Large crowd attended the dedication ceremony in the Goverenment Center lobby
MONTICELLO – What is believed to be one of the first Blue Star
Memorial Markers in the Catskills/Hudson Valley region was dedicated,
Sunday, in front of the Sullivan County Government Center in Monticello.
The City of Middletown dedicated a Blue Star Memorial in Thrall Park
a few years ago.
The Sullivan County Veterans Service Agency and Community Garden Club of Liberty brought the idea to the county with the marker and surrounding plantings to honor all who sacrificed in service to the country.
National Garden Club Chairwoman Andrea Little of Massachusetts attending the dedication.
“It started way back in 1944 to honor the soldiers that were coming back from the war, and what we wanted to do being the garden club, we wanted to rather than the regular stone monuments that had been put up, we wanted to do a living memorial to honor all of the armed forces,” Little said.
The first three states to create Blue Star Memorials were New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut.
Judy Bergstrom is the chairwoman of the Garden Club of Liberty’s Blue Star Memorial Committee.
