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.
Chamblin said her grandparents lived across the street from the hospital for many years, and that she was glad to see the historic site put to good use.
“When I heard they were doing this, I thought it was the greatest thing they ever could have done,” she said.
EPA project
The Stella effort was a pilot program for the EPA. It was designed to showcase how development can be accompanied and even enhanced by environmental friendliness.
Local News
Related Photos
Discussion
Stella celebrates veterans, history
- Local News
-
-
Couple 'scoop out' ice cream business from the past
When 3-year-old Brynlee Rabel tried coconut ice cream for the first time Tuesday, it was love at first taste. “She got the vanilla, but when she tasted my coconut ice cream she had to have it,” said Kayleigh Daugherty, a Joplin resident who wanted Brynlee to share the same experience she had as a little girl when she visited Anderson’s Ice Cream.
-
Missouri National Guard releases records involving soldiers who looted from Wal-Mart
The Missouri National Guard has released records confirming that four soldiers were disciplined for taking merchandise from the ruins of a Wal-Mart store in Joplin one day after the tornado that devastated the city a year ago.
-
Joplin school board awards contract to complete demolition of JHS
The Joplin Board of Education on Tuesday night accepted a bid for finishing tornado-related demolition at the high school.
-
Auditor cites, commission covers potential shortfall in Jasper County sheriff’s budget
The Jasper County Commission on Tuesday approved the transfer of $23,000 onto the Law Enforcement Sales Tax fund available to the sheriff’s office to cover a potential budget shortfall.
-
Joplin METS director requests space for additional ambulance
If all goes like METS Director Jason Smith hopes, this time next year the service will have two ambulances in Webb City, housed in their own station. At Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, Smith requested that the council allow the Joplin-based Metro Emergency Transport System to rent or lease space at the former public works building, 110 E. Church St.
-
Mike Pound: Food competitions combine to make culinary heaven
It’s such a great idea, you wonder why someone didn’t think of it before. In fact, it’s such a good idea that it’s possible it came about by accident.
-
Mo. court strikes down part of 2008 harassment law
The Missouri Supreme Court has struck down part of a state harassment law enacted after the suicide of a St. Charles County teenager who was teased over the Internet.
-
Cattle rustlers strike again in SW Mo. county
The plague of cattle rustling goes on in southwest Missouri’s Greene County.
Sheriff Jim Arnott says the latest episode occurred sometime Sunday in Walnut Grove. -
Bids sought for Cherokee County water treatment plant
After many delays, construction bids are being sought for a water treatement plant and water tank for the Spring River Public Wholesale Water District No. 19.
-
Dog helps some get through the court process
Sophie, a mutt of a dog with draping ears and dotted brows, is helping people in St. Louis County court tell stories of crime to judges, investigators and attorneys.
- More Local News Headlines
-
