Sensational Cen-Tec Cast Metal Products

The Michael Landon Collingswood Lake Bench Project would not have been possible without the great people at Cen-Tec Cast Metal Products in Fremont OH. It's been an amazing journey from the moment we knew we needed a plaque, to the moment we picked up the finished product.  

First of all came the decision to do this – to raise the money and place a memorial bench on Newton Lake, the place where a young Michael Landon found refuge in fishing and dreaming.  We contacted the mayor of Collingswood, who pointed us to the people of the Camden County Parks District.  We were thrilled to find out that Camden County already had a memorial bench project in place.  This simplified matters as well as speeded them up. 

Perhaps a little too much!

The Camden County bench project was established to honor loved ones.  Each memorial bench is accompanied by a 9" x 15" plaque.  The parks district provides the bench and has specifics for the plaque.  It has to be of cast bronze, 1" thick, and so on.  Normally they allow up to six words on the plaque, such as 'In loving memory of John T. Smith'.  For Michael Landon’s many accomplishments we needed more!  After some discussion, the people of the parks district graciously agreed to ten! 

'In Loving Memory of Michael Landon, Actor, Writer, Director, Producer' (chosen in that order to reflect the order of his accomplishments.) 

Once we had chosen the wording, we searched for a company to make the actual plaque.  Several were contacted and submitted possible designs.  At this point we were looking at a words only plaque, with no image.  The company that stood out was Cen-tec Cast Metal Products, a small independent firm in Fremont OH.  Their contact person, Lisa Mitten, was quick to respond, kind, and helpful, and after a couple of email exchanges admitted she was a HUGE Michael Landon fan. 

It was fated to be and our choice was made!

Next came the plaque design itself.  Lisa submitted several to us with words only, and then asked that we wait a few days to make our final decision as she had ‘a few others’ she would like us to look at.  When they came through we were blown away.  The words were accompanied by an image and were wonderful. 

So it was really Lisa who got the ball rolling on the plaque design we eventually chose.

Next came permission to use one of the images and this took us to Andrew J. Klyde, archivist and licensor for BONANZA Ventures who graciously granted us the right to use an image of Little Joe Cartwright, along with the Ponderosa ranch house.

Lisa then got to work on the plaque design, and again, it was wonderful! 

About halfway through this process our date to meet with the people of Camden County was established.  It turned out that we needed the plaque finished by the third week of August.  This was a pretty quick turnaround, especially with shortages due to Covid19, etc.  Lisa asked her boss, Allan Rellinger, and he said they would be sure to make it happen, even though it meant moving our project up ahead of others.  I was able to speak with Lisa’s boss when we picked up the plaque and, yep!, you guessed it.  His mother was a Bonanza fan and he grew up on Little House on the Prairie.  When I thanked him for his kindness and all his help, he grinned and shrugged. 

You could tell, he was happy to do it in Michael’s memory.

It is hard to express how much we owe the folks at Cen-tec.  They were with us 110% of the way from beginning to end once they knew who this plaque was for and why it was being made.  It’s hard to see just how beautiful and how marvelously crafted it is in the photos. We sincerely hope each and every one of you who contributed money to the project will be able to see this wonderful memorial plaque in person one day.

And if you ever need anything cast in bronze, be sure to go to Cen-tec! 

Your plaque.  Isn't it beautiful!  It shines just like the soul it was made to honor!