It’s not often that you meet people who still live in the area they grew up in. Our own Brad P. is one of those. In fact he tells me his grade school principal had my last name. Cars and Coffee on Saturdays has several home growns as well.
I’ve had the fortune in the last 6 months to meet another which is Retired Marine General Orlo Steele. The General is leading the effort to bring Grass Valley’s Memorial park and its’ memorials back up to good condition.
Memorial park was dedicated in 1921 right after WWI. There are a number of memorials dedicated to specific individuals. Imagine local Nevada County service members fighting a war in Europe some 7,000 miles + away from their Yuba River.
One of the items in remembrance is a Russian cannon dedicated to the park by of all organizations…the Salvation Army. One hundred years has taken its’ toll. If you remember the wheels are missing.Let me pull all this together. General Steele made replacing the wheels one of his restoration priorities. He searched the Country and found someone willing to build some wheel$$. I suggested to the General we let NUHSD and the CTE programs ( think Auto shop, Ag Mech, Const. Science etc) restore the wheels. Ag Science Instructor Kassidy, the General, Car Guru Gary Apple and myself met a few weeks ago to get the project started. Ag science will do the engineering, finishing and welding necessary to use Gary’s donated wheels and lead the way for the other programs to help. Ag Science’s brand new facilities at NU will soon be finished and we are then on our way.
I can only imagine a 17-year-old today visiting Memorial park many years from now and being able to say… “I helped build those.”
Mark your calendar. There will be a 100 year celebration of the park on November 11th. Come join in and see the wheels.
– By Mike H.
