Al Hortman: ‘Silent Messenger’ a symbol for Shriners Hospital

Every time Laura Little drives along the stretch of Interstate 75 south of Pio Nono Avenue, she knows her head is going to be on a swivel.

Her eyes will steal a glimpse of the statue in front of the Shrine Park on Becca Drive that is visible from the interstate.

“Any time I go that way, I’m always looking over there,’’ she said. “Hopefully, there is no one pulling in front of me or else I might have a wreck.’’

The statue of a man carrying a little girl is more than 10 tons of metal, fiberglass and granite. It is 9 feet tall, rising 14.5 feet off the ground from its base.

The tale of the tape really doesn’t matter, though.

That statue is larger than life to her.

It is her father.

Al Hortman died in December 2009 in Warner Robins. He was 80 years old. His death came 23 months after the statue was dedicated at the Al Sihah Temple in Macon, where he had been a member since 1972. It is slightly more than a football field from the interstate, flanked by American, Georgia state, Shriners and POW/MIA flags.

Not many people can claim their father has his own statue, one that has twin brothers scattered across the country.

Laura’s dad was more than a local legend. He is everywhere.

That same statue is outside the International Shrine Headquarters building in Tampa, Florida, and others across the country, including Shrine temples in Atlanta, Savannah and Albany.

It stands guard at the entrances of the 22 Shriners hospitals in North America, from Greenville, South Carolina to Dallas, Texas, to Virginia Beach, Virginia, to Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Chicago, Illinois. 

His likeness can be found on letterheads, mosaics, tie tacks and stained-glass windows. 

“Most everybody has seen that statue somewhere and knows what it is,’’ Laura said. “But they have no idea the story behind it.’’

She knows the story. She was part of it on June 13, 1970. That was 55 years ago today.

When Laura was 5 months old, she could not sit up by herself. Doctors determined her hip joints were not formed properly and required medical attention. The Hortmans lived in Evansville, Indiana, and took her to the Shriners Hospital in St. Louis.

She spent two months in a cast. Her parents were only allowed to visit her on the weekends. She fully recovered and, later in life, became an avid runner. 

Hortman was so impressed with the care and treatment his daughter received, he dedicated himself to becoming a Shriner and joined the Hadi Temple in Evansville in 1968. 

Every summer, the temple rented a local amusement park and invited area children who had been patients at Shriners hospitals to attend the celebration. Laura usually went with him.

 The summer she was 13, her father noticed a 5-year-old girl with cerebral palsy having difficulty walking with crutches on the gravel paths at the park. The girl’s name was Bobbi Jo Wright. Hortman reached down and picked her up. With Laura at his side, he took Bobbi Jo with them.

“He didn’t even know Bobbi,’’ Laura said. “He just recognized she was struggling. And he made it a point that day that this was the child he was going to help.’’

Randy Dieter, a photographer for the local newspaper, spotted them on the midway. They were at too close of a range for him to focus his camera with his telephoto lens, so he rushed to get into a better position. 

Unfortunately, his camera malfunctioned, and he was only able to snap two pictures as they walked by.

“We didn’t even know he was taking our picture,’’ Laura said. 

The photo appeared on the front page of the Evansville Courier & Press the following day and broke a basic rule of photography. 

It did not show their faces.

Laura laughed. She wasn’t even in the photo. They cropped her out.

“The only way my dad knew it was him was the set of keys hanging off his belt,’’ she said. “He owned a restaurant in Evansville, and he probably kept 15 keys on that key ring.’’

It’s one thing to make the front page of a daily newspaper. It’s quite another to become an international symbol. 

The image became an icon for the nonprofit Shriners Hospitals for Children, which has been regarded as the “world’s greatest philanthropy.” Since 1922, medical services have been provided at no cost for more than 1.5 million children around the world.

The famous photo has been referred to as the “Editorial Without Words.” The statue has become known as the “Silent Messenger.” And the rallying cry for Shriners is “No Man Stands So Tall As When He Stoops To Help a Child.”

Hortman used to laugh and tell people that the iconic image  shown from behind made him the proud owner of “the most famous rear end in the world.”

  “I can remember us talking about it at the time,’’ Laura said. “But, my gosh, we had no idea how much it would change his path. Every year, he was traveling somewhere.’’

Hortman lived for 20 years in Evansville, but his roots were in Georgia. He grew up on a farm in Crawford County and served in the Korean War.

He and his wife divorced in 1972, when Laura was 15 and her older sister, Julie, was 16.

“My mother was awarded custody. But, after a couple of weeks, she dropped us off at his house, and we never looked back,’’ Laura said. “He wanted to move back to Georgia, where his family was, and he took us with him to visit for a month. He wanted to see if we liked it. It didn’t take long. He asked us if we wanted to live down here, and we both said yes.’’

Laura said being a single-parent father raising two teenage daughters should have earned her dad a special place in heaven.

On this Father’s Day weekend, she remembers him as funny and fun-loving.

“He was a very caring person,’’ she said. “He was never overbearing. We just all got along.’’

Hortman worked in the swimming pool business. He often took second jobs to provide for his family, including delivering newspapers.

He later remarried and had two step-daughters. The youngest, Donna Cline, is a local educator who will be the new principal at Alexander II Magnet School in Macon this fall.

Laura, who lives in Cochran, doesn’t need a statue to remind her of her father.

But it is a nice way to remember how much he loved and helped others. He was always lifting them up.

Ed Grisamore was the recipient of the 2012 Will Rogers Humanitarian Award, presented by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.