Former Farmington Mayor Gay Wilkerson made national news when CBS reported on his hobby of launching anvils into the air.  (CBS Reports)  No other object is shaped quite like it. Unique yet ubiquitous, it was the tool upon which all other tools were made for centuries. It is the common anvil.

"How do you feel when you're surrounded by anvils?" CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman asked anvil enthusiast Gay Wilkerson.

"I'm happy," Wilkerson said.

Although Wilkerson's garage in Farmington, Mo., is lined with anvils, this story is about a lot more than just a collection.

"Can we call it an obsession?" Hartman asked.

"I think so," Wilkerson said. "I think it is. I think it is, yeah."

About 20 years ago, Wilkerson became captivated by the form. And ever since - whenever he's not at his respiratory therapy job - he's usually carving anvils by the thousands.

"When I die I can't take it with me," Wilkerson said. "But I desire to have an anvil grave marker."

"I'm going to bury him under an anvil," Wilkerson's wife Cookie said.

She is remarkably tolerant of her husband's fixation not just because she put up with the carvings or because she lets him keep a Styrofoam anvil on her roof but because of the most obsessive part of his obsession.

 

For the complete story and a video please visit:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/11/02/assignment_america/main5498920.shtml