Woodruff Veterans Memorial Planned for McKinney Park

By: Jeremy Handel, Staff Writer | jeremy@thewoodrufftimes.com

Members of a local effort to build a veterans memorial in Woodruff presented their plans and progress to the Woodruff City Council at the August 27 meeting, sharing renderings with the members.

Woodruff Police Chief Greg Ryan and First Sergeant Brian Richards with the South Carolina National Guard with an Engineering Battalion are the chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the Woodruff Veterans Memorial and presented their plans to the Council.

“Brian and I are just a small part of a much larger project,” said Chief Ryan, who presented the idea of building a veterans memorial to City Manager Lee Bailey several years ago when he first came to Woodruff. “This is something that the community needs.”

Richards, who serves in the Army National Guard, is a Woodruff native who told the council that it “really means a lot to him to get this established in Woodruff.”

According to Chief Ryan, Bailey was very receptive to the idea, and they identified an area in McKinney Park that would be suitable for building the memorial. He said that the effort has really taken of in the past couple of years when a group of locals came together to move the project forward.

Now, the group has a completed plan and is ready to move forward. The memorial is planned to have three main sections: a flagpole in the image of a Navy yardarm, the veteran’s monument in the center featuring a memorial wall, and an oculus recognizing the seven branches of service and meant to honor those who paid the ultimate price in defending their country.

“Our goal was to design something that is generational,” Chief Ryan said as he noted that a monument brick floor would be built as well. Veterans or families of veterans from Woodruff and the surrounding area will be able order bricks with their names engraved on them.

The memorial is planned for the landscaped area in McKinney Park that is west of the playground on the north end of the park. The city has agreed to provide that location to the committee, and the committee is raising the funds needed to construct the memorial.

Richards discussed the phases and costs of construction, which is estimated to be just over $400,000. The group expects to begin work soon and the group hopes to have the memorial built in the next couple of years.

The group’s only ask of the city was to agree to provide the site in perpetuity and include the site on their park cleaning and maintenance schedule, cover the cost of utilities for a few lights at the site, and allow for a few events at the site annually such as Memorial Day and Veterans Day.

Members of the Woodruff Veterans Memorial committee and several local veterans attended the meeting in support of the project. In addition to Chief Ryan and Richards, the committee includes:

Morgan Andrews, treasurer
Michael Thompson, secretary
Tom Davies
Terry Simmons
Angelique Jarvis-Simmons
Douglas Jones
Karyn Page-Davies
Charles Richards

Mayor Kenneth Gist expressed his support of the project and appreciation for the work being done to complete it.

“I really appreciate what you have shown us today. I don’t think you’ll have any problem with the City of Woodruff partnering going forward,” Mayor Gist said. He also recognized the group of veterans in the audience to showed up to support the project.

In other business, the Council approved the first reading of an ordinance to rezone a parcel of land containing approximately 14 acres on Pool Street Extension to R-3 Multi-Family Residential for a future development.

They also approved the first reading of an ordinance to amend the Code of Ordinances of the City of Woodruff to establish an official ordinance regarding pick up of debris in the city. Bailey explained that the ordinance will codify in the code the procedures that have already been followed but weren’t in writing.

In department reports, Bailey told the Council that the South Carolina Department of Transportation will be repaving Main Street during September. The project is expected to be done by the first week of October. He also revealed that the annual Christmas Tree lighting will be held in McKinney Park on December 5.

The Woodruff City Council meets on the last Tuesday of each month at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall. The meetings are open to the public and the next meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 24.