Don Reimann's grandsons needed a hero.

A workshop filled with dozens of plaster of paris characters from the Book of Mormon resulted - the characters were created for Brother Reimann's grandsons and other children who needed something besides television and sports stars to look up to.Brother Reimann, a member of the Butler 4th Ward, Salt Lake Butler West Stake, read the Book of Mormon, imagined images of the book's greatest men and molded their faces into clay. The images were then cast into molds, filled with plaster of paris and prepared to decorate homes and Church buildings.

Since then Brother Reimann's works, including 12-inch plaster of paris heads of Ammon, Mormon, Captain Moroni, Samuel the Lamanite, Alma the Younger, Nephi and King Mosiah, have made their way through the Salt Lake Valley, used by wards and seminary teachers needing visual aids.

"Kids need a hero figure and Moroni is a good one," Brother Reimann said, adding that he got the idea for the project one afternoon more than seven years ago while driving to the Salt Lake Distribution Center with his son to buy his young grandson a poster of Moroni, a hero figure.

Soon after the retired craftsman heard President Ezra Taft Benson proclaim in his September 1988 conference address that Latter-day Saints must "flood the earth with the Book of Mormon."

"I challenge the homes of Israel to display on their walls great quotations and scenes from the Book of Mormon," Brother Reimann read from a copy of President Benson address. "I have a vision of artists putting into film, drama, literature, music and paintings great themes and great characters from the Book of Mormon."

The talk, Brother Reimann said, convinced him to use his talents and obey the then-prophet immediately. The Lord gives everyone on earth talents which He expects them to use, he noted, explaining that he knew young people would benefit from his work.

Brother Reimann also hoped Church groups would use the figures, placed on wood stands with a plaster of paris replica of the golden plates, to promote the Book of Mormon.

"Any stake can borrow these and it doesn't cost them anything," he explained. "All they have to do is bring them back."

The art work, accompanied by scriptures about each hero, has been displayed in meetinghouses during Church musicals or youth activities. Brother Reimann has also made a set of "Book of Mormon Heroes" for bishops and seminary teachers to display in their offices and classrooms.

Brother Reimann said knowing the figures have helped others understand the Book of Mormon makes his work worthwhile. However, he added, that replicating the faces of heroes isn't an easy task. "You have to understand," he said, "if they are heroes they have to look like heroes.

"I have done some of them two or three times," he continued, showing the small details on one of his current projects. "I have changed some of them I don't know how many times."

He said he prays about each piece of art before he begins working on it. Sometimes he wakes up in the middle of the night and works until morning. He also had a lot of help with the project from his family and friends.

Even though he said he will soon begin working on different types of art work, he will still continue to mold scripture heroes out of clay, later to be cast in plaster of paris.