5-23-12 —  Liberty Baptist Church, located in the Kidder community of Wayne  

County, will hold a special Memorial Cemetery Service this Sunday,  

May 27, at 10:30 a.m. This will be a special time for the  

congregation, as they will unveil a Veterans Memorial Monument in  

honor of those who have bravely fought for the freedom of this country.

    The unveiling of this special Veterans Memorial Monument will be the  

culminating event of a project that began about a year ago, according  

to Pat Richardson.

    He noted that there is a dedicated, patriotic group of people in  

their community and in their church who wanted to pay tribute to  

local veterans.

    "We have a history of people in the community who have served in the  

armed forces," Richardson said.

    So, about five or six years ago, Richardson and Navy veteran Kelvin  

Casada planned a special memorial service to honor those veterans.  

That first memorial service was a success and the event continued to  

grow each year, he added.

    Then, Richardson and Casada were talking one day about the veterans  

who were buried in the Liberty Cemetery, which is maintained by  

members of Liberty Baptist Church. They realized that there were  

several names on that list, and started talking about dedicating a  

monument in honor of those veterans.

    Richardson stated that a group of about 10 men started working  

together on the memorial monument. One of the first things the group  

did was discuss a way to fund their project. They came up with the  

idea of selling bricks that people could buy and dedicate in memory  

of someone they loved.

    This turned out to be a successful endeavor, and Richardson noted  

that he was surprised that so many people were willing to buy the  

bricks and support the plans to place a memorial monument in the  

cemetery. According to Richardson, the group sold approximately 150  

bricks to help cover the cost of the monument. Those bricks have been  

inset into the base around the monument. There are still bricks  

available for purchase, he said.

    In addition to raising funds, the church also purchased additional  

land so the cemetery could be expanded. Church members then spent  

many hours working to clean the land on which the Veterans Memorial  

Monument will be placed.

    According to Richard-son, the monument will consist of three black  

stones—the two outer stones are four-feet tall and the center stone  

stands six-feet tall. There will be scenes representing the different  

wars etched into the two six-foot outer stones. The center stone will  

include an inscription and the names of the 38 veterans buried in the  

Liberty Cemetery.

    The members of Liberty Baptist Church have put many hours into  

making the monument a reality, and are excited that it is complete  

and will soon be set in place.

    "Our church members worked many hours getting it to the point where  

they could unveil the monument by Memorial Day," stated Richardson.

    He added that the veterans in their community and congregation have  

also been very supportive of the memorial: "They took a lot of pride  

in making this happen."

    The memorial will be set in place this Friday and unveiled during  

the Liberty Baptist Church Memorial Cemetery Service on Sunday, May  

27 at 10:30 a.m. This will be a patriotic service, featuring a  

performance by members of the Southwestern JROTC, noted Richardson.  

He added that a VFW group is scheduled to attend the service and do a  

21 Gun Salute. In addition, someone is scheduled to play Taps during  

the ceremony.

    The public, as well as all veterans, are welcome to attend this  

special service and be there for the official unveiling of the  

Veterans Memorial Monument. Liberty Baptist Church is located on Hwy.  

790 in the Kidder community.

    "We are proud of our veterans and we are proud to honor them for  

their service to our country," said Richardson. "The freedom we  

experience to worship, we owe to them and the sacrifice they have  

given."