A trip by a local family to Virginia last year served as the catalyst for the newest monument that will appear in Williamsport’s Lycoming County Veterans Memorial Park in the city’s West End.

“This monument came about with a text message from friends Ken and Tami Feese, asking us if we wanted to go to Lovettsville, Virginia. It was a weekend trip that changed a lot of lives!” Connie and Bart Howard told Webb Weekly.

The Howards are the parents of Marine Lance Corporal Abram Howard, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2010. “We had nothing else planned and said, “Why not!” We were clueless as to what was going on, but we were always up for an adventure. We went to property owned by David Keuhner, who was unveiling a Gold Star Monument on September 11, 2020. There were several hundred people there from all over these United States. Realizing we all had something in common. We are all a member of a club that no one wants to be a member of — we were all Gold Star parents.”

Being a Gold Star family is not necessarily something you want to aspire to. It means that the family is the immediate member or members of a fallen service person who fell during a time of conflict. It is a proud, but very sad, distinction.

“After the unveiling, we were at the hotel talking to the other Gold Star members, and we all shared stories of our heroes,” Connie said. “I had made the comment that ‘we came as strangers and are now leaving as family.’ On the drive home, as we drove separate, we called Ken and Tami Feese to say that we needed to get one of these monuments in Lycoming County Veterans Memorial Park! They, in turn, said they were just getting ready to call us to say the same.”

Connie said that Ken Feese felt a special sense of mission because he had joined the Army in 1987 and is now retired from the United States Army as an SSG/E-6 after serving 20 years and five tours ranging from Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm in 1990 to Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2010. His career consists of Infantryman/Armor Crewman/Petroleum Supply Specialist.

“We contacted The Hershel ‘Woody’ Williams Foundation to see what we needed to get this started. It turns out that we needed to raise about $90,000.00. We held a raffle and wrote letters,” said Connie. “The guys went around to the VFWs and the American Legions all over Lycoming County. We are so grateful to them for their donations, no matter how small and how big. The American Legion Post 104 in Montoursville has been amazing and very generous to our cause! They have made donations in the amount totaling $20,000.00! The Lycoming County Commissioners — Rick Mirabito, Tony Mussare, and Scott Metzger — have also been very generous! Bart recently performed at the Community Arts Center in September with Cass and the Bailout Crew titled ‘Rocking the Monument.’ When we planned this concert at the beginning of the year, we didn’t realize that we would successfully raise all the money that was needed for our foundation, especially during a pandemic!”

A little about Hershel ‘Woody’ Williams’s story and his foundation: he served in the United States Marine Corps in World War II at Iwo Jima and was a flame thrower. He is the sole surviving Marine from that war to wear the Medal of Honor. His devotion to his service to our country started when he was delivering Western Union telegraphs to homes with the dreaded information that their loved one was lost in the war. He continues to honor the Gold Star families with these monuments. To date, there are 89 monuments installed and 79 monuments in-progress for a total of 168 active communities, and the one here is one of the most recent.

According to Connie, the process of erecting the Gold Star Families Monument in Veterans Memorial by the Lycoming County Gold Star Family Monument has not always been smooth. The unveiling was to be in the spring of this year, then moved to a later date a couple of times. This is due to the weather, contractors, and the A-6 Intruder.

“The A-6 Intruder is the latest in monuments at the Lycoming County Veterans Memorial Park. The Gold Star Families had to wait for it to be moved so that we could have our groundbreaking,” said Connie. “Jon Markley, who heads the Veterans Park, is wonderful to work with. In fact, he is the newest member of the monument organizing committee.

“The North Central Pennsylvania Gold Star Family Monument is going to be worth the wait, Connie added. “We are so excited about the design and our anxious to get it finished,” Connie said. “Although our monument is paid for, money is still needed at the Lycoming County Veterans Memorial Park to finish the restoration of the A-6 Intruder and for the upkeep of the park.”

The Northcentral Pennsylvania Gold Star Families Monument project committee members are Bart and Connie Howard, Ken and Tami Feese, and Jon Markley.