At the LIRR Mineola station, a majestic 20-feet tall bronze sculpture titled “Bessie and Roxey” by the artist Donald Lipski playfully commemorates two separate but interconnected figures of Long Island history. Aviator Bessica (Bessie) Raiche and Roxey, the LIRR dog, are joined in a pose reminiscent of the Statue of Liberty, forever preserving their stories of courage and determination.

Lipski deeply researched the history of the figures and their ties to Mineola before embarking on creating the sculpture. On September 16, 1910, Raiche became the first woman in the United States accredited with piloting an airplane solo. She and her husband built the biplane she flew in their Mineola home and later started their own company in the town building aircrafts and giving flying lessons. Roxey, Raiche’s companion in the sculpture, became the LIRR mascot after he found his way to Garden City Station on a train in 1901. Roxey was beloved by railroad crew and passengers and held an official pass to sit wherever he chose while train hopping. On several occasions, the LIRR dog traveled with President Theodore Roosevelt in his private car to Oyster Bay and visited the President’s home at Sagamore Hill. After years of traveling across Long Island, he passed away in 1914. Loyal commuters continue to freshen his water bowl where he lies in rest next to Sunrise Highway at Merrick Station. A plaque further detailing the lives of Bessie and Roxey is located on the station house exterior near the sculpture.

Standing on a stone base, the towering duo can be seen in the station plaza and from across the platform. Lipski collaborated with Christopher Collins, modeling artist, to create the figures. Art Castings of Colorado fabricated the towering project in bronze and finished the sculpture in a patina, giving the sculpture an immediate sense of history. 
 

Donald Lipski is a sculptor who creates large-scale sculptural installations in public places. His work explores how context transforms meaning through a whimsical combination of materials and site. Over the course of his career, he has been awarded National Endowment of the Arts grants for both Sculpture and Conceptual Art. Additionally, he was granted fellowships with the New York Foundation on the Arts and the Guggenheim. His work is included in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and many other institutions. He holds a BA from the University of Wisconsin—Madison and an MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art, Michigan.