Veterans’ families building memorial sculpture at Spokane Arena

Family members of fallen Inland Northwest military personnel post-9/11 are at the heart of a drive to place a new commemorative sculpture to their lost loved ones outside Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena.

The project is rising from the strength of these survivors, who have banded together through the Gold Star Families support organization.

“This is something that Spokane is putting together,” said Susan Henderson, of Colbert, who lost her son, Army Spec. Robert T. Benson, to stress-induced suicide in 2003 after he served in Iraq.

“It’s sad we all had to meet this way,” Henderson said.

The planned memorial, called “Illuminating Courage,” is to be located along the lower-level entrance at the southeast side of the Arena.

Several nearby memorial stones for veterans will be incorporated into the new memorial, which supporters said will become a public attraction in its own right.

The family members working on the project recently selected a proposal from Land Expressions, of Mead, from three competing designs.

The 30-foot-high sculpture will be fashioned from stainless steel, stone and partial gold finish.

The designers describe it this way: “It is similar in form to a candle, yet unfurls like a flag. Its curving walls spiral inward, like arms embracing a loved one.”

The sculpture will contain the names of the fallen since 9/11 and be lit from within so that the glowing light represents their spirit and courage.

The designers said the sculpture will show “the respect we as a community feel for these individuals that served and sacrificed for us.”

Keirsten Lyons, whose son Marine Sgt. Jacob Michael Hess was killed in Afghanistan a little more than a year ago, has been helping spearhead the drive. She said the families all are looking to honor their kin.

“It is a very powerful, very inspiring piece,” she said.

Spokane Arts Executive Director Laura Becker said, “It very definitely has a sanctuary-like feel.”

The memorial is not being limited to those killed in action but to all soldiers who died as a result of their service since 9/11.

Dawn Biehl, of Spokane, lost her son, Army Staff Sgt. David Biehl, to complications from a suicide attempt in 2011 after two tours in Iraq.

She said that when members of the public see the new memorial, “they are going to go ‘Wow.’ You won’t be able to miss it at all.”

Each branch of the service will be represented with flags and emblems.

Funding for the $150,000 project includes $15,000 raised at Mayor David Condon’s gala dinner event earlier this year.

The project is on a fast track, Becker said. A dedication is scheduled for this coming Veterans Day.

The design chosen by the families came through a funded competition in which each of the three entrants earned $1,500 to develop and submit proposals. Along with the winning proposal by Kathy Swehla, Hazen Audel and the Land Expressions team, the competing projects came from Lea Anne Lake, a Washington state artist specializing in public artwork, and professor Gregg Schlanger, an Ellensburg artist who designed a military memorial in Tennessee. He is the chairman of the art department at Central Washington University.

Land Expressions is leaving an increasing footprint across the region with its bold concepts for integrating art and landscape designs, including the new plaza at Spokane City Hall, Huntington Park at the Lower Spokane Falls and landscaping at McCarthey Athletic Center at Gonzaga University.

Swehla, artist and landscape designer for Land Expressions, said she met with the families and listened to them carefully so the design could fulfill their wishes.

Spokane Arts is acting as the fiscal sponsor for the memorial.

The local members of Gold Star Families see the memorial as a way to remember those who were lost.

Gary and Kim Lallier, whose son, Army Spc. Jarrod Lallier, was killed in an attack by infiltrators in Afghanistan, said Jarrod left a letter for them requesting his story be told to help others.

“His ask was to honor all vets. That’s what this is to us,” said Gary Lallier, of Mead.

Steven Ward, of Newman Lake, said he had taken his son, Lance Cpl. Eric Ward, to numerous military memorials when he was growing up. The fifth-generation Marine was killed by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan in 2010.

“He would be really happy (with the memorial design) because he’s seen memorials across the country,” Ward said.

John Goldsmith, of Colville, lost his Special Forces son, Army Sgt. 1st Class Wyatt Goldsmith, when a rocket-propelled grenade exploded near him while he was treating wounded in Afghanistan in 2011.

The memorial, Goldsmith said, “is helping us to see our sons didn’t die in vain.”