Ceremony on Saturday will mark opening of Keizer’s Gold Star memorial

The Keizer Gold Star Families Memorial will be unveiled in a public dedication scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 7.

The ceremony caps a two-year effort to erect the monument, which is being placed in the Pfc Ryan Hill Memorial Park, a city park in Keizer Station.

Keizer is the first community in Oregon to get such a monument, organized through the Woody Williams Foundation.

Such monuments “are designed to serve as permanent places of remembrance, reflection and education, recognizing the profound sacrifice borne by families who have lost a loved one in military service,” according to a statement from the Woody Williams Foundation.

The Gold Star tradition dates to World War I, according to the U.S. Army. Families flew a service flag bearing a blue star for each family member serving. The blue star was replaced with a gold star when a service member died.

Four granite displays anchor the monument. Poles have been installed to fly flags from each military service – Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, Coast Guard and Space Force.

Matt Lawyer is a Navy veteran and chairs the Keizer Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. He helped organize the Gold Star memorial.

That required significant fundraising to cover a cost of about $144,000. The project won a state grant for $84,195, $10,000 from the city’s park fund, and local donations such as $4,000 from the Keizer Elks.

Lawyer said a $28,000 grant from the Home Depot Foundation put the fundraising over the top. One of the foundation’s missions is to help veterans.

The ceremony will include remarks from people including Shawna Fenison, mother of the late Ryan Hill.

Enlisted in the Army, Hill was killed in Iraq in early 2007 during a patrol of Baghdad when his vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device. He was buried at Willamette National Cemetery in Portland.

The Keizer park that is named for him was established in 2013.

A public reception is scheduled at the Keizer Event Center following the monument dedication.