Well-known Joseph artist J. Shirly Bothum, 65, who spent the first part of his life as a working cowboy, died Monday at Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane, Wash. Bothum’s death was reportedly the results of a heart attack he suffered Friday night in Lewiston, where he’d been at work installing a bronze sculpture of Sacajawea. The piece was one of a three-piece bronze commemorating the explorations of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, a commission awarded Bothum by the Lewiston Parks and Recreation Department.

A service for Bothum has been scheduled at 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 25, in the Joseph Community Center. A visitation is also scheduled Friday, Jan. 24, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Merchant Funeral Home in Clarkston, Wash.

“He was a close friend. This is the worse loss we’ve ever had,” said Steve Parks, owner of Parks Bronze Foundry where Bothum’s bronzes were cast.

“He never had a bad word to say about anybody,” said Parks. He noted that Bothum had friends all over the country from many different worlds, including rodeo, art and horse shows. Parks has been asked by Bothum’s wife, Judy, to complete the installation of the Lewis and Clark bronze pieces in Lewiston.

According to Lynn Moss, director of the of the Lewiston parks department, a dedication ceremony for Bothum’s Lewis and Clark sculpture had been expected to be scheduled near the end of February. “Now we’ll wait to talk to the family,” he said.

Moss said that Bothum had been in Lewiston several days last week, working on the framework for his sculptures and had just put the Sacajawea piece in place Friday, with the help of a city worker. “He was doing all the work himself,” said Moss. He apparently went out to dinner with his wife that evening, when he began experiencing symptoms, and went to the hospital in Lewiston. He was subsequently airlifted to Spokane, where he was listed in critical condition until his death Monday.

Bothum is one of eight sons of a Kansas farmer who moved with his family to rural Woodburn, Oregon, when he was a youth. He started breaking and shoeing horses when he was about 14 and went on to become a saddle bronc rider at rodeos from Cheyene to Calgary to Pendleton. He was a past saddle bronc champion at Chief Joseph Days, and has been involved in putting on the rodeo as a member of the Chief Joseph Days committee, working as chute boss and slack time announcer.

His work includes a piece that is one of Joseph’s permanent Main St. sculptors, a Nez Perce on horseback, titled “Tracking the Intruder,” located in front of the Sports Corral.

Bothum’s survivors in addition to wife Judy, include three daughters and six grandchildren.

Steve Parks, an artist in addition to being a foundry owner, said that someday he would like to create a sculpture of his friend, J. Shirly Bothum. “I’d make it a little larger than life, just like he was,” said Parks.