WAYNE THEISEN tightens the joints of one of his wooden giraffe sculptures that he has erected on his property off M-95 in Randville. The giraffe had been blown over by the wind, so Theisen put it back in place with longer pegs that will hopefully keep it upright. These are three of the many sculptures he has built over the years. (Photo by Betsy Bloom/Daily News)
RANDVILLE – About a quarter of a century ago, Wayne Theisen came across a well-grown cedar tree with curved branches on his property in Sagola Township.
For some reason, his first thought was the neck and body of a giraffe – even though it was in the southern Upper Peninsula and not in the African bush. But he let it go.
Theisen added legs and a head with a smiling, split mouth and painted it in patches. He created a mane from black plastic bags and eyes from golf balls.
He then placed it beside M-95, where it became a folk art monument for travelers heading north from Iron Mountain.
Theisen’s exhibition now includes three giraffes. A forestry sleigh with driver and dog, pulled by a horse that looks very similar to Gumby’s companion Pokey. A dog with floppy ears, a hanging tongue and hubcap earrings. He uses plastic caps for eyes and noses.
WAYNE THEISEN in his workshop on another project, this time involving rabbits. He sources his wood from his 10-acre property. (Photo by Betsy Bloom/Daily News)
In the rest of his garden, behind the trees, are more giraffes – one of them as a mounted head on a storage shed on the property – a robin with a worm in its mouth, and other examples of his unique, whimsical woodwork.
Theisen believes he has made about a hundred wooden sculptures over the years, most of which he has given away rather than sold. All of the wood came from his 10-acre property, he said.
Now 92, he is busy creating more figurines and tending to the roadside collection. On August 11, he worked to put the largest giraffe on M-95 back on its feet after it was blown over by the wind.
Even when the sculptures were stolen – he believes the original giraffe was lost this way – or destroyed, Theisen did not lose his enthusiasm for his menagerie.
It’s helped him live into his 90s, even though he’s been a widower for 21 years, said his daughter, Kathy McCrary, who came from Green Bay last weekend to check on her father. She has an older brother, Torvin, who lives in Iron Mountain and is nearby if Theisen also needs help.
WAYNE THEISEN drives stakes deep into the ground to hold one of his giraffes upright after it was knocked over by the wind. His daughter Kathy McCrary of Green Bay looks on. (Photo: Betsy Bloom/Daily News)
McCrary, a now-retired nurse at BayCare Clinic Eye Specialists in Green Bay, said many patients referred from the area over the years knew about her father’s house on M-95. “with the giraffes.”
Theisen was born and raised in Iron Mountain on the north side. He jumped from the Pine Mountain Ski Jump and has photos to prove it – his son Dan has the jump and buttons from the annual tournament hanging on a wall.
At 17, Theisen wanted to join the U.S. Navy, but his mother made him wait until he was an adult. A month after his 18th birthday, he traveled to the Great Lakes Naval Station in Chicago. He served from 1950 to 1954 and came home as a veteran of the Korean War.
Before leaving, he met a girl named Nancy Louise Stohl, who worked at the Hob-Nob restaurant in Iron Mountain from 1947 to 1959, owned by his mother Helfreda.
Theisen stayed in touch with this woman during his military service. During that military service, she attended the Misercordia Hospital School of Nursing in 1954, where she was class president, according to her obituary. She later showed him the box in which she had kept his letters.
THIS ONE IS nothing more than a hunting dog, according to Wayne Theisen. (Photo by Betsy Bloom/Daily News)
They married on July 31, 1954 in Iron Mountain.
After leaving the Navy, Theisen “hot lead” Typesetting for The Daily News. He then worked with his brother as a millwright for various employers, including paper mills and mineral mines.
McCrary said he once stayed with his daughter in Green Bay while he worked at a paper mill there. She had just finished nursing school. They worked different shifts, she added, so it wasn’t too much of a problem.
Wayne and Nancy lived on East F Street in Iron Mountain for decades before purchasing the property on M-95 in the Randville area in the early 1990s. They had four children: Torvin, whose name was inspired by a ski jumper, Steven, Kathy and Dan.
He began woodworking seriously on the Randville property, making small deer as gifts, but fewer of the giraffes her mother loved so much, McCrary said.
THIS ROBIN WITH A WORM is one of the wooden sculptures that decorate Wayne Theisen’s Randville property. (Photo by Betsy Bloom/Daily News)
Nancy Theisen was a registered nurse at Dickinson County Memorial Hospital for 41 years. She was active on the Michigan Nurses Association bargaining team. According to her obituary, she also served on the DCMH RN staff council.
Her work may have been the reason for her hepatitis infection, her daughter said. On December 17, 1998, she received a successful liver transplant in Madison, Wisconsin.
When she died of lung disease in July 2003, she asked if her still functioning liver could be passed on to someone else, McCrary said. That wasn’t possible, but it showed her mother’s generous nature, she said. “She was everyone’s angel and best friend,” says her obituary. On her grave there is a giraffe that receives a different wreath depending on the season.
Just two years later, Theisen lost his son Steve to bacterial meningitis.
It was a rough time for him, but he remained active in the Masonic Lodge, the American Legion and other veterans’ activities, McCrary said. He made weekly bus trips to the casino in Harris.
He continued to live alone, cooking and taking care of the household. He usually has a big garden every summer, but not this year. There is a pool table in the basement, which has made him quite a good pool player.
And he was “always do something”, McCrary said. All of his children and now seven grandchildren own at least one of his figurines. Many have been photographed next to the sculptures on the property over the years. “They want to ride them,” said McCrary.
The next generation – five great-grandchildren, another is expected this week – will also be introduced.
In January 2016, Theisen’s Randville home burned to the ground. When he looked for a replacement, he settled on a design that matched the original 1970s-style home, despite his children suggesting something more modern.
“It was really hard – when he lost his home, lost all his memories,” said McCrary. “So he had to have something that was the same.”
A few years ago, he spent three months at the Oscar G. Johnson VA Medical Center when McCrary feared they were going to lose him.
But he recovered. Now he gets around his property on a motorized scooter provided by the VA – emblazoned with a Detroit Lions logo – pulling tools and other equipment for his work.
He is hard of hearing but has a great sense of humor. He teases his daughter and regularly makes jokes in conversation.
And this urge to create has not died out. His shop now sells wooden rabbits, a suggestion from his sister Orice Walters, who died earlier this year at the age of 89.
The giraffes along M-95 have been given a new coat of paint and the largest one is back in place. Everything is tightened and better anchored to withstand the wind, he hopes.
He says he was told he had to limit himself, but he admits with a smile that he doesn’t always follow this advice at home.
He has suffered numerous losses in his life, but has never let them get him down, McCrary said.
“He has such a positive attitude and it is a joy to be around him,” McCrary said, adding: “He’s a lucky guy.”
