Sculptor named son for Will Rogers

Danny Welchel of Bluff Dale, Texas, passed away this summer but he left a Will Rogers legacy. A mainstay at western collectible shows and artist in his own right, he had a Will Rogers story to tell, according to Bobby Newton, publisher of Rope Burns.

Newton remembers a story Welchel, a great Will Rogers’ fan and collector of Will memorabilia, told about visiting the Claremore Will Rogers Memorial with his son.

Welchel put his son on the horse in front of the Memorial (the Electra Wagner statue now on the grounds below the Rogers’ tomb) to take a picture.

A caretaker immediately told him he couldn’t do that; it was against the rules, Welchel’s story goes.

It was then Welchel told him his son was named, Will, after the famous cowboy.
“Take all the photos you want,” he said he was told, and the two never forgot the wonderful experience of visiting Claremore, Newton said.

Welchel has created many western bronzes and purchased Robert Summers’ Will Rogers bronze cast for Academy of Western Artists when Sumrall was artist of the year.