Sculptor’s family visits the Utqiagvik airport memorial and enjoys hospitality of Arctic residents

On a sunny day in June, a big group of visitors from Florida stopped by a sculpture of a float plane outside of the Utqiagvik airport. The stop was more than exploring the local attractions: the family came to see the memorial created by their father, grandfather and great-grandfather.

More than 40 years ago, an Oklahoma artist and veteran Bob Bell created a sculpture in memory of aviator Wiley Post and humorist Will Rogers who died in a plane crash. The crash happened 15 miles outside of Point Barrow when the engine of the Lockheed hybrid airplane, modified for the flight to Russia had, stalled after take-off and dove into a lagoon. Two men from Oklahoma, beloved by the American community for their contributions to aviation and film, died instantly.

The commemorating sculpture – a bronze replica of a plane flown by Post and Rogers – was placed outside of the Wiley Post–Will Rogers Memorial Airport in Utqiagvik. Last month, the family of the late sculptor traveled from the Lower 48 to visit Alaska, experience the whaling festival Nalukataq, but most importantly – see the memorial Bob Bell created.

“It was like a dream come true. After many years of thinking about it and planning, seeing it all happen – it was really an emotional experience,” Bell’s granddaughter Erika Giannella said. “Knowing that my granddad touched it and we got to touch it, and letting my boys be around it – it was really awesome. There’s really no word for having the three generations there.”

Bob Bell, who died in 2002, grew up hunting and fishing in a small town in McAlester, Oklahoma. Right out of high school, he joined the United State Marines in World War II and was wounded in action on Iwo Jima. After the war, Bell earned his bachelor’s degree in animal husbandry from Oklahoma State University, rode bulls and became a cattle rancher. Eventually, he created his own Bell Ranch in Okmulgee, Oklahoma.

“He is my hero,” Erika Giannella said. “He was a U.S. Marine in World War II and received a Purple Heart. He was a cowboy rancher and a strong advocate for the environment and, obviously, an amazing artist. I feel so lucky to be his granddaughter.”

Bell always made time for his family and even on busy days found a moment to take his grandchildren horseriding, Giannella said.

“We grew up on his ranch in the summers and at Christmas time,” Bell’s grandson Brian Hatlelid said. “He taught us how to horseback ride, saddle the horse and I remember sitting in his lap and doing wax (sculptures) with him.”

Hatlelid said he also remembers helping his grandfather take care of the animals and then taking a mandatory break.

“He was always working and then in the middle of the day, he said, ‘You always take 10, which means you lie down and rest for 10 minutes or nap for 10 minutes,” Hatlelid said. “He always would get me to do it, too, and I always resisted because I was saying I know I’m gonna fall asleep and I wanted to go back out to the ranch with him.”

Bell’s artistic path started with carving animal figures from wood. When he was in his 40s, he taught himself to carve from wax and then to make bronze sculptures, using a shed in his backyard as a shop. Coming from Choctaw Nation descent, Bell captured in his art Indigenous culture and wildlife.

Bell created about 50 different sculptures throughout his life and won numerous awards for his art. His sculpture Dripping Springs stands in front of the Okmulgee City Hall.

In 1982, the Lions Clubs of Claremore and Utqiagvik commissioned Bell to do a sculpture that was placed at Point Barrow at the Wiley Post and Will Rogers Plane Memorial, in memory of two Oklahomans, Rogers and Post.

Bell didn’t see the sculpture after it was placed in Utqiagvik and his family made it a goal to visit the memorial — the plan they’ve been preparing for the last five years.

When Erika Giannella joined the Utqiagvik Facebook group and asked whether the memorial created by her grandfather still existed, she said many people responded with pictures and updates, and resident Mary Lum Patkotak helped the family plan their Alaska trip.

At the end of June, the family finally came to Alaska. They first visited Fairbanks and Anchorage and then flew to their main destination – Utqiagvik. The group included Bell’s daughter Karen Hatlelid, son-in-law Joe Hatlelid, granddaughter Erika Giannella, grandson-in-law Bruno Giannella, grandson Brian Hatlelid and Bell’s great-grandsons Lukas Giannella, 11, Liam Giannella, 9, and Lincoln Hatlelid, 10.

Patkotak greeted the family at the airport and took them straight to the memorial, less than a minute away. When the family was taking pictures next to the memorial, they spoke to a few locals and tourists about how they are connected to the sculpture and the place, Giannella said.

In town, the family stayed right next to the beach. The children spent time playing near the water, and the whole family dipped their toes in the Arctic Ocean, surprised by the chunks of ice still floating by.

“It was the most simplest things that we did, you know, just being there,” Giannella said. “All the people were really welcoming.”

The trip fell on the dates of Nalukataq, the celebration of a successful bowhead whaling season. The Bell family joined the festival at the Simmonds Field, sitting next to the Patkotak family who provided them with bowls, spoons and the seasoning for the food that was served.

“They explained everything to us about the order of things and how they eat the different pieces that they served,” Giannella said. “We really got to immerse in the culture and in their festival. It was incredible seeing the whole town out there.”

The visitors admired the traditional regalia the whaling crews donned later into the day and participated in the blanket toss, with children jumping on the sealskin blanket and a few adults in the group helping to hold it up.

For the last part of the festival —Inupiaq dancing —the Bell family sat in the gym of the Eben Hopson Middle School, watching different crews take the stage. Then whalers with similar roles were called to dance — like all captains and all harpooners.

“We had seen a bunch of these guys doing the blanket toss and then to see what their job was on the boat was pretty cool,” Erika Giannella said. “Then they called the visitors to dance. And so most of us went down there.”

For Lukas Giannella, 11, the favorite part of the feast was trying some of the whale meat. And for Brian Hatlelid, it was all about feeling welcome at the celebration.

“The favorite part of that whale festival is being so graciously included in a really special cultural event. They share things with you and they’re really conveying something that’s very important to them and their culture and their families, their communities,” Brian Hatlelid said. “The Lower 48 does not have that tradition.”