Women give veterans memorial a facelift

A year ago, the veterans memorial at StrawBerry Ridge was in bad shape.

Then two women who live in the retirement community off State Road 60 came up with a plan to spruce up the memorial and make it a fitting tribute to those who served.

"They wanted to make it something we could all be proud of," said Marty Sullivan, president of the community's Veterans Club.

"What they did was a work of love."

Prior to Memorial Day, the women, who wanted to remain anonymous, created a garden around the veterans' memorial near the community gate.

For Veterans Day they purchased more than 150 two-foot tall American flags and invited veterans in the park to personalize them and place them in the ground around the garden. They dug up the ground to make it easier to insert the flags' stems.

A plaque they placed in the garden reads, "This garden is for all who served … in memory of: P. Murray and D. Herstek."

The women paid for and planted red pentas, white plumbago and blue daze around the large white memorial star in a blue field at the base of the flag pole.

They arranged the placement of benches facing the memorial.

One of the women deflected thanks to the StrawBerry Ridge maintenance crew, Joe Luppino, Danny Deeds, Jeff Davis and John Gill, who provided all the strong-back assistance they needed, such as delivering parts and moving heavy objects.

Sullivan, a former fire-control technician with the Navy, served as liaison between the women and Teresa Fuller, park manager. He sent written notices to all American, British and Canadian park veterans and started a word-of-mouth campaign about the flag project.

Veterans complied, writing their names on white tags attached to the flags and writing names of their active-duty children and grandchildren on flags topped with yellow ribbons.

A board that contained the names of deceased community veterans was set up in front of the flag pole.

Some residents who can barely walk refused help to plant their flags in the garden, Sullivan said. They may have made slow progress, but they navigated the 20 yards from the parking lot under their own power to pay their respects.

About 100 people, some in uniform, attended an indoor Veterans Day ceremony Nov. 11 at StrawBerry Ridge. Featured were Chuck Kashavasky as master of ceremonies, Sullivan as deliverer of opening remarks, Marge Gettig as wreath presenter, the StrawBerry Ridge Singers as entertainers and Army Col. Robert Henderson as guest speaker.

The mood was solemn, Sullivan said, since one StrawBerry Ridge veteran, William G. Grimm, had died only hours before, just after midnight the morning of Nov. 11.

After the ceremony and reception, people trickled over to the flag-studded memorial. Some sat and reminisced about or prayed for friends and loved ones.