Aug 9 2020
Don Wilkins | Messenger-Inquirer
On Owensboro’s riverfront, a concrete foundation awaits the installation of the Owensboro Gold Star Families Memorial Monument.
And when the dedication ceremony is held at 1 p.m. Aug. 25, it will have been less than two years since the local effort began to establish the monument.
Mayor Tom Watson made the monument a personal project of his and was able to raise the $65,000 to have it commissioned by the Hershel Woody Williams Medal of Honor Foundation.
Watson credited Cathy Mullins, an Owensboro Gold Star mother, for initially bringing the monument to his attention.
“She showed me what a Gold Star Families monument looked like, and I fell in love with it,” Watson said. “I was able to get donors from our community to participate in financing the monument. It went rather quickly.”
Among the donors were Owensboro Grain, Daviess Fiscal Court, the city of Owensboro, Downtown Owensboro Inc., Atmos, Glenn Funeral Home and Crematory, Rotary Club of Owensboro and the Public Life Foundation of Owensboro.
To date, there is at least one monument in 48 states, with 61 that have been dedicated and 78 in progress.
According to the Hershel Woody Williams Medal of Honor Foundation’s website, “the Gold Star Families Memorial Monument is to honor Gold Star families, preserve the memory of the fallen and stand as a stark reminder that freedom is not free.”