Everyone knows it's great to have friends. But when the friends are as talented as John Fox, well, it's even better. He and George Henderson, President of Quality Systems, have known each other for many years. So in 1992, when John showed George a photograph of a fountain John had made for the owner of the Piggly Wiggly food chain, George knew he had to have one for himself.
George had long admired John's creativity when constructing elaborate trade show exhibits using foam as the base for the designs he brought to life with great skill and attention to detail. George still loves to tell the story about the realistic cemetery John made for a Halloween event at the Loews Vanderbilt Hotel in Nashville and how authentic-looking and eerie the tombstones were with names, dates, and last words from the dearly departed.
To construct the fountain, John used cubes of foam measuring three feet. He skillfully carved the foam with a hot knife and a chain saw. Once the individual pieces were assembled, he applied PermaCrete to the fountain's foam surface which was a "first" for PermaCrete at that time. The finished product was then decorated with artificial plants and various mounted birds, including a snipe, a heron, and a coot, each a prized possession of George Henderson.
The original fountain was placed in the lobby of Quality Systems' first location and remained there until the company moved to its new facility in 2003. However, during the move the fountain was damaged, and George had to call on his friend John to salvage what he could and make another fountain for the lobby of the new company headquarters. Absent the mounted birds which have been retired, the fountain you see today is much larger than the original and includes the center portion from the first fountain containing the waterfall through which the water cascades. An interesting fact is that for 13 years water has continuously flowed over a 1/8th inch layer of PermaCrete neither eroding or damaging it. The PermaCrete still looks as good as it did in 1992!
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