohawk?

B in GB
Christine Lahti's grandfather was Waino Lahti, an insurance agent in the Iron River area. My dad did some carpentry work for him while I was still a lad. His home was on Sunset Lake. His son (Christine's dad) became a surgeon, and practiced in the Flint area where Christine was born. Later in Waino's life, his wife passed away. Eventually, he remarried.....to my 4th grade teacher Eva Hendrickson.

Trixie, who was played by Joyce Randolph, had a birth name of Joyce Sirola, a good Keweenaw name,
and was born in Detroit, MI.

Thanks again Heikki and Yooper in Indiana!

Beauty is "in the eye" of the beholder!

j A P E i:
"KUIKKA SE MENA"

Huh?
How about: "Kuinka se mene"?
What, I'm correcting jAPEi's Finnish? <shock>

Lee Perry, California:
"Bear in mind I flunked outta Tech 'cuz I had a hard time with the procepts [sic] of calculus ..."
The procepts of calculus? Hmmm, that and apparently the precepts of spelling? <zing!>

"… Sacred Geometry is based on the golden mean, and the placement of leaves, seeds, etc., can be determined by applying Fibronocci's [sic] series (1+1=2+1=3+2=5...) in combination with the golden mean. …"

"Fibronocci's series"? Okay, I see what you mean about da Tech and mathematics. (It's Fibonacci!) <grin>

FYI: The Fibonacci series/number sequence was known to Indian mathematicians as early as the 6th century; although it was not discovered by him, it was Fibonacci's Liber Abaci that introduced it to the West.

Oh, and Albert Salmi grew up in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn and attended Haaren High School in Manhattan, where he studied aviation mechanics. So it's highly unlikely that he attended Jeffers High School. (As seen in his obituary in the New York Times, April 25, 1990.)