Boilermaker-built eagle finds home with VFW

Steel eagle sculpture sitting atop the VFW Post’s pavilion

L-169 retiree Kenny Lyday shows creative skills

AFTER A JOB injury in 1995 left him unable to continue work as a construction Boilermaker, Kenny Lyday, Local 169 (Detroit), found time to expand his creative skills as a sculptor, metal worker, and painter. One of his projects, a steel eagle, was especially prized. After two years of burning , heating, beating, and bending (without using a picture for reference), Lyday completed the eagle and had it chromed. It remained at his home until 2013, when a friend and fellow L-169 retiree, Allan Kidd, purchased the impressive sculpture to display at the Miller Strawn VFW Post #9363 in Flat Rock, Mich. Today, the eagle sits atop the Post’s pavilion, looking up at a nearby American flag.