Donations help Reflection Park become reality
Rick Wood/Northwest Guardian
Published: 02:22PM January 20th, 2011

Reflection Park took one step closer to becoming a reality when representatives from Puget Sound Energy handed off a donation for $10,000 to America’s Credit Union during an impromptu ceremony at Joint Base Lewis-McChord Garrison Headquarters Jan. 14.

America’s Credit Union President and CEO Ken Leonard said he was honored to receive the donation for Reflection Park.

“This is the first check we’ve received since we’ve started this process,” Leonard said.

Previous donations from various groups and organizations allowed for work to begin on the Memorial Park segment.

“We’ve done most of the work for Memorial Park,” Leonard said. “Right now we’re finishing up by putting in the entry stones.”

Work will begin on the Reflection Park upon completion of Memorial Park, he said.

“We’ll be finishing up with that project later this year,” Leonard said.

Funded through private endowment and donations., Reflection Park is slated to be a military memorial spanning six acres adjacent to the JBLM Lewis Army Museum.

Once completed, it will have two sections; the reflection area and a memorial section with granite slabs dedicated to different conflicts.

Terry Oxley, Puget Sound Energy director of community services, said the utility was thrilled to be a part in the park’s creation through the donation.

“We have a huge military population if you think about it,” Oxley said. “That’s a huge customer base for us.”

As a retired military member, Oxley understands the importance of having a place for family and comrades to reflect upon those who have given their all, he said.

“The company has a history of being very supportive of the military community,” Oxley said. “It’s a very comfortable place for us to invest and that’s what it is — an investment.”

JBLM Garrison Commander Col. Thomas Brittain said it was heart-warming to see the community support for the military.

“It’s just a great partnership with the Puget Sound Energy in doing this,” Brittain said.

By donating funds, the utility helps recognize all of the servicemembers who have put their lives on the line — and some who have paid the ultimate price — in the nation’s conflicts, he said.

“The eventual location near the museum will be a great place for Soldiers, Airmen and family members to go to and understand the history and sacrifices of those who have served their nation,” Brittain said.

Fort Lewis Memorial Park honors soldiers
Originally published July 17, 2009 at 12:00 AM | Page modified July 17, 2009 at 12:00 PM

Several hundred soldiers and guests gathered at Fort Lewis Thursday to dedicate Memorial Park, 4.2 acres of the Army post set aside to honor soldiers who have died since 9/11.

The park now has two memorials honoring soldiers from two Stryker Brigades.

The 1st (Stryker) Brigade, 25th Infantry Division that deployed to Iraq lost 44 men, and has moved its memorial from the Fort Lewis Museum to the new park.

A second memorial honors 42 soldiers from the 4th (Stryker) Brigade 2nd Infantry Division, which also deployed to Iraq.

Memorial Park has room for 17 memorials from different units at Fort Lewis.

Visitors can stop at the Fort Lewis visitors' center at the main gate, and request a pass to enter the post, according to Joe Piek, a Fort Lewis spokesman.

Memorial Park is next to the future site of Reflection Park. This is a planned 6-acre, privately funded effort to memorialize fallen Washington state service members from WWI to the present.

Seattle Times staff and news services

Big donation for Fort Lewis' Reflection Park
News Tribune Blog - Friday, January 23rd, 2009
Posted by Scott Fontaine

The folks raising funds for the Reflection Park at Fort Lewis got a big boost this month.

The Puyallup car dealers will donate more than $30,000 toward development of the six-acre park that will honor the memory of fallen service members from Washington state.

A representative from the dealers – who agreed to donate $10 for every car sold during a recently completed 90-day period – will present the check next Thursday at Pioneer Park in Puyallup. A rep from Harborstone Credit Union will also be on hand to donate $5,000.

Reflection Park, which will boast views of Mount Rainier, will offer a collection of memorials for every major conflict since World War I. The names of those killed in action will be engraved into large basalt boulders. Polished granite structures will bear the image of service members serving in each conflict.

The park will also offer a kiosk that allows visitors to search memorials by name, unit, conflict, service branch or gender.

Fort Lewis Memorial Park honors soldiers
May 22, 2008 - BY Rachel Young, Northwest Guardian

FORT LEWIS, Wash - A tranquil place of peace and remembrance for families of the fallen will soon be a part of Fort Lewis.

Designs are completed for Reflection and Memorial Parks at Fort Lewis and fund-raising efforts are underway. AUSA, Fort Lewis Chapter and Reflection Park and Memorial at Fort Lewis, two non-profit organizations, are helping to raise funds and awareness for the project, including a Web site: www.reflectionpark.org.

"The Web site is up and running," said Elizabeth Vanek, a member of the Reflection park planning group. "It's going to be always changing because we're going to be doing the construction in phases, and, as things happen, they will be showing up on the Web to let people know the progress."
Reflection Park will be built on six acres, adjoining the Memorial Park's four acres, between South 6th Street and South Division Street and bordered on one side by the Broadmoor neighborhood. The park will memorialize the names of fallen service men and women with ties to Washington state, from all uniformed services and all major conflicts, beginning with World War I. The names of the fallen will be engraved on massive boulders of Washington basalt, arranged along gently arcing paths of acoustic crushed granite.

The park will culminate in a reflection pool set in a grassy space. The water feature will be surrounded by paths and benches for visitors to sit and reflect. Beyond the reflection pool, visitors will enter the four-acre Memorial Park, site of brigade-sized unit memorials. The memorials will be placed within the park's landscaping to allow an accessible, yet private, setting for visitors.

The goal is to create a tranquil place to reflect and remember those who have fallen in the past, present and any future conflicts.
Those who can have their names memorialized in the park are "any of the military service men and women who died in a conflict or related to a conflict with ties to Washington state," Vanek said. "That's what makes this a little different."

Another unique concept for the park will be information. Four kiosks in
the entry pavilion will include photos and biographical information for those memorialized in the park, giving visitors a sense of who they were in life, which was more than a name carved into stone.
"It's going to be a living history," Vanek said.

Ken Leonard, a member of the Reflection Park committee who helped get the Web site off the ground and is working on the fund raising for the park, called the project "phenomenal."

"This is historical - this is something that is bigger than all of us," Leonard said. Service members who have sacrificed for the country need to be recognized, he said. "That's where Reflection Park comes in. We can honor the people at the grass roots level who made tremendous sacrifices for this country."

For more information on Reflection and Memorial Parks at Fort Lewis visit www.reflectionpark.org.

Rachel Young is a reporter with the Fort Lewis Northwest Guardian