Page 34 - Abraham Lincoln Hearse Narrative

SEVENTH PROGRESS UPDATE – OCTOBER 2014 THROUGH DECEMBER 2015 – PJ STAAB II
As you know by now, the Abraham Lincoln Hearse build began in November 2013
with a simple question . . . can the Staab Family find a suitable hearse for the 2015 Lincoln
Funeral re-enactment?
The real pressure begins to mount in October 2014. This begins with my first trip as
the project coordinator to visit with Jack Feather at Tombstone Hearse and Trike Company in
Tombstone, Arizona and Eric Hollenbeck at The Blue Ox Mill Veterans program in Eureka,
California.
The timeline was on track but had many details to figure out before the 2015 dedication
of the Abraham Lincoln Hearse in Springfield, Illinois. This timeline was hardly sufficient to
accommodate such a task. To this day, I am still amazed how it was accomplished.
Having never done anything like this, I began to realize that we needed to make
numerous site inspections and record the progress of the build. These travels began to build
upon my emotional stress, but when I got down on myself, I just thought of what Abraham
Lincoln must have had to endure in his travels to keep the Nation together. Needless to say,
the task I endured paled in comparison to Lincoln which in turn motivated my family to
continue the pursuit of this noble project.
The chronology of the photo illustrations contained herein are but a few of thousands
of photos taken to help convey the story of the Abraham Lincoln Hearse build.
There are many, many people I met along the way, each deserving of recognition
for their efforts. These people include numerous reporters, journalists, historians, as well
as television and radio personalities from all over the nation. Their stories can be found in
various forms including newspapers, magazines, radio, television and online. Some are noted
in the later pages of this publication.
If you get a sense of confusion, chaos, stress, fatigue, disappointment . . . humility,
victory, success, honor . . . then you have gotten the point. All of these emotions in the truest
sense were present and still are.

Jack clearing mind with PJ Staab on cross Jack Feather researching lanterns on cross
country tour October 6, 2014. country tour with PJ Staab October 6, 2014.

34