BRIGHAM CITY, Utah — To recognize and honor Gold Star families in Box Elder County and beyond, community partners installed a monument in front of the historic courthouse in Brigham City to memorialize their sacrifices.
About two weeks ahead of the official unveiling and dedication ceremony on Veterans Day, crews used a crane to place large slabs with local art.
"My heart is so full right now,” said Kelly Driscoll, who calls Brigham City his home. He helped with this project to install the monument here. “In fact, as we talk, I want to weep some more. As every piece got set today, I just felt the love and support that we have as a community and as a nation."
The goal is to build a place for Gold Star Families to know they are not forgotten and for others to learn about them. Gold Star family members and relatives lost a military service member in the line of duty.
"We remember how the world stopped turning the day they lost their person, and then somehow the world kept turning the next day, but they still didn’t have their person,” said Jennie Taylor with The Major Brent Taylor Foundation. “We want them to know we remember them, we see them, we're grateful for them."
Taylor helped make the memorial happen.
"I was approached by some people in Box Elder County a couple years ago and said, ‘Hey, we've seen those elsewhere, can we get one?’ and we say, ‘Absolutely, let’s get to work,'" she said.
Jennie said the Woody Williams Foundation helped create these kinds of double-sided monuments with a saluting soldier's silhouette, highlighting homeland, family, patriotism and sacrifice, and places them across the country.
"We as a community here in Northern Utah, we value those who serve and we want to remember the families left behind when that ultimate sacrifice is made,” Taylor added.
She put a final touch on the memorial with a gold star. Taylor knows what this grief can be like for families.
"In a very unique way, I can say, someone I love died so that I could live,” Taylor said. “That’s a pretty big motivator in the morning to get out of bed and to try to do something with my version of the American dream because of my husband and countless others who laid down their dreams so I even can dream."
Eight years ago next week, her husband — Major Brent Taylor — was killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan. She has made it her mission to support families like hers. The memorial will officially be on display after a special ceremony on Veterans Day.
The dedication will be on Wednesday, Nov. 11, at 4:30 p.m. Anyone is welcome to attend.
"Come be curious, come ask so what, think about now what, and then feel that sense of reverence, awe and respect,” Taylor said.