“A lot of good people kept coming together and everything fell into place.” This was how Raymond Thomas described the success of the Veterans’ Memorial project at High Point Golf Community in Brooksville.
Thomas, a Vietnam veteran and resident of the community, conceived the idea from a conversation he had with a neighbor one evening last February and brought the idea before the High Point Board of Directors.
“Everyone fell in love with it [the idea of a veterans’ memorial] and supported us,” Thomas stated.
After that, Ron Keiper and he formed a committee and got members of the Social Club, Art Club and other residents on board with the plan. The next step was getting local businesses to assist in various ways.
“We went to Home Depot and approached Isabella Anzalone, the manager of the rental department there to see if they would give us a break on renting tools to cut the cement. I showed her a picture of our proposed memorial. She said, ‘My father was a veteran. We are all in.’ ”
Home Depot ended up supplying a lot of their needs at no charge and even provided employees to help with the work.
“They became a huge corporate sponsor. Without them we couldn’t have done it,” Thomas remarked.
Soon the project was rolling. Danny Grenville the owner of Concrete Specialists, donated time and machinery for doing the base work.
“Brad Bennett, a High Point resident and a master mason, became our engineer, so to speak. He designed and built the star. Volunteers from the park supplied the labor.”
Attached to the star are concrete insignias of the armed services branches: Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard. These were donated by a the Donald Duck Pressure Washing Company and painted by members of the High Point Art Club.
After the star was completed the volunteers went to work on building the wall. The committee sold memorial bricks for the wall for $50 each to raise funds. Each brick has the name of a veteran, his or hers rank and the period of time or war in which the veteran served. The committee sold enough that they added an extension to the top of the wall.
Manny Burtran and Steve Pitcher, electricians who live in High Point, did the lighting and wiring so that the memorial can be lit up at night. Hernando Aluminum donated materials for the aluminum work (rails and chains).
The committee also wanted the memorial area to be handicapped-accessible so they sold 12” x 12” red brick pavers for $60 to make a walkway. Not all the people whose names are inscribed on the pavers are veterans.
After the wall was finished, someone remarked that the back of the wall was blank, so the Veterans’ Memorial Committee approached the High Point Art Club to paint a mural. The response was enthusiastic. The art club presented a picture for the mural, which the committee accepted. Five art club members spent approximately thirty-six hours working tirelessly on the mural and it was completed in about two weeks.
The Veterans Memorial was dedicated on Veterans Day last year and over five hundred people showed up for the ceremony. But that’s not the end of the story. The committee has additional plans.
“We’re getting ready to have anodized aluminum letters go across the top of the wall that say: “All gave some. Some gave all.” It’s going to be lit up at night with red, white and blue lights.”
In order to pay for this phase of the project the committee is holding a breakfast on Saturday, April 7. The public is invited to attend. Pancake, sausage & eggs will be served.
The whole Hernando County community, not just High Point, can be proud of this beautiful tribute to our service men and women. Thomas noted with satisfaction a scene he witnessed.
“When I was working on the memorial I’d see a lady standing there with her hand on one of the bricks and she’d be talking to her loved one. We have a beautiful bench so
now people can come and sit and talk.”
For more information on purchasing a paver or a brick for the wall extension and for details on the Pancake Breakfast on April 7 call 352-596-2397 or Ray at 352-397-6473.