Willowick enters agreement to construct Gold Star Families Memorial

Willowick City Council recently agreed to construct, erect and dedicate a Gold Star Families Memorial.

The memorandum of understanding was entered into by the city, the Willowick Gold Star Families Memorial Monument Committee and the Woody Williams Foundation.

According to Owen Engle, an Eastlake North High School student who was inspired to bring the monument to Willowick, 71 percent of the $125,000 fundraising goal has been reached.

“We are expecting to get the granite for the monument shipped in about a month or so,” Engle said at a recent City Council meeting. “It was ordered last June from India. We are expected to be done paying for that in May.”

Engle said the memorial will hopefully be installed in August or September this year.

Willowick officials have worked to set a completion date for the Gold Star Family Memorial project. According to Mayor Michael Vanni, a potential date for Sept. 27 has been set to have the memorial dedicated at Lakefront Lodge Park, 30525 Lakeshore Blvd.

“We are moving along with the parking lot and feel we can go to bid next month,” Vanni said. “We wanted to be realistic and think that the lot should be done by then. It will be very exciting.”

After learning of his father’s hometown having a Gold Star Families Memorial Monument, Engle made a visit to Wapakoneta. After the visit, he was inspired to bring a similar monument to Willowick.

Engle has since met with city officials and has led the charge in bringing the monument to Willowick, and Lake County.

Hershel Woody Williams was a Marine in World War II who fought at Iwo Jima. He was the last living Congressional Medal of Honor recipient of the war when he passed away in 2022. A monument was dedicated in his hometown in West Virginia after his death.

Since starting the monuments, the foundation has been responsible for establishing Gold Star Families Memorial Monuments across the United States. The foundation continues to grow its reach by being involved in multiple initiatives across the country.

“He had a famous saying,” Engle said. “The saying is, ‘The cause is greater than I.’ He was a chief warrant officer in the Marines and wanted everyone to remember his motto.”

In Willowick, there are four Gold Star families. That is the immediate family members of a service member who died in combat.

“We were able to locate one of the Willowick Gold Star family members,” Engle said. “We do have two other families from the surrounding area — Willoughby and Wickliffe. The foundation requires that on our committee, we need to have at least one. We’ll have two, so that is great for us.”