Veteran Wall of Honor upgrades

Special to the Barren County Progress

This past Saturday, a small group of individuals and volunteers came together to assist the Glasgow Parks and Recreation Department, Glasgow Garden Club, and the Barren County Veterans Association by cleaning the names on the Veteran Wall of Honor.

The wall is located at the Beula Nunn Park located in the square of Glasgow. Neighboring property owner Jeff Jobe said all of the groups involved want a beautiful park and to showcase our county’s Veterans in a dignified manner. Jobe has owned some property adjacent to the park and shares sidewalk entrance areas so it is important to him to keep the park maintained as well.

Over the past few years, Glasgow Parks and Rec Director Eddie Furlong and Jobe have coordinated to keep the park from falling into disrepair. His department has replaced wood on broken benches and Jobe plans to follow up by having them painted.

Furlong and his park crew also helped locate the remains of the miniature cannon that once sat on the square last year. The Glasgow Downtown Business Association (GDBA) retrieved the cannon barrel and hardware and paid local craftsman Matthew Ballinger to rebuild and place it once again on the slab made for it. “The funds used to pay for the renovation came from fundraising events such as the Sip, Shop & Stroll,” said Melissa Smith. Smith has been active member of the GDBA with Jobe and others since the organization’s inception a few years ago.

The most recent undertaking was a bit more than some slight painting. Ensuring all of those concerned were aware of the plans and it would require a considerable amount of more help. Members of the Glasgow Garden Club and the Veterans Association expressed their appreciation of not only painting the wall itself but the cleaning of the names and painting of the large faded flower pots.

To accommodate the need for help, a Facebook post was created seeking volunteers and some friends of the city stepped up to help.

Abe Scott and his daughter, Kendra, Carol Ladd, Josh Gumm, Jacob Mullins, and Megan Ford with the Garden Club spent a large chunk of their weekend with a paintbrush in hand.

 

More work is needed to completely bring the park back to what it once was or perhaps even have it presented in a more professional manner so that future generations can enjoy it long into the future.

“This cooperation is what we all need to try and do to make our community look better,” Jobe said, “The parks department people are extremely busy and sometimes it helps to have volunteers or private funding to help offset the costs to make it happen.”

Glenda Eaton and Sonja Woodcock of the Garden Club both shared their appreciation for the volunteer team’s work. Both Woodcock, who is the President of the Glasgow Garden Club, and Eaton visited the park before and after the project.

“All involved are appreciated and it is nice to be part of it and see one of our younger members, Megan Ford, onsite helping with the actual work,” Woodcock said.

Also, Darrell Pickett, active member of the Veterans Association, expressed his appreciation on Monday and complimented the work done over the weekend.