Argyle City Council Member Ronald Schmidt wants a veterans memorial to be placed in Unity Park in Argyle.

It’s an idea that has percolated in his head for a few years.

“This idea behind Argyle’s veterans memorial, I essentially put it out there almost four years ago, and it was just something on my horizon that I thought would be a good thing for our community,” he said. “Our community is very supportive of its veterans; obviously, [they’re] very patriotic.”

The memorial, which was discussed at a May council meeting, would have plaques sponsored by friends and family.

“Essentially, [sponsors] could go to town hall, fill out a simple card with the information, and then the town would essentially order those plaques and have them mounted on those stones, and as the stones fill up, we would just add more stones,” Schmidt said.



The memorial would be for Argyle and its extraterritorial jurisdiction, and it could contain tributes to service members both living and dead, he said.

Having a place to place a memorial makes the project more feasible, he said. A few months back, the council approved an allowance of $8,000 for the memorial, subject to approval, and Schmidt donated $1,000 to the project. The amount of money pledged so far from city and outside sources is a good start, Schmidt said. The project accepts donations from the public, Schmidt said. He added he has spoken to Master Gardener John Ankeny, Keep Argyle Beautiful and local VFW commanders about contributing to the memorial.

“I would like to solicit some volunteers from the community to be a participant in this project so it really becomes a community vision of our Argyle veterans memorial,” he said.

As far as how much money needs to be raised for the project, Schmidt could not pinpoint an amount, but he did say he has worked with Matthew Holtman of Holtman Designworks, and he has offered to come up with a design. He would take Argyle project representatives’ ideas and put them in a formal design, Schmidt said.


Schmidt said he also has worked with a local stone company that would work with Argyle residents on a reduced-cost basis for the memorial, for which Schmidt’s initial idea was to have three stones.

People may reach Schmidt at [email protected] before June 15 to be included in the planning process. A meeting will be held later in June on a Saturday.

Schmidt said he hoped the memorial could be built and finished by Veterans Day in November. The memorial could be a central point to gather when the town leaders have a certain recognition, such as Flag Day or a military-related day.