WESTBOROUGH – When the new cemetery off Nourse Street opens later this year, there will be a veterans’ monument designed by a Westborough High School student.
Junior Kevin Shi’s design of a six-sided monument – one side for each branch of the service – with quotes inscribed on plaques was chosen by the town’s Trustees of Soldiers’ Memorials.
“We do a lot of work with the veterans,” said WHS Principal Brian Callaghan.
The committee’s John Gallinagh and Richard Passler approached the high school’s fine arts department for ideas and designs.
It came down to two finalists, and Shi’s design was selected.
“They’re looking to have it done in granite or marble,” said Callaghan.
“It’s a most interactive design,” he added. “We’re working with students and the committee on the quotes [for the plaques].”
According to Gallinagh, the project is still in its early stages. The design is with a company that specializes in memorials, he added.
Minuteman Park monument
The town is planning to dedicate its new monument in Minuteman Park on Saturday, April 15. That monument honors the 101 men of Westborough who marched in response to the Lexington alarm of April 19, 1775.
Many of the men’s names on the monument are familiar to current residents because residents drive on streets in the town named after them: Bowman, Maynard, Warren, Belknap, Fay, Adams, Brigham, Parkman. Other names have connections to Westborough history: Rice, Gale, Whitney, Harrington.
Knowing that some families in Westborough have direct ties to men named on the monument, the town would like to invite all families with such ties to attend the dedication ceremony.
If your family had ancestors living in Westborough in 1775, check out the monument in Minuteman Park to see if your family name is on the monument. It is located on the entrance path going toward Sandra Pond just beyond the 1975 Bicentennial Commission monument.
Alternatively, check out the town’s website at www.westborougharchive.org/minuteman-park-monument-2022. The names on the monument are in the same order as on the muster rolls from which the men were paid for their service.
To facilitate searches, an alphabetical list of names has been added as No. 9 to the collection of records relating to the monument. You can view the list directly at tinyurl.com/592dkvtj
Then, if you have a family tie to any of the men on the monument, send a message by email to [email protected] outlining the connection so your name can be added to the town’s invitation list. Alternatively, write to Trustees of Soldiers’ Memorials, 34 West Main St., Westborough, MA 01581 with this information.
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