90-year-old Nora Sly has lived in the village of Cowley her entire life

Jan 22, 2013 18:21 GMT  ·  By

Nora Sly, of Cowley, in the UK, was voted as a model for a gargoyle that was designed to be put up on a church wall. A former secretary, she has been attending services at St. Mary's for the last 60 years.

She lived in the small village her entire life, and felt flattered when she was proposed for the honor. Unfortunately, the finished work ended up like what can be seen in the picture above.

"I did not feel it was all that flattering, though, but they have to make things stand out with a caricature,” Nora gracefully puts it.

Nora will be 90 years old this January 31. Parishioners gathered to surprise her with the sculpture, and she felt overwhelmed when she found out her image would grace the church wall.

"I did not know anything about it until they told me at a parish meeting that it had already been carved," she says, according to This Is Gloucestershire.