Statue in Ephraim Cemetery will be unveiled on Veterans Day

BySuzanne Dean

EPHRAIM—A bronze sculpture that will be the focal point of a memorial honoring Ephraim soldiers who have been killed in action will be unveiled next Wednesday (Veterans Day) at noon in the Ephraim Park Cemetery.

Brad Taggart and Alma Lund beside a covered memorial sculpture.
Sculptor Brad Taggart, left, and Ephraim councilman Alma Lund with the covered memorial sculpture. Photo by Robert Stevens.

The sculpture shows a woman, assumedly a widow, holding a baby. Beside her is a small child holding a folded flag like the flags given to families of soldiers during gun salutes at cemeteries.

The memorial, more than two years in development, received $40,000 from Ephraim’s Recreation-Arts-Parks (RAP) sales tax along nearly $30,000 in grants and private donations.

The memorial includes a sizeable concrete slab, a wall containing the names of Ephraim killed-in-action (KIA) veterans, flags representing the six branches of the U.S. armed forces and an American flag. It is located east of the gazebo in the cemetery.

The moderator for the unveiling and dedication program will be Paul Gardner, a Snow College faculty member and Army veteran. Ephraim Mayor Chris Larsen, who has served in the National Guard, will give an opening prayer.

Speakers will include Ralph Brenchley, a retired Snow College faculty member who served in the Air Force; Brad Taggart of the Snow College faculty, the sculptor of the monument; and Alma Lund, a former director of the Ephraim Power Department who spearheaded the KIA memorial effort.