Neal Coates of Abilene, Texas, often reflects on how deeply Abilene Christian University has shaped his life. It’s where he and Cynthia, his wife, were both students in the 1980s. Neal’s four siblings, and Cynthia’s three, also graduated from ACU. Neal’s parents had been professors at the university, and Cynthia’s mother was a long-time employee in the ACU Library. In addition, Abilene Christian was the college Neal and Cynthia’s children attended. Finally, since 1999, Neal has been a professor of Government and Criminal Justice at ACU, and he now chairs that department. In short, he has an unusually strong and sentimental special relationship with ACU, a place loved by Cynthia and their extended family.
But it was after Cynthia’s all too early passing at the age of 57 in the year 2021 that Neal especially pondered her life and the connections they both had to the University. During this time of loss, Neal thought back more than two and half decades earlier, while attending graduate school at the University of Connecticut, where he regularly walked on that campus past a stone sculpture of a large book. So in 2021, Neal decided to create a work of art at ACU in tribute of his wife. He would commission a stone book sculpture to honor the life and family they built together, installed on the very campus they cherished.
“That sculpture I saw long ago carried a sense of timelessness and permanence, which are the same qualities found in natural stone and in the stories preserved in books,” Coates said. “I wanted my moments with Cynthia to live on in that same timeless space, through a memorial sculpture of my own. And since she loved books, and of all ages and subjects from music to language to religion, it only seemed appropriate to make something that could symbolize many disciplines when they were first beginning to be bound in modern book form. I wanted it to look like an antiquarian book. Something 500 to 300 years old.” 
Coates began to sketch his vision for the project: A thick, centuries-old book, rich with information and stories and worn from generations of use. He took his drawings to an ACU art professor who created a series of watercolors. And Coates began to search for a sculptor who could make his dream come to life. It was during this period in 2022 and 2023 that he met Susan Rickard, and with whom he came to develop a new long-term relationship. Susan had lost her husband, David, when he had passed away in 2016, also young as he was 50. Both Susan and David had attended Abilene Christian, and their two daughters were graduates. Susan had another special connection to ACU in that her father had been director of the university’s library for more than a decade.
The more Neal shared his concept with Susan, the more they felt moved to honor both Cynthia and David with the sculpture. David also loved books, including the law, theology, philosophy, and politics. Neal and Susan settled on the title The Book. “Our previous families are important in our histories and shaped who we were when we found each other,” Coates said. “We thought this was a beautiful idea that would fit seamlessly into this memorial sculpture.” Neal and Susan married in 2023, and that same year received permission from ACU to accept the project they had decided to commission and fund.
On the recommendation of a colleague at ACU, who was a professor of art and design, Coates was introduced to Coldspring, a company known for its wide-ranging natural stone memorial and commercial projects. Neal soon discovered that Coldspring, though headquartered in Minnesota, owned quarries across the United States including one near to Abilene. That quarry, in Marble Falls, Texas, had supplied the pink granite used for the iconic Texas State Capitol building in Austin more than a century earlier. Because pink had been Cynthia’s favorite color, the choice for stone seemed almost preordained.
Coldspring has many decades of work designing small and large projects from natural stone for shipment anywhere but had never produced a large book sculpture, so the company was eager to take on the challenge. “The great staff at Coldspring had never fabricated a giant book, but they have filled tens of thousands of orders for mausoleums and grave markers and road projects and very large jobs including the national memorials to Franklin Roosevelt and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Washington D.C.,” Neal said. “This book was going to be unique for them, one piece that was going to reflect what Susan and I wanted to say in essence about our first spouses.”
Together, Neal and Susan Coates and Coldspring chose Sunset® Red granite from the Marble Falls quarry for the custom job. Its coarse grain, pink-red tones, and black markings give the stone depth and character, making it perfect for achieving both the desired color and timeless look of a weathered, well-worn book. In the spring of 2024, a large stone was extracted from the Marble Falls Quarry and shipped to the Coldspring fabrication facility in Cold Spring, Minnesota.
