The Last Farewell of Will Rogers and Wiley Post
by Mike Wimmer
Will Rogers and Wiley Post bid farewell to a small crowd gathered at Fairbanks, Alaska, on August 15, 1935. They would perish in an airplane crash later that day.
Post modified a hybrid Lockheed Orion/Explorer specifically for the trip to Russia by adding pontoons for water landings. The pair departed Seattle for Juneau on August 7, 1935, two days after the test flight of the modified airplane. On August 9, they left for Aklavik, where sightseeing and weather kept them until August 12. They then journeyed on to Fairbanks.
On August 15, Post and Rogers departed Fairbanks for Point Barrow. Eskimo seal hunters saw the red Lockheed fly low over their village and land in a nearby lagoon. Once on the ground, Post asked the direction to Point Barrow and one of the hunters pointed north across the featureless tundra. Post tinkered with the engine for a few minutes and Rogers chatted with the Eskimos. Then they started the engine, taxied across the river and took off in a steep, climbing turn. About fifty feet up, the engine seemed to stop cold, the plane faltered, dragged a wing in the water and crashed on its back.
Two of Oklahoma’s favorite sons lost their lives in the shallow water beside the Arctic Ocean.
The Last Farewell of Will Rogers and Wiley Post by Mike Wimmer was dedicated on February 3, 2004. The commission was managed by the Oklahoma State Senate Historical Preservation Fund, Inc. The painting is located outside the Oklahoma State Senate lounge on the fourth floor of the Oklahoma State Capitol and can be viewed daily from 8:30-5:30 when the Senate is not in session.
The Artist
Born
and raised in Muskogee, Oklahoma, Mike Wimmer began his career as
an artist during the seventh grade. He earned his B.F.A. from the University
of Oklahoma, where he met Don Ivan Punchatz. Wimmer later moved to
Arlington, Texas to be Punchatz apprentice at Punchatz famous Sketch
Pad Studio. Wimmer learned valuable knowledge regarding the
business aspect of illustrating as well as various painting techniques
and the working methods of the local Dallas illustrators. After his two and a half year apprenticeship, he moved back to Norman, Oklahoma and
set up his own studio using all that he had learned in Texas. Since
then Wimmer has become very successful illustrating children’s
books such as “Flight: The Journey of Charles Lindbergh” by
Robert Burliegh which was the winner of
the Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children in 1990. He also illustrated “All the Places to Love” by Patricia MacLachlan which
was published in 1994 and won the Oklahoma Book Award
for Best Illustrated Children’s Book 1995. Wimmer’s latest
book, “Will Rogers” by Former Governor Frank Keating, was
published in 2002 and has won the 2003 Spur Award from the Western
Writers Association of America. Even though Wimmer has worked for some
of the largest corporations in the world including Disney and Procter
and Gamble, Wimmer finds the greatest artistic pleasure within his
creation of fine art.