The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
The La Harpe American Legion Auxiliary is in the planning stage for a remodel of the present Veterans’ Memorial in the city park.
The bricks in the memorial are crumbling after 20 years of weather and possible misuse by people. The price of replacing the bricks, already there, is almost as much as starting over with a new improved plan.
The black granite stone already in place will be kept. 4 smaller granite stones will be purchased and engraved with the names and services we already have recorded. We will have room to engrave around 200 more names in the future. The benches will be saved.
The shrubbery around the cement may all be removed to eliminate upkeep and the cement may be replaced. Bricks without engraving will also be replaced with concrete. The look will be much sleeker and stay in much better condition.
The estimate on the stones is $18,000.00. This does not include cement. We are waiting on an estimate for that.
Generous donations were given, as memorials, in Joan Siegworth and Donna Grisham’s names, for which everyone is tremendously grateful. Auxiliary members will be asking for donations to meet the rest of the cost for the whole project. When the estimates are complete the total dollar amount will be made known.
Those who have bricks in the present memorial, that are in salvageable condition, will be made available to family members as they are carefully removed. There is no target date as yet for any of these plans, but hopefully fairly soon.
Donations may be made at Fortress Bank for this project.
This is a big undertaking but, is exciting to think of the new look to pay tribute to all Veterans and some Auxiliary Presidents, which will hopefully last for many years to come.