A designer at Coldspring took Neal’s initial drawings and the watercolors and produced a computer-generated digital model of the memorial sculpture and shop drawings. The model was then fed into a Computer Numerical Control machine which allowed for precise computer guidance and diamond-coated tools to then automate initial cutting, shaping, and later sand blasting. This fabrication work on The Book began in July 2024.
Cut by cut, the process ran 24 hours a day for several weeks until the once-nondescript slab of granite took the form of a massive, antiquarian book. After a Coldspring artisan attended to the details and final polishing, a process that took more than two weeks, the completed piece was carried via truck to Abilene and arrived at ACU for installation in mid-October 2024. The piece’s new home was located next to the newly built Dillard Science and Research Center.
Ground preparation at the site had begun six weeks earlier, which included pouring a concrete slab of 40 feet diameter, with the middle area of 8 foot by 4 feet being nine inches deep to bear the immense weight of the sculpture. Spreading out from the rectangular central area, there are seven joints in the concrete upon which The Book sits, designating the seven children of Neal and Susan. The large circle is surrounded by a two-foot wide Oklahoma flagstone border, from the state David Rickard was born. Two decorative sidewalks lead to the display area and are joined by four lights. Three benches were placed around the edges of the circular area, and a landscape area was included for red yuccas and a dessert willow and display plaques. Two cedar elms and a live oak were planted outside the circular area, and new irrigation was installed.
The landscaped area also is the site for three limestone pedestals, two of which have plaques telling the life story of Cynthia and David. A center plaque describes the subject artwork, and reads, “The Book: A Tribute to Cynthia Coates and David Rickard. Cynthia and David’s avid reading and love for God’s Word led their spouses to dedicate this Texas Pink Granite book in their memory. This sculpture represents the great works of all disciplines, whether the Geneva Bible, Galileo’s Starry Messenger, Milton’s Paradise Lost, Grotius’ Mare Liberum, or Copernicus’ Revolutions. It also symbolizes the impact of education on the children of Cynthia and David, who as adults were all graduates of Abilene Christian University. Dedicated by Neal Coates and Susan Rickard Coates, October, 2024”
On October 28, 2024, the official dedication ceremony for the sculpture was held, with over 100 people present. Coldspring crafted The Book so that it measures 10 feet long, 6 and half feet wide, and three and a half feet tall. The sculpture is designed to appear as a work from several hundred years ago, a book read many times. It has a worn leather cover, no longer with a smooth and flat appearance. The pages are somewhat wavy, and the spine has a torn place where some of the signature sections can be seen. “Coldspring was very true to our ideas, and they also incorporated some of their touches such as the marks on the cover to make it look weathered and used,” Neal explained. “It is a closed book, but ready to be opened again.”
The 40,000 pound memorial sculpture is rich with symbolic details honoring Neal’s and Susan’s late spouses and their children. Seven hubs along the spine of The Book record the number of combined children, including a child lost in infancy to Cynthia. The sculpted 50 pages signify the age of David at his passing, and seven additional, darker pages pay tribute to the age of Cynthia when she died. And for Neal and Susan, the use of a book in artful form to communicate that past learning is the foundation for future learning is a vital message. “Although this sculpture carries deep personal meaning for us, we always intended it to invite broader interpretation,” Neal Coates said. “We are deeply thankful for how beautifully this came together. What Coldspring has fabricated will provide others with a source of reflection, connection, and inspiration for generations to come.”
Today, The Book commands attention as a monumental art display at Abilene Christian University. Students, staff, and visitors often stop to absorb the scale of the natural stone sculpture, comment on the craftmanship, and notice the unusual features. It is Neal and Susan’s hope that many people will continue to appreciate The Book, for ACU teachers to meet their students at the circle, and for all to consider how God is moving in His creation. Coldspring’s work has made this possible.
To discover more about the kinds of creations Coldspring has made with our materials, reach out to us today.
