Artist shares inspirational story

Bill Wedekind

Inspirational. That is often the first word people think of when they hear Bill Wedekind's story.

With the hum of the potter's wheel, he skillfully crafts his artwork. However, he never has the chance to stand back and admire his work. Why? Wedekind lost his sight and both hands while fighting in the Vietnam War. But he hasn't let that destroy his creative spirit.

"That's a decision I had to make ... whether to crawl off in a corner and feel sorry for myself and die, or get up and make the best out of what I’ve got left," he said.

Wedekind visited the Emporia State University campus last week to tell his story and showcase some of his work.

From the moment you meet him, you are taken by the fact that he doesn’t act disabled. Wedekind captured the attention of a full audience at Karl Bruder Theatre in King Hall as he told his courageous story of how he stepped into a North Vietnamese booby trap which left without sight and hands.

His personal testimony was not a sad one, but one of courage and molded together with determination and lots of light heartiness and jokes.

After the accident Wedekind spent the next year and a half in Veterans Hospitals. Wounded and disabled he came home to Kansas with all hopes of a “would be” career vanished.

One would think there would be some bitterness, but Wedekind’s determination and positive attitude would not hear of it. “None,” Wedekind said. “It was a job and I love my country.”

Once home he began thinking about how to make a living. His grandmother had a possible solution – why not be a potter. “Is she crazy,” Wedekind said. “After all I could not see what I was doing, much less feel it.” But the seed was planted.

The educational knowledge of how to make pottery was the easy part for Wedekind; it was the actual application that would cause some problems.

Again, his courage and determination overshadowed all obstacles. He found a doctor that would take the bones of his forearms and make them into two large fingers, which would work in a pincher-like fashion, allowing him to grasp and feel. He had the first arm operation completed in 1969 and the other in 1973. It took him years to learn how to control the muscles and master their use in making pottery.

“If you want to do something, nobody can do it but you,” Wedekind said. “You can’t live in the past and worry about what if. I am doing something I truly love to do.”

Wedekind and his wife Diana have been married for 15 years and with combined families have seven children and five grandchildren. Diana glazes his pottery.

“Bill wants everyone to have a piece of his pottery and to use it,” Diana said. “Bill wants disabled people to know that the key is wanting to do something. If you want to, you can.”

“Mr. Wedekind is definitely an inspiration to all and an encouragement,” said Erica Manning, a sophomore accounting major. “He is definitely a living testimony and his life is a truly a blessing.”

Last Updated July 2, 2007>