A Tribute to Service
$3 Million Arizona Heroes Memorial Unveiled in Oro Valley
By Dave Perry
Visitors to Oro Valley’s Naranja Park can’t miss the new Arizona Heroes Memorial.
The $3 million shrine, dedicated Nov. 16, is at once symbolic and alive, “a physical space to remember and learn,” according to its literature. It is a unique, inclusive tribute to America’s military, veterans and active duty, as well as police officers, firefighters, emergency medical personnel and healthcare workers.
At its visible heart is an eye-catching, 24-foot-tall concrete and steel obelisk adorned with a five-point golden star beneath flowing red, white and blue metallic ribbons.
Patrick and Lindsey Spencer want that monument to catch the eyes of their three young children as well as the thousands of young people who come to play at newly expanded Naranja Park every day. Lisa Hopper, the memorial’s executive director, estimates Spencer Construction donated well over $1 million in labor and services to build the project.
“We don’t want to get any gratification out of it,” Patrick Spencer said. “I want to be able to educate the young people.” They need to know the “sacrifices of people that served the country. Anything we can give back to our country, and the community, it’s great.”
“There’s a lot of heart work going on,” Hopper said. “Patrick is doing it for God and country.”
Such motivation beats as well within the memorial’s volunteers, some of whom have spent nine years working on a dream. That spirit also resides within more than 40 Tucson businesses that have given to the cause.
The WLB Group, led by President Bill Walker, with landscape architect Gary Grizzle on the ground, has given more than $500,000 in civil engineering, landscape architecture, surveying and construction administration services.
Walker, who wrote a formal offer of help to the memorial board in 2016, appreciates the memorial’s dedication to people who serve the nation.
“We all have a commitment to those folks to make sure they’re remembered,” Walker said. “And we have a commitment to the town, for all the work we’ve done. It’s good for the whole region. We’ve been tickled to death to be involved.”
Borderland Construction and Granite Construction are building the parking lot. Parsons Steel donated metalworks for the amphitheater. Sabino Electric is giving labor and lighting discounts. Overlay Concrete worked for free. Acacia Landscaping helped buy 25 trees and is installing the irrigation system donated by Rainbird. It’ll run on solar power donated by The Solar Store. Perfect Garden Landscaping is helping with landscaping. Addisigns is hanging every medallion.
The Stowell Family Trust, created by Diane and the late Curt Stowell, is funding ongoing education. As they so often do, community citizens HSL Properties, the HSL Foundation and Jim Click have given significant amounts of money.
“That’s how humanitarian work happens,” said Hopper, an Oro Valley resident who founded and led the Tucson-based World Care International Humanitarian Aid Organization.
When the cause is right, “the people find you,” she said.
People are certain to find the memorial’s heart, its “absolutely stunning” central monument, representing “the strength and courage of our heroes,” Hopper said.
Ron Rice of CAID Industries donated design time, and master fabricator Daniel Scalzo created the star and ribbons. Bill Assenmacher, former owner of CAID, is “not only a passionate supporter” of the memorial, he also “led the team that created the incredible design,” said Ron Shoopman, a military veteran and a memorial ambassador.
The monument stands within a landscaped, bench-lined plaza, tied together by a five-point, 90-foot, ground-level star. To one side is the “awe-inspiring” amphitheater intended for learning and gathering; to another side, the Legacy Garden honors loved ones who have served. Guests walk the memorial’s circular Pathway of Heroes to walls representing branches of service. Pusch Ridge is on the horizon.
Spencer employees proudly wear memorial stickers on their hard hats. “It’s amazing,” Patrick said. “All of us love it. It’s a one-of-a-kind project and we’re honored to be a part of it. We’re blessed, for sure.”
The Spencers “are just beautiful people,” Hopper said, noting Patrick just turned 40. “This is the younger generation really being social entrepreneurs.”
