ANSLEE WILLETT
Courtesy of The Gazette, Colorado Springs
IAFF Memorial Service
When: September 21, 2002
Where: Colorado Springs, CO
The 16th annual IAFF Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial Ceremony,
is expected to be the largest in the memorial’s history. honoring IAFF members who were
killed in the line of duty between June 2001 and June 2002.
The Gazette's Everyday Heroes Series:
>> Visit: The Gazette Memorial
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Even after nearly two decades, the founder of the Fallen Firefighters Memorial in Colorado Springs chokes up at the sight of it.
"I love to see the families come and know this is something that is going to perpetuate itself," founder Ron Wright said.
"They can come and have a little solitude and know their loved ones will be remembered."
Bryan Oller, The Gazette
Ron Wright was so intent on creating a national firefighters memorial that he took out a second mortgage of $20,000 to help pay for the statue "Somewhere Everyday," centerpiece of the national monument. Wright, a firefighter who retired in 1993, began the quest for a memorial in the 1980s, getting his inspiration from the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C.
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Wright's quest to remember firefighters and the jobs they do began in the early 1980s when cnational attention focused on the Vietnam Wall, which went up in 1982.
Wright, who at the time was president of the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 5 in Colorado Springs, said he thought fallen firefighters deserved a memorial wall, too.
"I'd heard of and seen many, many friends die in the line of duty," said Wright, who retired in 1993 after 26 years as a firefighter. "It just seemed like something that was missing that needed to be done."
It took lots of money to lobby for the site and four years to pass it through Congress, he said.
In 1987, the site was recognized in a congressional resolution as "the International Association of Fire Fighters Fallen Firefighters Memorial."
By Saturday, when this year's annual ceremony is held, 1,508 names will be carved onto the memorial. They are the union members who died in the line of duty since 1976.
This year, 425 names were added leading up to the annual ceremony, including 343 New York City firefighters who died in the World Trade Center attack.
The site has flag poles, two granite walls and two sculptures.
The 17-foot "Somewhere Everyday" depicts a firefighter descending a ladder with a baby in his arms.
The life-size "Lamentations" depicts a grieving firefighter, sitting on steps with his head resting in his hand.
During one annual ceremony, a girl whose father died while fighting a blaze crawled onto the lap of the sitting firefighter sculpture.
Gary Coulter, the artist who made the piece, watched nearby.
"That touched Gary so much to see people react to his sculpture," said Deb Coulter, his wife.
Gary Coulter died from cancer in November 2000 at 65. His wife was honored during last year's ceremony.
A week before this year's memorial, Deb Coulter plans to drive up from Trinidad to clean and wax her husband's sculptures - just as she always does. She'll also join the more than 10,000 people expected to attend the ceremony.
She passes through Colorado Springs every few months and each time she stops at the memorial. "It's just a big legacy he left for me," she said of her husband. "Part of him is there."
Wright wants thousands of people to feel a part of their loved ones are there, too.
"It's for the friends and families," Wright said. "It's just a sacred place. It gives me a lump in my throat every time I see it."
An idea is born
The Fallen Firefighter Memorial concept was approved by the Colorado Springs Park and Recreation Advisory Board on Oct. 11, 1984.
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