By June Mathews
TRUSSVILLE – Eight years after the concept of building Trussville’s new Veterans Memorial was proposed to city leaders, the impressive stone spire at the corner of Parkway Drive and U.S. Highway 11 was dedicated.
In a moving Memorial Day ceremony, approximately 300 attendees honored the military service of 228 individuals with Trussville connections. The names of those individuals are carved on granite slabs, which will later be attached to the memorial.
A crowd of around 300 people attended the dedication of Trussville’s new Veterans Memorial.
submitted photo
“We’ve waited a long time for this,” said Sandra Turner of the Trussville Historical Board. “It’s a special Memorial Day to celebrate our local heroes. Thank you to those of you who fought for and protected our freedom and passed it down for the generations to come.”
Mayor Gene Melton’s remarks were at times emotional as he remembered his friend, Venie Lee Martin Payne, the Trussville woman whose vision, persistence and fundraising efforts resulted in the Veterans Memorial. He recalled the day she came to him, asking for his help in finding a place to honor the city’s veterans.
“I figured if I didn’t tell her, ‘Yeah, we’re going to find you a place,’ I’d be in serious trouble,” he laughed. “So we looked all over the city and considered several places.”
The site they finally settled on, he explained, is at the head end of some trails on the city’s greenway, which he hopes will be completed by this time next year.
Payne passed away in 2013, but not before seeing ground broken for the Veterans Memorial.
During the dedication, Payne’s children laid a wreath at the base of the memorial in their mother’s memory, and the mayor announced that the road circling the memorial would be named in her honor.
Melton also recognized the city’s Historical Board and the pivotal role it played in seeing the Veterans Memorial to completion.
Others taking part in the ceremony included Boy Scout Troops 216 and 915; Gene Ennis, former Army chaplain and longtime minister at First Baptist Trussville; and Carrie Cunningham, whose husband, Army Staff Sgt. Joe Cunningham, lost his life in a car accident near Fort Stewart, Georgia, last year.
