FAIRHOPE, Alabama (GCN)—After nine years of work, which included raising more than $200,000 for the heroic bronze statues and fountain, the Fairhope Veterans Memorial will soon be erected on a bluff overlooking Mobile Bay.

“The fundraising has been long and hard,” said Sheila Propp, co-chair of the Fairhope Veterans Memorial Committee and former editor of The (Fairhope) Courier. “We were getting concerned whether we were ever going to get it done (because) the quality of the design we picked was pretty expensive.

“Thankfully the city has stepped up and helped a great deal as have the people who have given big amounts and small amounts,” she said. “And we are finally there. We are very thankful and look forward to the groundbreaking.”

The groundbreaking ceremony for the memorial will take place Tuesday, April 2, at 10 a.m., in Henry George Park. The dedication of the memorial is scheduled for the evening of May 30 in a ceremony to include the Baldwin Pops orchestra, as well as local leaders and members of the committee that helped bring the project to completion.

“The memorial is called ‘Tears of Joy, Tears of Sorrow,’” Joe Birindelli, committee co-chair and a Vietnam veteran, told the City Council on March 7. “We think it is probably the only veterans' memorial that pays tribute to the families.”

Sculpted by Stephen C. Spears of Fairhope, the statue of a woman holding a flag represents the “tears of sorrow” for a fallen loved one, and of a soldier kneeling with his arm around his son represents the “tears of joy” for his having returned safely from harm’s way. Their “tears” flow over discs, on which the statues stand, into a fountain pool.

The memorial is based on a concept developed by Sarah “Sissy” Scott of Fairhope.

“I thought we needed a memorial here,” said Propp, whose husband is a Vietnam veteran. “It’s really not a new idea. As we got into it, we discovered over the years different veterans here locally had been trying to get a memorial and it never did come to fruition.

“When we did get to soliciting designs, the one we selected by Sissy (Scott) honored not only the service men and women themselves but their families,” she said. “(It) recognized the sacrifices made by the families, which we thought was very important and has kind of proved prophetic over the past 10 years with the rising consciousness nationwide of what families pay when their men and women are overseas, and for the rest of their lives when they come back wounded and injured, or if they don’t come back except in a box.”

Although the statue, fountain, base and their construction have been funded with upwards of $200,000, approximately $6,000 remains to be raised for a large plaque for the memorial, Birindelli said. All donations are tax-deductible and should be made out to the Fairhope Veterans Memorial and mailed to P.O Box 653, Fairhope, AL 36533. For more information, call 928-3292 or visit fairhopeveteransmemorial.org.