And what a memorial it would be. Apparently John did purchase and erect a standard grave marker for Sarah in Mount Hope Cemetery, on the edge of town. But he wasn’t satisfied with the modest tombstone. So, he conferred with friend and local monument dealer Horace England and came up with a plan for the most elaborate and expensive memorial folks in Hiawatha had ever seen. Some say that Davis had the memorial built to spite Sarah’s family that had snubbed them so many year’s before and additionally to spend all of his money to make sure that none of her relatives would get it after he died. Others say he built the lavish memorial to Sarah, because he felt guilty for treating her so badly. And it’s also quite possible that old John just didn’t know where to stop. The real truth will never be known. What is true is that the construction of the memorial created quite a stir in Hiawatha. In the 1930’s, Hiawatha, like many small farming towns, was affected by the Great Depression that was gripping the country. Hard cash was in short supply, and old John Davis was erecting an outrageous memorial to his dead wife when,  according to angry residents of the town, he should have been helping the living by building a hospital or helping out his fellow citizens.

Estimates of final cost of the memorial range from about $200,000 to $500,000 - a tidy sum for the times. At first, monument dealer Horace England tried to talk Davis out of his plans. Davis told England that if he didn’t want to work withhim because of the ill feelings of the townsfolk, although Davis would understand, he would find another memorial dealer who would carry out his wishes. England relented and plans were drawn up for a granite canopy that looks something like a carport. The canopy, emblazoned with the Davis name, would shelter the graves of Sarah and John. Also sheltered by the canopy would be marble statues, carved in Carrera, Italy, of John and Sarah dressed to the nines commemorating their 50th wedding anniversary. The statues would be positioned to face their headstones. While this monumental assembly might be a bit grand by Hiawatha standards, it’s easy to see why a man with sufficient resources might want to build a tribute to his wife and their marriage.

The canopy and statues were assembled and erected in 1931. But, John Davis just couldn’t seem to stop with one pair of statues. "I thought it still looked too bare, so I got me another pair." Davis said, referring to the second set of statues he commissioned. The two new additions depicted John and Sarah in 1890, 10 years after their marriage. An appropriate gesture, one might say, to bookend their life together. But not enough for Davis. What followed were a series of additions to the memorial, which give it a somewhat jumbled look. The final addition was a granite and marble wall surrounding the memorial to discourage ("kindly keep off the monument") visitors, especially children, from playing on the statues.

In early 1932, Davis deeded his two farms over to English for $31,000 to finance even more statuary. The third pair, installed that summer, were seated figures of John and Sarah in 1898. This pair features John Davis clean shaven, an accurate depiction of him at the time since his flowing beard had caught on fire in a raging brush fire and he went clean shaven for a period of time. Now there were six statues. Next in the series were a depiction of the couple after John suffered a hedge trimming accident in 1908. Viewers will note that the statue of John is missing its left hand, a result of the accident. Up to this point, all of the statues had been carved out of marble.

For the next set, Davis chose granite because he thought it was better for a man’s features. Sarah is missing, her absence represented by a vacant chair. For the final set of figures, Davis returned to marble. Sarah is seen as an angel kneeling before John’s grave. It is a very interesting angel. The face does not have the usual young, angelic look. It is the face of Sarah, wise and worn with the passage of time. And John’s face? Well, apparently it’s at the bottom of a local lake. In 1990, vandals beheaded the statue and left a note saying they had tossed it in a nearby reservoir. A few years ago the lake was drained, but the head was not found. By 1937 most of the work had been done. It delighted Davis to sit in his rocking chair underneath a tree near the memorial and watch the reaction of visitors. Sometimes he would even greet them.