Vashon veterans get first look at restored memorial garden

The memorial was the first World War II memorial to be erected in King County.

By Elizabeth Shepherd • November 13, 2024 12:00 pm

At Vashon Senior Center, the celebration of Veteran’s Day got off to an early start on Friday, Nov. 8, at a special lunch honoring veterans and celebrating the Senior Center’s progress in restoring its World War II Memorial Garden.

The memorial was the first World War II memorial to be erected in King County, said Maria Glanz, executive director of the Senior Center.

It honors Tom and Ladd Bacchus, island brothers who were killed late in the war. In their honor, the Bacchus family built a memorial behind the first Vashon Library — the building that became the Senior Center in the 1980s.

Over the years, the outdoor memorial plaques and brick wall sadly fell into disrepair, with one of the memorials eventually hidden behind a storage shed that contained two freezers used for the Center’s Meals on Wheels program.

But on Tuesday, lunch visitors got their first glimpse of the restoration of the site, with the brothers’ memorial plaques now illuminated by rays of sunshine breaking through the clouds. The shed has been replaced and moved to a different location, and new pavers have been laid in the garden by Eli’s Paver Patios, a Tumwater company.

Veterans at the event included Mike Mattingly, who served in the U.S. Navy Submarine Service; Roy Bumgarner, who served aboard U.S. river boats in Vietnam; Bob Hallowell, who served in the U.S. Army in counterintelligence in Japan, and Bill Swartz, who served in the U.S. Army in Korea and is now a board member of Vashon Senior Center.

The project to restore the memorial garden was spearheaded by the facilities committee of the Senior Center, and led by member and volunteer Ann Stewart Linsley, and Chris Ramsell, the Center’s facilities assistant. The restoration was funded in part by generous donations from a local foundation and a private donor, with the Senior Center adding some money from its reserves, said Glanz.

The next step will be installing a pavilion in the space, and fully cleaning and restoring the brick walls and memorials themselves, with Vashon Scout Troop 294 planning to help with the first stage of cleaning.

In the spring, there will be new plantings in the garden area, and seating will be installed in the pavilion. A full community celebration will be held at that time, Glanz said.

But on Friday, a packed house of grateful seniors celebrated the progress of the project with hamburgers, supplied by the staff of Eli’s Paver Patios, who make a practice of showing up to celebrate their finished work with clients. A choice of lasagna was also on the menu.

Bruce Haulman, president of the Vashon Heritage Museum’s board of directors, was on hand to give a history talk after lunch and admire the progress on the memorial garden.

Veterans Day celebrations on Vashon continued on Monday, with another lunch for veterans hosted by the Senior Center and local Scouts, and a dinner for veterans held at Vashon Eagles Club.

Local veteran and Senior Center board member Bill Swartz and Ann Stewart Linsley, who has helped oversee the restoration of the Center’s World War II Memorial Garden, were all smiles on Friday. (Elizabeth Shepherd photo)