At the eighth annual Edward Taylor Coombs Foundation’s scholarship award dinner, more than 60 silent auction items lined the tables at Commonwealth National Golf Club’s Manor House.
One item purposely missing from the tables was a handmade clay sculpture of a lacrosse-wielding figure modeled after an Iroquois Native American and Edward Taylor Coombs, the namesake for a greater Philadelphia nonprofit organization.
Dave Faust, a dentist by trade who took to sculpting about four years ago, decided to make a sculpture for auction after ETC Foundation Executive Board member and founder Eric Coombs asked him to.
“I said ‘done,’” Faust, a long-time friend of the Coombs family, said.
He researched the Iroquois tribe to arrive at the right look for the lacrosse-wielding figure. Faust then spent 12 to 16 hours shaping the clay and carving in fine detail, including Edward’s #34 representative of his jersey number at Marist College. Along the bottom Faust added the Foundation’s motto, “Play Fast, Live Slow.”
“He was a special kid,” Faust said of Edward, adding that his stature added to the challenge of “getting it so I thought it was a wow.”
For the Coombs family, it wowed perhaps too much. So much, in fact, that Tina Coombs, Edward’s mother, could not bear to part with the one-of-a-kind sculpture.
Irene Waitzman of Cruise Planners, the golf outing’s tournament sponsor for the last eight years, stepped in to make sure the unique creation stayed in the Coombs family.
“There was talk back and forth about being able to take advantage of any opportunity to raise money,” Waitzman said. “But, it’s such a personal gift.”
Continuing her long-standing support, Waitzman contributed $1,000 to the Foundation to purchase the sculpture. She then gave Faust’s creation back to the Coombs family.
Although she never knew Edward, Waitzman met Tina Coombs around the time of his death. The two had an instant connection. As the family began the Foundation, Waitzman said supporting such a noble cause was a no-brainer.
“They do such a great job,” she said. “It feels so good to know you give your donation and you see it right away (in the scholarship award recipients).”
Faust plans to create another sculpture for the 2020 golf outing.
“I’m already thinking about next year,” he said.
