Bill could help cover $3 million cost of moving Pershing mural to Wyuka Cemetery

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – One year from now, the 766,000 tiles of Lincoln’s Pershing Center mural will come out of storage to be taken to their new home at Wyuka Cemetery.

The mural was carefully taken down tile by tile in 2022 after a fundraiser saved it.

“The colors, everything fits in beautifully with historic Wyuka park and its environment,” said Liz Shea-McCoy, the chair of the Preservation of the Historic Pershing Mural group. “It’s like the perfect setting.”

The gigantic 38-by-140-foot art piece will be available for the public to see.

While it still sits in a warehouse, Shea-McCoy helped to find a new place to reinstall it, and the top choice was Wyuka.

“We educate thousands of people here every year because they come here specifically for history, so we’re just giving them another opportunity to have fun,” said Wyuka’s facilities director, Greg Osborn.

But one roadblock for the project is the cost.

Shea-McCoy estimates the bill will be over $3 million with the cost of cleaning and replacing tiles, preserving the mural and buying materials for the new structure.

“Because of inflation and the way building materials increase in cost, the longer we wait to have this move forward, the more it will increase our costs,” Shea-McCoy said.

State Sen. George Dungan of Lincoln is looking to help by introducing a bill that would provide $1.5 million.

The rest will be come from fundraising.

Luckily, Shea-McCoy said Nebraskans are supportive of the effort.

“Now that we’ve shown the design, the composition, how it really reflects the state of Nebraska, its topography, its history, its culture, I think that’s made it even more meaningful because it’s a Nebraska mural,” she said.

Both Shea-McCoy and Osborn said the unique history of the Wyuka Cemetery and the Pershing mural will be something the people of Nebraska can enjoy.

“It’s a perfect merger of what Wyuka has and what the mural has and what we can offer the public,” Osborn said.

Shea-McCoy agreed, as this project has been her passion for nearly two years.

“Gosh, it’s like a dream come true,” she said.