Feature Photo: 'The Family Protected by the Healing Herbs'

Patch reader Anita Heap and many others came up with the correct location for aluminum sculpture in Sunday's "Where in Royal Oak was This Photo Taken?"

Heap wrote: "Beaumont Hospital. Artwork by Marshall Fredericks."

She's correct.

The sculpture is called "The Family Protected by the Healing Herbs" and it is indeed the work of world-renowned sculptor Marshall Fredericks.

According to Beaumont Health System, the sculpture was a gift to the hospital in 1954 from Lola Jennings Erb in memory of her late husband Lewis G. Erb. It stands 16-feet tall and weighs over 300 pounds. It is made of polished aluminum.

The Star Dream Fountain near City Hall is also the work of the late Fredericks. The artist, who had a studio in Royal Oak at 4113 N. Woodward Ave., also sculpted the Leaping Gazelle to the right of the main gate of the Detroit Zoo and the famed Spirit of Detroit in front the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center in Detroit.

Discover the history of the Erb family and other early settlers at the Royal Oak Historical Society Museum’s Grand Opening of the Founding Families Exhibit, Saturday, March 23, from 1 to 6 p.m.