By Greg Grisolano

ggrisolano@joplinglobe.com

STELLA, Mo. — The dedication of the Stella Veterans’ Memorial on Saturday brought some closure to Lee Meier, a retired Army veteran whose name adorns a brick paver on the monument.

“It’s important to me,” said Meier, 61, who served in Vietnam and now lives in rural McDonald County. “When we came home from Vietnam, we were all feeling kind of isolated. This gives us some kind of recognition.”

Meier was one of at least 200 people who attended the dedication ceremony, which served as the main event for the town’s annual Stellabration festival.

Joyce Chamblin, 61, a former Stella resident, spotted the names of several family members as she toured the memorial, and said she plans to purchase pavers for her father, Harold Deal, and her brother and nephew.

“Having these bricks of my dad, my nephew and brother, they’ll always be there,” said Chamblin, now of Baxter Springs, Kan. “My dad died 17 years ago, and he’s always going to be here.”

The memorial, which measures about 165 feet by 82 feet features brick walkways, landscaping, a small bridge, a flag and a five-pointed star. The bricks are engraved with veterans’ names. The park honors any member of the service, from any branch, from any time period.

Architect Steve Hatfield of Landscape Architecture in Fayetteville, Ark., said the star design signifies the five branches of the military service: Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard.

“I think it’s really great that a small town like Stella can come together and get a project like this started,” he said.

The opening of the memorial was marked by a parade and formal ceremony that included the Missouri National Guard’s funeral honors, a fly-over, a 21-gun salute, the playing of “Taps” and a singing of the national anthem. State Rep. Marilyn Ruestman, R-131st District, also spoke during the dedication.

“This is a high point, but it’s not the finish, because we’ve got a lot more bricks to put in,” said Chuck Dalbom, former principal of Triway Elementary School in Stella and the chairman of the Stella Veterans’ Memorial Committee. “We’ve got a place for 6,000 bricks and we want to have all the veterans in the area represented if we can.”

Earlier this year, Dalbom announced plans to build the memorial on a lot adjacent to the Stella Senior Center.

New park space was part of a larger revitalization plan drawn up for Stella last year by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA helped residents devise such a plan after the agency discovered asbestos on the grounds of the former Cardwell Memorial Hospital, which is now the site of the memorial.

The agency removed the old hospital in 2006 and created a revitalization plan for the community because any redevelopment of the Cardwell site likely would need to be accompanied by development in the rest of the town, according to the EPA.