Smoke Signals 9
MAY 1,2012
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MEMORIAL continued
from front page
"This project has the full support
of the Elders," said Tribal Elder
Merle Holmes, who served in the
Army. He said he was very inter
ested in the memorial's eventual
design.
"The design is important to me
because we should make sure that a
Native American theme is incorpo
rated into it. It is an important part
of our Tribe's history and culture,"
Holmes said.
In the July 15, 1999, Smoke Sig
nals, a list of almost 200 Tribal vet
erans with their respective branch
of service appeared. "If you know
of a veteran whose name does not
appear here, or if you see a mis
spelled name, please call June Sell
Sherer," the list's introduction said.
Sherer, who is currently serving on
Tribal Council, is a Vietnam-era
Army veteran.
On April 25, 2000, Smoke Sig
nals reported that a new Ad Hoc
Veterans Memorial Committee was
established because participation
and interest in the initial commit
tee wavered.
"The committee is looking for
more participation from Tribal
member veterans and community
member veterans," reported Smoke
Signals editor and Tribal member
Brent Merrill.
"We need leadership to get this
thing going," said Tribal member
and Navy veteran Mike Larsen,
who is now the Tribe's Facilities
Program manager.
Also about this time, Tribal Coun
cil member and Marine veteran
Reyn Leno called fellow Tribal
member and Marine veteran Steve
Bobb Sr. and asked if he would be
interested in designing the memo
rial, which received an enthusiastic
positive response from Bobb.
Tribal member and Air Force
veteran Lewis Younger was elected
chairman of the new ad hoc commit
tee and Tribal members and veterans
Bobb, Norris Merrill, Russ Leno and
Herman Hudson Jr. and non-veteran
Brent Merrill were unanimously
voted on to the committee.
In the May 1, 2000, Smoke Sig
nals, a photo of a sign announcing
the future location of the Veterans
Memorial with Tribal Council
members surrounding it appeared.
Larsen was listed as the contact
person if anyone had questions or
needed more information.
By November 2000, progress had
been made.
A renewed effort by the Tribe's Ad
Hoc Veterans Memorial Committee
had selected the site between the
Tribal Governance Center and the
Tribal Community Center and
expanded the veterans to be hon
ored to all veterans Tribal and
nonTribal from Grand Ronde,
Willamina and Sheridan in an ef
fort to be more inclusive.
Bobb remembers that, at first,
only Tribal members were going to
be included on the granite pillars
with nonTribal members' names
engraved on a separate wall, but it
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Photo by Michelle Alaimo
Names of new West Valley veterans are added every year before the Tribe's
Memorial Day ceremony that takes place at the West Valley Veterans Memorial.
was decided that all veterans' names
would be engraved on the pillars.
"Efforts to establish the memo
rial are being supported by the
Tribe's Veterans' Committee, local
veterans and their families and
the Grand Ronde Tribal Council,"
a story said.
A local veterans group donated
$500 toward the memorial and each
member of the ad hoc committee
pledged $100 each to the effort.
In addition, Bobb's design was
starting to take shape, featur
ing a man and woman dressed in
traditional Native attire reaching
toward the sky surrounded by four
black pillars representing the four
branches of the armed forces Ma
rines, Army, Navy and Air Force.
Tribal members Courtney Gal
ligher and Mark LaBonte posed in
traditional regalia for the statue,
which honors both male and female
veterans.
The memorial was scheduled to
be built in three phases with an
ultimate dedication set for Memo
rial Day 2003.
In 2001, fundraising to pay the
estimated $300,000 cost to build the
memorial became a priority after
Tribal Elder and veteran Russ Leno
said that he would like to see the
memorial built before he was gone.
"Those strong and powerful words
from a normally quiet guy set in
motion an urgency to make this
happen," Bobb recalled.
In March 2001, a first annual
Dinner and Auction was held at the
Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall in
Willamina. The committee had raised
more than $40,000 at that point.
Later that year, a Bottle and Can
Drive at the Competition Powwow,
a garage sale at the Depot building
and a fall auction were all slated to
help raise funds to build the Veter
ans Memorial.
At the fall auction, held Oct. 20,
Tribal Elder Kathryn Harrison do
nated $1,000 to bring the evening's
take to $6,500. With those funds,
the drive was close to $70,000,
Smoke Signals reported.
The next year was perhaps the
most pivotal year in the Veterans
Memorial effort.
On Feb. 23, 2002, Bobb and Mer
rill started a 265-mile, 14-day
journey from Table Rock to Grand
Ronde to raise money and, perhaps
more importantly, awareness for
the Veterans Memorial effort. The
trek followed the path of Grand
Ronde Tribal members' Trail of
Tears in 1856.
Upon their arrival in Grand
Ronde, Bobb and Merrill were
greeted by a smiling crowd of on
lookers at the Tribal Governance
Center.
Tribal Elder Marce Norwest, an
Army veteran, spoke admirably
of the two long-distance walkers
and said that their effort may be
the turning point for the Veterans
Memorial effort.
Norwest was right. By mid-September,
Smoke Signals ran a photo
of the Veterans Memorial under con
struction and said that names were
still being submitted to the Tribe's
Veterans Memorial Committee.
On Nov. 1, Navajo code talker Roy
Hawthorne was the keynote speaker
for a Veterans Memorial fundraiser.
The original cost of the memorial had
grown from $300,000 to $360,000 as
the plans developed, Bobb said.
In February 2003, Bobb vis
ited the studios of Burning Palace
Bronze in Boring, Ore., to give final
approval and sign the base of the
sculpture. A tentative date of late
April was set for a sculptor's instal
lation in Grand Ronde.
With the approaching Memorial
Day dedication of the Veterans
Memorial, the need to raise funds
did not end. On April 26, 2003, a
Spring Auction and Spaghetti Din
ner was held at the Willamina VFW
Hajl. It also was announced that
eight benches would be available
on which to have a family name
engraved. Bids started at $900.
The four-year project came to
fruition on Saturday, May 31, 2003,
when Gen. Alexander Burgin, Chero
kee recording artist Lee Greenwood
and Congresswoman Darlene Hooley
attended the dedication of the West
Valley Veterans' Memorial.
Smoke Signals reported that Ad
Hoc Veterans Memorial Committee
members raised almost $450,000
to fund the project, including
$175,000 from Spirit Mountain
Community Fund and $113,000
in Tribal dollars taken out of the
Capital Improvement budget after
Tribal Council received a funding
request from Norwest.
In addition, Tribal staff helped
trim $100,000 from the cost by
performing project design refine
ments. The dedication ceremony
was punctuated by a fly-by from an
Air Force F-15E Eagle.
Since that memorable dedication
nine years ago, the West Valley
Veterans Memorial has been main
tained by Tribal staff and Veterans
Special Event Board volunteers,
and names of new West Valley
veterans have been added annu
ally. Those names can be reviewed
on the Tribal Web site at www.
grandronde.org, broken down by
branch of service.
The memorial also has been the
location of annual Memorial Day
ceremonies on the Tribal campus.
The ad hoc committee disbanded
after accomplishing its goal, but the
result of its members' hard work
and dedication continues to reach
for the sky in Grand Ronde daily,
remembering those from the West
Valley who gave of their time, and
some of their lives, in service to the
United States.
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