It is the best kind of person who takes inspiration from adversity.
When Lee Soucie was laid off from his job with ONG Industries, he decided to start on a project that he’d been waiting years to do: welding a full-size Tin Man, with heart.
Playing Tin Man with heart
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 10:08 PM EST
By SCOTT WHIPPLE
Staff writerBERLIN — No one would ever confuse Berlin with the Emerald City or 7-year-old Alyssa Watrous for Judy Garland’s character, Dorothy Gale in the classic film, Wizard of Oz.
Then, too, neither Watrous nor her 4-year-old sister, Kirsten have a dog named Toto.
However, what 52-year-old Lower Lane resident Lee Soucie has done with six feet of tubing is more than pure fantasy.
Nothing against the Scarecrow or the Cowardly Lion, but Soucie, a welder with time on his hands, says as a kid he loved this most-watched movie in history. His favorite character was the guy who needed a heart — the Tin Woodman.
“My granddaughters, Alyssa and Kirsten — their mouths dropped open — when they saw what I’d done,” he says.
What Soucie did was a metal sculpture. He says for five years he had wanted to make a welding of the Tin Man.