Pomeroy Veteran’s Park: by Darcy Maulsby

The idea for the Pomeroy Veteran’s Park came about 20 years ago from Kent Gray, son-in-law of Wendel “Pete” Stuart, who had recently passed away. Pete had been in the Army during WWII and was very active in the Amvets and Legion Organizations in Pomeroy. Kent thought a Veteran’s Park would be a nice honor for Pete and other veterans. Pete’s memorial money and other money from his family was used to begin the concept for the park. Other community members joined in the project. Nancy Olson, in memory of her parents, Mabel and Bert Drommer, donated the lot where their business had been. The Dr. J. R. Rosdail family and Pomeroy Amvets were also initial donors. With the work of many community volunteers, the plan for the Pomeroy Veteran’s Park was designed and created. Area veterans or their families submitted data to be engraved on their bricks. More than 320 bricks were put in the park honoring those who had served. A 5-foot-tall black granite monument, designed to honor members of all branches of the service, became the focal point of the park.

The idea of renovating the Pomeroy Veteran’s Park came in the summer of 2018. After sixteen years, many bricks recognizing area veterans were becoming worn and almost unreadable. Weeds were growing in the cracks between the bricks and needed continuous maintenance. These problems would only worsen with age. The columnar arborvitae that formed the south and east borders of the park experienced winterkill. Several community members discussed these concerns and decided to rectify the issues. A plan began, much research was done, and after looking at other parks and conversing with multiple companies, it was decided that black granite pillars would not only “keep the names forever” but also eliminate weeding between bricks and would look great with the black granite memorial already present in the park.

The first donation toward the renovation came in the summer of 2018 when Jane Streit Nestlebush of Florence, AZ, heard about Cindy Loots’ dream at a class reunion. She handed Cindy a donation in memory of her father, Arnold Streit, and her brother, Robert, who were veterans. The second donation came a couple months later when Michael Schultz of Des Moines brought his friend, Jay Rosdail of Knoxville, to see Jay’s tombstone which had just been set in Union Cemetery. Cindy was walking through the cemetery, gathering veteran’s names and information from tombstones. Upon seeing what she was doing, Mike became the second donor as he reached into his pocket and handed her some money.

In the fall of 2018, newspaper articles were written to the Journal Herald and multiple grants were also written. The first grant money received for the project was from the Calhoun County Community Foundation Grant in February 2019. After that, other grants and business donations were received from: Caseys, MidAmerican Energy, CoBank ABC, Basin Electric Power, Calhoun County Electric Cooperative, Klaassen Ag, NEW Cooperative Foundation, and Land O’Lakes Inc. Foundation. Several grants were received from Calhoun County Community Foundation and from MidAmerican Energy when second grant writings expanded to include veterans from the Jolley and Knoke areas. Total donations received from businesses amounted to $24,500 and provided great hope that the project would be completed! Nine individual families also gave $1,000 or more toward the project. All donor’s contributing more than $1,000 had their businesses or names engraved on a bronze plaque which is mounted in the park. In addition to the donations mentioned, 77 individuals/families also contributed toward this project.

Veteran names and in most cases, additional information about those veterans (branch of service, rank, specific jobs or battles, etc.), was compiled and sent to Kalin Johnson Monument in Fort Dodge. Currently there are 39 Civil War veterans, 1 Spanish-American veteran, 134 World War I veterans, 323 World War II veterans, 97 Korean Conflict veterans, 54 Vietnam veterans, 17 Gulf War veterans (Operation Iraqi Freedom, Global War on Terrorism, and Operation Desert Shield/Storm), and 87 veterans who served at other times.

Techny Arborvitae provide year around green border to the park on the south and east sides. Charcoal-colored decorative concrete is the foundation for the five black granite pillars. Two Prairiefire Crabapple trees provide early spring color to the park. Three new flag poles and flags were mounted in the park. The five granite pillars with the veteran names are from the same mine in India that the central black granite monument came from. Grass was seeded once the final landscaping around the trees. The park was dedicated in 2021 at the 150th Pomeroy Homecoming event. In 2025 Mayor Cindy Loots added a bronze sculpture entitled, “Going Home”, in memory of her husband, Gordon, her father, Wayne E. Hansen, and other family veterans. Colorful flowers, planted in the charcoal-colored planters, add the final touch to the park.