Onlookers inspect and photograph a statue of former Gov. John Winant that was unveiled on Friday, June 30, 2017, in Concord, N.H. The sculpture is part of an effort to raise awareness of Winant, a three-term governor whose accomplishments as the first leader of the Social Security Administration and U.S. ambassador to Britain during World War II were largely overlooked after he killed himself in 1947. (AP Photo/Holly Ramer)
Onlookers inspect and photograph a statue of former Gov. John Winant that was unveiled on Friday, June 30, 2017, in Concord, N.H. The sculpture is part of an effort to raise awareness of Winant, a three-term governor whose accomplishments as the first leader of the Social Security Administration and U.S. ambassador to Britain during World War II were largely overlooked after he killed himself in 1947. (AP Photo/Holly Ramer) Credit: ap — Holly Ramer

Concord — Eight decades after Gov. John Winant handed out spare change during the Great Depression, the former governor — depicted in a bronze statue — once again stands near the Statehouse with a handful of coins.

Winant, a three-term Republican governor, later became the first leader of the Social Security Administration and the U.S. ambassador to Britain during World War II.

But he dropped into obscurity, in part because of the way he died: After struggles with depression and debt, Winant shot himself in 1947. Members of a group that raised money for his statue say they hope it raises awareness not only of Winant’s bipartisan spirit and commitment to labor and social issues but also of the importance of mental health.

“I think we’ve come a long way as a culture in thinking about mental illness, and we should not be defined by our lowest and hopeless moment. We should be defined by our best moments,” sculptor J. Brett Grill said at a dedication ceremony on Friday.

“In putting this sculpture out here, I think we’re returning an act of empathy and compassion back to him, the same thing he did to so many Britons and so many members of the New Hampshire and Concord community,” he said.

The statue unveiled outside the state library shows Winant with hat and coat in hand, inviting passers-by to join him on a bench. An hour after the ceremony ended and the crowd had left, a 50-cent piece and two quarters were placed in Winant’s hand.