Golden K honors Albany area veterans with tree memorial

ALBANY — Albany residents now have another reminder of the sacrifices veterans have made for the country thanks to new memorial placed at the SOWEGA Council on Aging’s Kay Hind Senior Life Enrichment Center Wednesday.

Organized by the Albany Golden K Kiwanis Club, the new memorial, which consists of a freshly planted red maple tree and a granite marker, was planned to honor the men and women who have served in the United States armed forces.

“Every year the club does an April One Day activity,” said Golden K President Bill Graff. “This year I was president and I decided on April One Day we were going to do something and this sort of dawned on me to do something in remembrance of the people who served.”

The Kay Hinds Senior Center was the ideal place for the monument due to the fact that Golden K’s membership is made up of senior citizens, many of whom are supporters of the center as well as being members of the armed forces, like Graff, who is retired from the Air Force.

“Being a retired military person, this makes me proud,” said Graff. “It will be here forever.”

Graff said he is also proud of two area companies that lent a hand in making the memorial a reality, Matthews Funeral Home, which donated the granite marker, and Mark’s Greenhouse which donated the tree.

Coy Crowley, landscape manager with Mark’s Greenhouse, who was on hand for the dedication of the memorial, said when members of Golden K inquired about the cost of purchasing the tree, company officials decided it would be best to show their support and donate the tree.

“We just wanted to be a part of the community and give back,” said Crowley. “It’s a good cause for the citizens of Albany.”

Crowley added that the tree, which is a native variety in south Georgia, will have a long life span and will eventually grow to an average height of 60 feet. He also said that even though the tree is beautiful when it blooms in the spring, it will also be striking in the fall, when it’s leaves change to golden, orange, red and brown.

The natural beauty of the tree is also one of the reasons the SOWEGA Council on Aging is pleased to about having the memorial on the grounds of the senior center.

“We’re honored they contacted us to have a memorial on our site,” said SOWEGA Council on Aging ADRC Program Manager Babs Hall. “We requested a red maple because it will be a beautiful tree and we’ll be able to look out and see it all the time. In fact, it will be here long after we’re gone. It will serve as a wonderful reminder of those who have served.”

SOWEGA Council on Aging Assistant Director Debbie Blanton concurred with Hall’s assessment, saying that she’s proud of what the memorial means to the community and what it will mean in the future.

“It is a symbol of the service of the men and women that have served and are serving our country,” said Blanton. “It reminds us again that freedom is not free and that the sacrifices these men and women have made and are making is what makes this country great. We hope that the future generations will sit here as we put benches under this tree, that they’ll have a place to sit in the shade and look at this and reflect back on just what the military has meant to this country.”

The SOWEGA Council on Aging is a nonprofit organization working to serve the physical, mental and spiritual needs of older people in a 14 county area around southwest Georgia, through a wide range of services. For more information on the organization visit www.sowegacoa.org.