TRAER - Judy Raub, manager of the Traer Museum, points to a pair of carved men sitting atop a ferris wheel.

"Some people say they look like caricatures of comedians Laurel and Hardy, popular in the 1930s and '40s. I'm not sure about that, but it's interesting that the ferris wheel actually turns," said Raub. Each seat on the ferris wheel is filled with other figures whittled from wood. The merry-go-round displayed alongside the wheel works, too, and each carved horse has a rider.

The two pieces are part of a larger collection of folk art recently donated to the Traer Museum by the Catherine Kober estate and Pauline Kober, who is a resident of Sunrise Hill Care Center. Pauline Kober is the niece of the late W.O.Z. Endicott, the man who whittled the collection.

Raub says the gift came out of the blue. "But we knew it was an important collection for us, and we were happy to receive it. Riki Saltzman from the Iowa Arts Council told us it's 'a gem of a collection.' It's very well preserved. Everyone who sees it seems to pick out a favorite piece," said Raub.

It is a surprising legacy for Endicott, who died in 1972. He was well-known for his work with the Taylor Park Commission, Traer Garden Club and church activities, but few people knew about his whittlings. Raub and museum board members, including Sharon Stoakes, whose husband is distantly related to Endicott's late wife, Emma, have done a bit of detective work into Endicott's history and hobby.

Known to family and friends as Oley, Endicott was described as a "very quiet person," said Raub. "I don't think he talked about his hobby. I think it surprised people who found out about it after he'd had a stroke and was in Sunrise Hill Care Center. The carvings were displayed there for a time. We've only had the collection about a month and it's been a scramble to track down information and put it together."

He never sold any pieces, although some were given as gifts, Stoakes said. Most of the collection, which fills several display cases, is believed to have been carved in the late 1930s and '40s.

Washington Olympia Zebedee Endicott, born in 1883 in Ohio, came to Iowa in 1902 and farmed with his brother in the Geneseo area. When the family moved to Glidden, he followed and operated the Webb Oil Station. He began whittling in about 1939, according to a Carroll newspaper article published in 1941, to pass the time. Whittling is a contemplative hobby that requires nothing more than a pocketknife and a piece of wood, and Endicott caught the bug after whittling a little chair.

The collection features a covered wagon with people inside, a sled pulled by oxen, a man petting a dog and a family scene of children seated at a round table with a grandfatherly figure, set with tiny carved silverware and plates. There are numerous naturalistic animals, including moose, figurines and an elaborate Santa Claus, complete with sleigh and reindeer. Each reindeer has a different attitude in gait or expression.

Endicott once made a rocking chair that had 380 pieces and weighed less than 1/4-ounce, Raub said, and a complete barnyard scene with log cabin. "He carved in balsa wood, walnut and chestnut, which he brought from his home place in Ohio. Most of his carvings seem to represent recollections of his youth and his family. He apparently displayed scenes in the window at the gas station."

The collection was exhibited at the 1940 Iowa State Fair, as part of a seed corn display. The Carroll Library had a number of pieces for about 20 years and the museum has letters showing inquiries for their return by Emma after his death.

Endicott returned to Traer in 1946, when he was 63, and married Emma Kober in 1947. She was 64. A recent newspaper article brought a response from a Kober relative in Texas who recalled Endicott courting his bride with candy and flowers. Although there is no sign his hobby continued, those who knew him recall his hands were seldom still. "They said he whittled squares and diamonds into pieces of wood," Stoakes said.