Vern Mesler started at LCC in 1976, building a second career as an adjunct welding instructor. He wrote two of the courses still taught in the Welding Program, led a popular non-credit class called Creative Welding and Metalwork, and worked with LCC’s Business & Community Institute to provide customized training to industry partners. LCC recognized Mesler’s impact during the Aug. 17 Service Awards, honoring him for his 50 years of service and his positive influence on thousands of students.

For his part, Mesler turned the thanks back to his colleagues. “I would like to express my appreciation to Technical Careers Dean Shon'ta Dwyer and her staff at West Campus and all my welding colleagues for this special day of recognition,” Mesler wrote on Facebook after the event. “I would also like to express my thanks and appreciation to the many past administrators and colleagues who gave me the exceptional opportunity to teach, creative opportunities, and the support for my work in iron and steel preservation.”

Mesler’s lasting influence on LCC extends to its physical space. He helped fabricate several sculptures around campus, including the colorful “Sail” outside the Gannon Building StarZone entrance and the gears outside West Campus’ main entrance. His favorite, though, is a 1989 sculpture of the Capitol Dome that lives on the wall of a stairwell in the Gannon Building. That project was inspired by a trip down the street to inspect the dome's original interior metal framework.

His craftsmanship also lives on in many of Michigan’s historic bridges, notably at Historic Bridge Park in Calhoun County, home to five metal-truss bridges. Mesler led a team in restoring these bridges over 10 years, taking the time to honor their original craftsmen by learning historic techniques such as wrought-iron repair and riveting. It was the beginning of a new passion for Mesler, melding his love of history with his love for metal fabrication.

“I want [park visitors] to look at the parts. I want them to look at the pieces,” Mesler said in an interview with WCMU’s Destination Michigan that aired in 2023. “I want them to look at the eyebar, I want them to look at the rivets, I want them to look at the design of the bridge. … Every part has a story. Every bridge here has a story.”

Since the Calhoun County project, Mesler has shared his passion for preservation with a new audience of students, offering workshops and demonstrations across the country. He also runs a popular newsletter, Iron & Steel Preservation Chronicle, and coordinates the Iron & Steel Preservation Conference & Workshop at West Campus.

Mesler will retire from LCC at the end of the fall semester, cleaning out his Welding Lab locker and turning in his numerous building keys. What he will miss most, he says, is interacting with the other faculty and with LCC students.

“As I look back over my 88 years, I got up every morning and did the best I could,” Mesler wrote on Facebook. “Some approved, some disapproved, but at the end of the day, I was determined to do better the next day.”

Congratulations, Vern, and thank you!

 

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