Welcome to the LSE Class of '65 Website

• For narrative highlights of the 60th Reunion - check the Recap Page AND its Attachments.
• For photo highlights of the 60th Reunion - check the Photo Gallery Pages FOR Classmates, Features & Tours.
• For previous "HAPPENING IN LINCOLN" postings see the archives page.

Happening in Lincoln---- 
YOU MAY REMEMBER….
At the 60^th Reunion last year, Wyuka Cemetery Stables hosted classmates and guests, who heard public art advocate Liz Shea-McCoy and Nebraska’s former Adjutant General Roger Lempke describe their efforts to save, restore and repurpose the Pershing Mural. A local nonprofit led a donation-match project just days after our reunion ended. The LSE Class of ‘65 donated $1827.50 to the Lincoln Community Foundation for the Pershing Mural Project. Our gift was doubled, so the Pershing Project received $3655.00 from our class.

HERE'S AN UPDATE: Lincoln Journal Star Feb. 22, 2026
'Colors are Exploding’: Inside the Painstaking Pershing Mural Restoration

When Tim Kenny arrived in Nebraska in 1994, his first day in town began with a job interview for the Nebraska Investment Finance Authority in downtown Lincoln. Nervous, he decided to take a short walk beforehand to calm himself.

As he turned onto Centennial Mall, a 140-foot mural loomed above him on the side of the Pershing Center.

“These guys in Nebraska — they’re real serious. They’re serious about their art,” Kenny remembers thinking.

As southeast Nebraska became home for his family, the Pershing Center grew more familiar, especially because Kenny spoke there each year to FFA chapters as part of his work.

“Before the speech, I’d stand out there and deliver my speech to the Pershing mural,” Kenny said. “And it always said, ‘Good job.’”

Decades later, when the San Antonio native heard about an effort to save the mural with the Pershing Center set to come down, he felt immediately compelled to help arts advocate Liz Shea-McCoy with the Pershing Mural Historic Preservation Project.

Liz Shea-McCoy, from right, Roger Lempke, Tim Kenny, Mike McCullough and Luke Holle stand on the Pershing mural assembled in a warehouse in west Lincoln on Feb. 12. The group has been busy preparing the 763,000 tiles for installation in Wyuka Cemetery later this year.

In the first, the rescue phase, nearly $900,000 was raised to remove the 763,000 tiles from the downtown wall. The mural was carefully taken down in one-foot sections using tack paper and labeled to mark its precise location. Crews then laid the pieces on 4-by-8-foot plywood, and the 190 sheets were transported to a climate-controlled warehouse for storage.

Last summer, a concrete wall about 50 feet tall, with 40 feet dedicated to the artwork, was installed at Wyuka Cemetery, the mural’s future home. 

Phase two has required about $1 million in funding for restoration as crews clean and prepare the mural for its new home.

For the past six months, a small crew has worked inside a west Lincoln warehouse donated by Steve Miers to house the tiles. For most of that time, they only saw the backs of the tiles until they began flipping each one, revealing the vibrant colors as they pieced the puzzle together.

Daniel Holle arranges Pershing mural tiles on Feb. 12 at a warehouse in west Lincoln.

“The colors are just exploding,” Kenny said.

The restoration has also allowed the committee to appreciate the mural’s artistry, symbolism and storytelling. Kenny said there are nods to Nebraska history, detailed topography, and even touches of humor woven in by the artists.

Committee member Roger Lempke said he was struck by how bright and glossy the mural looks now that each tile has been cleaned and buffed.

Though often described as 763,000 tiles, Lempke said many of them are actually two meticulously cut pieces, set by each other to soften overall shapes in the mural.

Another difficult task has required tile setter Luke Holle, owner of Superboy Construction, to color-match replacements for the several hundred tiles lost over time. So far, he has identified 35 distinct colors used in the mural.

Luke Holle is the tile setter for the Pershing mural project.

After cleaning and replacing missing tiles, each tile must be assembled with precise spacing before being rehung.

While Holle is relatively new to the project, he plays a key role in preparing the tiles for reinstallation.

“If the sheets aren’t perfect, no big deal over 10 feet, but over 140 feet, things can get really out of control,” Holle said.

He estimates only a few more days of warehouse work remain, though installation must wait for warmer weather. Holle hopes to begin placing the mural in March or April, when temperatures consistently stay above 40 degrees.

Tiles from the former Pershing Center mural will be affixed to a 350,000-pound concrete wall built north of a recently refurbished pond and bridge on the western edge of Wyuka Cemetery. 

When phase three, reinstallation, begins, Holle said he expects it will take about 60 working days. An additional $2 million has been raised to fund mounting the mural onto the new wall.

Holle, whose typical projects include residential showers and floors, said the scale may be enormous, but the concept is straightforward.

“It’s just a giant kitchen backsplash,” Holle said.

If everything goes as planned, Holle and his team will have the mural installed in June, allowing landscapers time to complete finishing touches ahead of a ribbon-cutting in the fall.

With funding secured for the installation, the committee has turned its focus to the final phase: community connection. Organizers hope to raise an additional $700,000 to $900,000 to transform the site into a gathering place that fosters new memories for Nebraskans.

“What we discovered is that this mural is not only an artwork itself, it’s an icon. It’s a memory icon for a lot of people, for exciting things that happen in their lives,” Kenny said. “We really need to recreate that experience; recreate that opportunity for new people, new generations.”

The Pershing mural is laid out in segments in a warehouse in west Lincoln.

Plans for the space include landscaping and areas for community engagement, such as a garden showcasing work by local artists.

“It’s really kind of this wonderful fusion of not only the artistic ambition and the generosity of Nebraskans, but this culture that’s coming back to a point where people say, ‘Where I came from, and my people, and my community, and the place where we live is really important,’” Kenny said.