Honoring a Basque saint...

From left, Debbie Nikkila, museum volunteer, Mayor Tom Rist and Museum Director Debbie Shoemaker, accept the statue from Tom Wheeler, Navada Wheeler, and Mary and Gib Wheeler.

A new display at the Mountain Home Historical Museum has a deep, personal meaning for Tom Wheeler and his family.

A man who can trace his Basque heritage back more than 150 years, Wheeler pointed to the wooden, hand-carved statue on the nearby counter.

Measuring less than two feet tall, it bears the image of Saint Valentin Faustino Berriochoa -- a man who dedicated his life in the name of Christianity.

The man is also one of Wheeler's distant relatives.

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