The town of Raymond will once again have an active Veterans Memorial Committee thanks largely to its chair, Howard Stiles, of Deep Cove Road.
In an effort to honor all Raymond veterans, Stiles is hoping to raise money to build a monument in a place yet to be determined. Toward that end, he is revitalizing the committee that disbanded several years ago.
Members on the new committee include Bob Akins, Vernon Watters, David McIntire, Eleanor Thompson and Board of Selectmen representative Dana Desjardins.
Begun in 1998 by Betty McDermott, the first committee explored ways to remedy Raymond’s lack of a veteran’s memorial.
“Most towns have them,” McDermott said in a recent phone interview. “It’s kind of a shame. There were a lot of veterans and there’s nothing for them.”
Although, according to McDermott, the first committee tried to determine a location and raise interest in the community, they stopped meeting because they didn’t have the money to proceed.
Town Clerk Louise Lester said the committee also “lost momentum because at that time they didn’t really have a site.”
Though nothing is definite at this point, now that the town of Raymond owns Panther Run, that location has been suggested as a viable spot for the memorial.
However, Stiles said they’re not ruling out other sites, such as the Public Safety Building or one of the cemeteries.
Stiles, who is the only person to have served on both the old and new committees, says members are still in the first stages of deciding on a design for the monument – whether rough or polished granite, for instance. But he does have some ideas about what will go on the stone.
“I don’t believe in putting on the names because of the hazards of missing somebody,” he said. “Maybe put up a nice plaque that would honor everybody – all inclusive.”
That way, he says, people who wish to memorialize a specific veteran could buy a brick or a granite block, depending on the chosen design, to have engraved with the person’s name. Stiles says these memorial bricks, along with donations, will most likely be the funding blocks for the project.
While many Raymond residents believe their town should have such a memorial, for Stiles it springs from a sense of history and tradition.
“I served 27 years – 31 years including my four at West Point,” he said. “My father was a career reservist and there’s a military heritage in our family.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
