Dance of Life sculture to honor late Cape Girardeau community leader

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KBSI) – A new sculpture is being built to be on display to honor the late Rex Rust.

He was a community leader and businessman in Cape Girardeau. The sculpture will be named the Dance of Life.

Those who have made contributions to help fund the project say the scultpture will bring joy and inspiration and a sense of community to all who experience it.

Rex was loved by many in the community. Lifelong friends of Rex and city council members say Rex knew how to dance.

“When he passed away two-and-a-half years ago, that was a big loss for our community and our whole church,” said Brett Cheek. “When I think about Rex, the first thing that comes to mind about his involvement at church. As much as he was involved in lots of things is he and Sherry’s commitment to helping marriages be better. They really spent a lot of time investing in other people’s marriages through mentoring, through modeling, through helping provide events for other people to grow. They just saw that as an area of need and a passion that they had personally. They helped dozens and dozens if not hundreds of couples here.”

Workers began drilling soil samples for the Dance of Life project in the roundabout in the intersection of Route W and Lexington Avenue.

“I think one of the things that always struck me about Rex is how humble he was,” said Cheeck. “He would take the time to be a learner in just about every situation. He took me out to coffee more than once to ask questions from me when I was much younger, much less educated. I felt like I should have been learning from him and he took the initiative to be learning from me. That’s a rare characteristic in people. I saw that consistently from him through the years.”

The project is estimated to take between nine and 11 months to complete.