Jim Martise never forgot where his wife, the late Purity Mae Beard Martise, came from.
She was a 1952 graduate of Columbia High School, and Jim Martise and his family searched for a way to thank the school for the foundations that guided her in her life.
At Tuesday night’s Columbia School District Board of Trustees meeting, members of the Martise family traveled from Connecticut and Florida to announce the donation of a Wildcat sculpture for Columbia High School.
CHS Principal Sheila Burbridge introduced members of the Martise family to the Board and spoke about the donation.
“Mr. Martise had asked about donating a Wildcat sculpture to Columbia High School in memory of his wife, who is a 1952 graduate,” she said. “I asked him to come to the school board meeting. He actually lived in New York and retired to Florida. His family lives in Connecticut, so they came here just for the meeting. That’s how serious they are about doing this.”
Jim Martise spoke about his wife and Columbia High School as he addressed the Board.
“The Class of ’52 produced two famous people: Eagle Day and Ronnie Herrington,” Martise said. “I went on the website and saw that Mr. (Jason) Harris (superintendent) wrote that the Columbia School District has high expectations for student achievement and for employee professionalism. There is a tremendous sense of Wildcat pride from the students, parents, alumni and the community. The Martise family would like to materialize that Wildcat pride into a sculpture and donate it to the school.”
Martise described the 56-inch high, 25-inch long sculpture and showed artist’s renderings to the Board. It would weigh 350 pounds.
“This is a picture that I particularly like of the statue,” he said as he held up a drawing. “It is of students gathering around the sculpture for pictures. I thought that would be appropriate for school spirit.”
Martise spoke from the heart and was emotional at times as he spoke about the reasons for donating the sculpture.
“The main things Columbia High School instilled in my wife were both moral and social beliefs,” he said. “She carried those beliefs over to our family and we want to try and repay that.”
Martise said he and other family members met with Burbridge and other administrators about possible locations. The final location has not been determined. The sculpture will take about five weeks to produce and ship to Columbia.
“We did a lot of homework on this, making sure we had the right company to do it,” Martise said. “When you’re dealing with bronze, the basic material you are dealing with is copper and how much copper they are going to put in the statue. Several companies I dealt with talked about 55 percent copper, one talked about 65 percent. This company is going to produce it with 90 percent copper, so that means it could stay outside and there won’t be any damage to it.”
The Vero Beach, Fla., resident said that he keeps up with the Columbia School District through The Columbian-Progress.
“I know you are facing budget cuts,” Martise said. “But you’re still able to put it together. The fact that this town passed the bond issue to allow you to build at the different schools, it’s overwhelming to me; it’s a lot of money for this community.”
Burbridge said the Wildcat would be a welcome addition to CHS.
“We’ve seen different schools that have statues of their mascots,” she said. “When you walk through the door at Petal, you see the big Panther greeting you. So many schools now have them. We are fortunate that someone was willing to provide that.
Martise then thanked the Board before leaving the meeting.
“My family and I would like to repay Columbia High School for what it did for my wife and my family,” he said. “I do hope that once it is erected other alumni see it and want to donate to the school, especially with budget cuts. It may bring you some donations.”
Board President Marie Shepard thanked the Martise family for the donation.
“We are so honored that you thought of this,” she concluded. “We are very touched.”
Pictured Above: Jim Martise addresses the Columbia School District Board of Trustees Tuesday night. | Photo by Mark Rogers
