EDGECLIFF VILLAGE — Mary Matl was hesitant to approach fellow members of the Edgecliff Village Garden Club with her idea during a budget planning meeting.
After all, a $1,400 project is a big deal to a group of 28 gardeners. But the plan to buy and dedicate a Blue Star Memorial Marker to honor U.S. servicemen and women seemed worthy. “I didn’t know if anyone would think it was just too much money for our little group,” Matl said. “It turned out they were all thrilled.” So began an effort that culminated last month with a stirring dedication in a neatly landscaped garden. The project not only honored veterans, but also continued a long but somewhat unknown tradition started almost 70 years ago by a national coalition of garden clubs. In fact, the Blue Star Memorial Program was fading in the 1970s until Mary Louise Michie of Fort Worth reinvigorated the effort. Michie, a longtime garden club member whose father served in the military, found that few people knew the story behind the markers, which were designed right after World War II. “We had this magnificent program and no one seemed to know about it anymore,” said Michie, 99. “It was too important to just let it die.” Garden club members launched a campaign and new markers began appearing again along highways and in parks and gardens. Today, there are more than 2,400 markers, garden club officials say. Texas cities including Edgecliff Village, Beaumont, Giddings, Monahans and Golden have them. The dedication in Edgecliff Village drew about 200 people. In the crowd were some military veterans, including a few who were unfamiliar to residents in the small town in south Fort Worth. But they seemed moved by the memorial, Matl said. “A few of them had come alone and asked us to take their pictures next to it,” Matl said. “It was really nice.” Big and beautiful Matl was unfamiliar with the memorial markers until she was traveling through Virginia with relatives and noticed one. So she looked into the history. As the end of World War II approached, the National Council of Garden Clubs (now called the National Garden Clubs) was looking for a way to honor military personnel, according to the organization. A New Jersey club created a “living memorial” by planting several thousand flowering dogwood trees along several miles of highway. The blue star refers to the stars on flags that hung in windows of families of service members during the war. In 1946, the club adopted the Blue Star Memorial Highway Program, which it imagined as “a ribbon of living memorial plantings traversing every state,” according to the National Garden Clubs. The memorial marker was designed the next year. “It’s a big, beautiful marker,” said Gail Wilson, chairwoman of the Blue Star Memorial Project in Texas. “With the planting and landscaping around it, it really becomes a wonderful tribute to our veterans.” A few years later, the organization expanded the meaning of the marker from those who served in World War II to all “men and women, who had served, were serving or would serve” in the military. But over time, the rate of new markers slowed, said Jimmie Meinhardt, the national club’s Blue Star Memorial adviser for years. Michie, who became the national club president in 1979, asked her to serve as the adviser. “I just remember it was this lady from Texas who said ‘No way, we can’t let this program go,'” said Meinhardt, 84, of St. Louis. “I started setting up exhibit tables and explaining to anyone who would listen what the Blue Star program meant.” Stirring dedication A trip to the National World War II museum in New Orleans prompted Matl to take the idea for the marker to the garden club. Through the next year, members held spaghetti dinners, cakewalks and garage sales to raise money. They also planted a garden for the memorial. Garden clubs raise money for the markers in different ways, said Kathi Sivess, office manager for the Texas Garden Club in Fort Worth. Some seek fundraising help from Veterans of Foreign War posts and other veteran organizations. The markers are about 5 feet by 4 feet, Wilson said. The dedication was Nov. 12 at the Edgecliff Village Bird Sanctuary Park. Club President Sheri Joblin’s family does civil war re-enactments and lent cannons that were fired during the ceremony. The City Council adjusted an ordinance to allow for it. Councilman Cy Conley, a Vietnam Navy veteran, said he appreciated the club’s gesture. Other than one trip a few years ago to see the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall, he had not participated in any sort of memorial ceremony since the war, he said. Several other Vietnam veterans also attended. “For this really nice thing to be done in a little town like Edgecliff Village was special for us,” Conley said. “We enjoyed it.'” Wilson, the Blue Star project chairwoman in Texas, said she hopes more garden clubs will dedicate a marker. “Some people still don’t know about it, even garden clubs,” Wilson said. “It’s a wonderful legacy.” Alex Branch, 817-390-7689 Twitter: @albranch1
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