MARION – Ahead of Elizabeth Taber’s 229th birthday celebration and statue unveiling in August, the sixth graders at Sippican School learned about her life and importance to Marion in a lecture on Feb. 27. 

The lecture, given by Wendy Bidstrup and Tinker Saltonstall, noted the importance of Taber’s role in the funding of many buildings in Marion and the plans for a statue to commemorate her in Bicentennial Park. 

“Don’t you think it’s time that we should honor what this woman did for this town?” asked Laurie Knight, who helped show off photos of what the sculpture of Elizabeth Taber will look like. 

The students learned about how the statue was created by New Bedford sculptor Erik Durant, and how it changed from a small statue to a life-sized sculpture on a bench that Marion residents and visitors will be able to sit with. 

When the statue is unveiled in August, Saltonstall said that “you can enjoy life around the park and feel like you can be talking to her.”

Before the lecture ended, Saltonstall asked for volunteers to create signs for donation jars that would be placed in businesses around Marion for patrons to donate “$1 for Elizabeth.” 

The group also plans to bring Durant to Marion for a talk before the August unveiling.