Heritage of Odessa close to ordering statue

Just a little more than a month after fundraising began, the Heritage of Odessa Foundation is halfway through fundraising for its latest statue installment.

Heritage of Odessa has raised $27,000 of the $50,000 needed to pay for the “Forever Remember” statue to be placed in Freedom Park on East University.

Utah artist Dennis Smith’s bronze statue depicts a young woman clutching an American flag as she gazes into the distance. The statue represents every wife, girlfriend, mother or sister who has waited for a soldier to come home safely from war.

Fundraising for the statue began in early January and has since grown with the help of the Odessa Parks Foundation, the Odessa Council for the Arts and Humanities other local businesses and organizations.

Heritage of Odessa member Richard Gillham said he expects to raise all $50,000 within the next two months.

“I think that the campaign is going well, and we’ve got a lot of people expected to donate that we haven’t had the opportunity to contact,” Gillham said. ‘The people of Odessa have always responded.”

Les Williams, who suggested the statue, said he wasn’t surprised that funds were raised quickly, and people he spoke with were willing to give to the cause.

Williams’ own experience of corresponding with his wife during the Vietnam War prompted his interest in dedicating a statue for all the “sweethearts” waiting.

“This is something whose time has come. I wish sometimes we’d done this sooner,” Williams said. “Every vet in this town is going to drive by (the statue) just about every day, and I think their wives are going to drive by more. It’s going to be quite a memorial to (the wives), and I expect it to be very popular.”

@OAcitylife