More than 200 people gather to unveil Veterans Memorial Arbor at Aldridge Gardens
More than 200 people showed up this morning for the official unveiling of the new Veterans Memorial Arbor at Aldridge Gardens.
The stainless steel arbor stretches over the dam that holds the lake at Aldridge and is supported by 16 columns, each dedicated to a different veteran. Every period of war and conflict since World War I is represented on the arbor, said Mark Davis, a U.S. Navy veteran who spearheaded the planning and fundraising for the arbor.
On one end of the arbor is an area with the U.S. flag and flags for five branches of the armed forces, and on the other end is an area called the Gateway Pentagon Plaza, designed to honor Hoover residents killed on active duty.
Aldridge officials plan to cover the arbor with blue wisteria vine and plant red and white knockout roses to provide a red, white and blue theme.
There also will be hybrid grasses along the arbor and crepe myrtles in the Gateway Pentagon Plaza. However, Aldridge officials are waiting for the drought to subside before they install the plants, Davis said.
Davis, speaking to the crowd this morning, said he was excited as a kid on Christmas morning to see the arbor come to fruition.
He hopes it will be a great way to honor those who have served or are currently serving their country in the U.S. military, and he hopes the Gateway Pentagon Plaza can be a place of reflection for the families of those killed in action and others who appreciate their service, he said.
Aldridge and city officials today unveiled bronze busts of two Hoover residents killed in action — Thomas Rivers, a 22-year-old Marine who died in Afghanistan in April 2010, and Ryan Winslow, a 19-year-old Marine killed in Iraq in April 2006.
Family members of the two men were present for today’s ceremony.
George and Marynell Winslow, the parents of Ryan Winslow, said their son’s bust was provided not long after his death through a “Bronzes of the Brave” project led by Sam Patterson of Memphis. However, they’ve never really had a good place to display it, George Winslow said.
“It’s been in Ryan’s room, sitting on a table for nine years,” he said.
He and his wife said they are very thankful for the city of Hoover and Aldridge Gardens providing a prominent place to display the bust. George Winslow said he has lived a lot of places in his 69 years, but Hoover is the best.
Rivers’ bust was provided by the art department at the University of Alabama at Birmingham through a presidential summer research scholarship given to UAB senior Bryce Martinez, who served as the sculptor.
Martinez, a 23-year-old who graduated from Mountain Brook High School in 2012 but now lives in Irondale, spent several months working on the nearly 100-pound bust this summer and fall and said it was his largest undertaking yet.
“It was a great learning experience for professional practices and working with this medium,” he said.
He met several times with Rivers’ mother, Charon Rivers, to make sure the bust resembled her son as closely as possible. “That was the most important part of the project, getting the likeness correct,” Martinez said. “It was a real demanding project, but it was very much worth it.”
Rivers’ parents said Martinez put a lot of work into the bust and did a wonderful job with it.
A third bronze bust is being created to honor Andrew Hand, another Hoover resident who was killed in Afghanistan in July 2010. It is being created by a retired Marine colonel in Tuscaloosa, Lee Busby, and should be cast in December, Davis said.
Rivers’ father, Tom Rivers, said projects such as the bronze busts in the Gateway Pentagon Plaza and the Veterans Memorial Arbor give hope for the future of the United States. It’s great to see people still honoring veterans, he said.
Davis said the Veterans Memorial Arbor was made possible mostly through the donations of individuals.
The original plan for an arbor over the dam was a $17,000 wooden structure, but Davis dreamed bigger and raised more than $130,000 to finance construction of the metal arbor. Including in-kind donations of materials and labor, the total cost for the arbor is about $250,000, he said.
The arbor and its columns were built by Robinson Iron, the Alexander City company that restored the Vulcan statue atop Red Mountain in Birmingham. But the Public Works Department for the city of Hoover poured the concrete base for the arbor, anchored the bolts and installed the arbor.
Davis thanked officials from the city of Hoover and Aldridge Gardens for their support and assistance with the project. The Hoover Beautification Board and Heatherwood Garden Club provided money for the landscaping, and the staff at Aldridge made the project a reality, he said.