Robert Russin

[1] Russin maintained several residences, including one in Centennial, Wyoming;[1] in the foothills of the Snowy Range and another in Green Valley, Arizona, where he lived during the winter.

[2] His sculpting skills garnered increased recognition, including a Ford Foundation Fellowship to work in Italy and study the Renaissance masters.

Russin also won a commission to create the "Spirit of Life" fountain at the City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, California, which was officially dedicated in 1967.

[1] A Russin sculpture of three steelworkers dated 1942 adorns the wall in the U.S. Post Office of the former steel mill town of Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.

[4] In 1969, after Interstate 80 was built, state officials moved the monument to become a centerpiece at the Summit Rest Area and Visitor Center between the cities of Cheyenne and Laramie.

[1] However, the travels of Lincoln's bust began more than a decade earlier and thousands of miles to the south of Sherman Hill and the Summit Rest Area.

Russin built the 4,500-pound bronze bust in Mexico during a period of 11 months using some 10 tons of clay in a lost-wax process of casting.

"The statute [sic] came up from Mexico with armed guards from the Mexican Army, because they were afraid that someone was going to steal it", said the late sculptor's son, Joe Russin, in an interview for the Laramie Boomerang.

[1] Before his death, the sculptor had requested that he be buried near his favorite sculpture, Abraham Lincoln's bust, east of Laramie at the Summit Rest Area and Visitor Center.

[7] The family held a memorial service celebrating the sculptor's life in the visitor center, including comments by the Wyoming governor and state senator and ambassador to Guatemala Tom Stroock, according to the Casper Star Tribune.