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Bob Legate of Elsah, his father and children all turned out for the tribute to their cousin - Robert Wadlow - on Saturday.
When the ceremony moved to the life-size statue of Robert, family were asked to sit in chairs reserved in front. Robert’s younger brother, Harold Wadlow Jr., was his sibling to die in 2001.
Legate said this was something he wanted his girls to see.
“I love history and I have a lot of interest in Robert Wadlow,” he said. “I took the girls to an event with the woman who was then the world’s tallest woman – Sandy Allen – on the 75th anniversary of his birth.”
Bob Legate said his grandfather went to school with Robert and always shared stories about the world’s tallest man.
“My grandfather used to talk about Robert coming to family reunions,” Legate said. “He always said Robert wasn’t as agile as the other kids because of his size. My grandfather said he was a great guy and the family didn’t look at him as being unusual, but just Robert. It is very unfortunate he passed at such a young age.”
Kayri Reynolds, one of Bob’s daughters, of Grafton, said they always heard about their famous relative from their dad and was interested to see the artifacts.
“Just from the stories I heard, he sounds like a kind person,” she said. “I haven’t heard any negative stories about him.”
