LINGLE – It took a while, but 70 years after the end of World War II, a special memorial is going to be dedicated at Lingle. The ceremony will begin at 3 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 16. The Blue Star Memorial Byway marker will join the Lions Club and American Legion markers at the corner of U.S. Hwy. 26/85 and Wyoming Hwy. 157 across from Ty’s Pit Stop.
Lynette Jeffres, president of the Wyoming Garden Club, will conduct the dedication, concluding the project that was sponsored by the local Grassroots Garden Club.
“It’s to honor all men and women who have served in the military services,” said Kayce Weber, president of the Goshen County garden club. “It took us a while to raise the funding, and thanks to the Lingle American Legion and Lions Club for making it happen.”
The National Garden Club organization initiated the Blue Star memorial program a few years after World War II, Weber said. They began as tree planting projects along state and national highways but over the years, regulations became too cumbersome. Consequently, state and local groups now arrange for the wayside memorials.
The Lingle marker, made by local volunteer Bill Carr, is concrete, painted white, with the 21x24 inch bronze plaque, and its blue enamel star, attached. The plaque is valued at $500.
Weber said Gold and Blue Star memorials are done only through garden clubs.
