Hello Friends,
As we continue to celebrate Women’s History Month, I would like to call attention to Honorary State Regent Susan Holt and her State Regent’s Project. Her project began in July 2018 to restore the Gold Star Mothers’ Memorial on Gold Star Hill at Memory Grove Park in Salt Lake City.
After months of research, Mrs. Holt was finally able to ascertain the names of the plaques that were missing from the Memorial. Five plaques had been lost or destroyed. The rest of the Memorial had been damaged by flooding, neglect, and time.
New replacement plaques were fashioned. The women whose plaques were restored were Lucy R. Donnelly Garvin, Mary Gertrude Thomas, Martha Alice Davies, Isabella Woodward Knight Halton, and Antoinette Elizabeth Brown Kinney. These women were founding Memory Park Committee members; members of War Mothers, the Service Star Legion, and the Gold Star Mothers Association; and there was even a DAR member amongst these new plaques.
In addition, the large star was added in the center of the amphitheater with brilliant colors of gold and yellow. The wall was also repaired with additional landscaping to deter walkers and joggers from cutting through the memorial.
On June 5th, 2020, the unveiling ceremony took place. Mrs. Holt presided over the presentation and was accompanied by several Utah State DAR Executive Board Members and other Chapter Officers.
Mrs. Holt laid a bouquet of yellow roses, on behalf of the Utah State Society DAR, in remembrance of the sacrifice of these Gold Star Mothers and those mothers whose sacrifice had never been honored.
The video that was live streamed due to the COVID-19 pandemic can be viewed, with this link, on our
public Facebook page.
In reverence and gratitude for the Gold Star Mothers’ sacrifice,
Kathryn Asay,
Utah State Regent
