9/11 Tribute Memorial Continues to Develop Donors

Carla Scranton, Vince Gearhart, President Rose Ann Yates, Doug Harbour, Denise Carder, Gary Harbert and Kim Eckert

Several recent, generous donations to the 9/11 Tribute Memorial have helped contribute to development of the memorial site, just south of Big Timbers Museum on Highway 50.

9-11 Tribute Memorial Site at Big Timbers Museum

The most recent donation, $10,000 from the Southeast Colorado Arts Council and the Anne Boken Trust, will be added to other contributions including a $10,000 donation from the Butler Huddleston Foundation this past March and $4,500 in electrical and construction supplies from Home Depot and a cash donation from the Lamar Elks Lodge. The El Pomar Foundation also contributed $6,000 to the memorial project this past March.

Art Council President, Rose Ann Yates, said they were pleased to be able to make such a sizable contribution to the Memorial Committee. While some donations are being applied directly to the construction site, the Art Council funds are being earmarked for a bronze statue which depicts several members of the armed forces in bas-relief, a style of sculpture that has less depth than an actual figure and is more similar to the relief work as seen on the face of a coin.

The sculpture will be done by artist Scott Steerman. Committee Chairperson, Doug Harbour explained that it will depict a law enforcement official, a fireman and a member of the armed forces joined together, stepping out of the memorial’s central wall and saluting the America Flag.  Harbour recently said, “It’s as if this project is developing a force of its own on us.  There have been some days when all we do is lay the groundwork for the project and then the next week we have so many different parts of the project all coming together, plus some new ideas on how we can accomplish this.  We really enjoy the support of local residents as well as the corporate sponsorships.”

By Russ Baldwin