KANSAS CITY, Mo. — For years one house on Ward Parkway, right next to Kansas City's Country Club Plaza, has been home to a giant statue of the Pillsbury Doughboy.
The doughboy is a minor KC icon, known well to those who live in the area. It sits in a large second-story window, easy to spot from the road, in a large white house with a palm tree in the front.
However, it's about to get a new home.
"It was a big conversation piece," Randy Langer said. "Everyone knew his house."
Randy's father, Rudy Langer, owned the house for years. The statue, which the family calls "Pillsbury," had been owned by his father since he could remember.
Rudy had it in his house even before he rebuilt it into what it is today, with a prominent place for Pillsbury to overlook the city.
Randy said the statue is just as big as it looks. Old articles about the house claim it weighs 300 pounds.
"It's about five feet tall," Randy said. "It's got pudgy legs."
Rudy passed away in 2017, and now Randy and his wife Cynthia are preparing to sell the house.
The doughboy won't be a part of the sale. The family intends to bring the icon with them, as it holds sentimental value.
"Sometime he's gotta come home," Randy said.
The pair joked that it won't have as good of a view in their family home, but wanted to keep it close. Children and grandchildren in the family enjoy the company of Pillsbury.
"They all run around it and play with it," Randy said. "Everybody wants their picture taken with it."
Randy and Cynthia didn't know how the statue came to occupy its current spot overlooking the city, but guessed that Rudy bought it in some kind of charitable auction, as he was very involved in philanthropy.
Now, after a long time serving Kansas City, it's time for him to retire.
"He's gonna be looking out a window somewhere," Randy said. "He's gotta get tan."
To those close to Pillsbury, the statue is a reminder of Rudy.
"I imagine he misses Pillsbury and all of us," Randy said of his father. "And we all miss him."
The house should be up for sale sometime in the next six months.
