For 75 years now, two bronze life-size figures of teenagers have been standing proud inside the front doors of what used to be Steuben Junior High School.
Steuben closed in 2004 and gave up the building to Milwaukee French Immersion School, but still the statues keep watch, chins up and sights set on however bright the future looked in 1941.
Tarnished plaques on each pedestal say one statue is called Male Student, the other Female Student.
But to 89-year-old Leroy Konrath, that bronze boy was his classmate, Earle Albright, who posed for the sculptor. Konrath called to tell me that he spotted Albright’s death notice in the Journal Sentinel this month, and he drove to the school at 2360 N. 52nd St. to tell them, too, and see if the statues remain.
“Sure enough, there they are just as big as life,” said Konrath, a retired police officer living in Fox Point.
He also remembers the girl model’s name, Jean Zilavy, who was in his class, as well. I found Jean in Florida, very much alive and nearing 90 years old.
To be fair, other students also posed for the statues, according to a Milwaukee Journal article from June of 1941. The story mentions Zilavy and says she was an excellent model who did much of the posing for the girl figure. The boy was said to be a composite, though Konrath can still picture Albright doing the honors.