Norma "Duffy" Lyon died of a stroke on Sunday. Duffy raised nine children on the family dairy farm near Toledo. She is best know for being the Butter Cow Lady. Duffy Lyon first sculpted a cow from butter for the Iowa State Fair in 1960. She crafted 46 of the butter cow sculptures the fair has displayed over the past 100 years.
We will miss Duffy's creative talent and the art she sculpted out of butter. But she didn't leave without mentoring her successor.
Duffy Lyon retired in 2006 and Sarah Pratt of West Des Moines took over, becoming just the 5th butter cow sculptor in the history of the fair. Pratt, a friend of the Lyon's family growing up, began working with Duffy at the fair when she was 13 years old, but only doing small chores and not actually sculpting. Their relationship grew, and soon Duffy Lyon was telling everyone Pratt would be the one to replace her when she retired, well before Pratt ever considered herself qualified.
"She always had so much confidence in me," Pratt said. "She always had something new to teach me, whether we were talking about sculpting, about life or about cows. I'll miss that opportunity to learn from her. She was very generous with her time and she gave me so much. She is the only art training I had. So, everything I know and have learned is from her. She was very patient with me and taught me so much about art and about life,”
Lyon and Pratt had accepted an invitation to be grand marshals for the State Fair Parade in August in honor of the 100-year anniversary of the Iowa State Fair butter cow sculpture. Rather than have her long-time mentor and friend at her side, Sarah will be riding in the parade alone.
Sarah may be alone, but she isn't unprepared. Her mentor has passed on, but not before passing down the craft of sculpting in butter and the art of creating a life worth living. You see, anyone can live a life, but only a mentor can shape one!
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