Willamette Memorial Park

With two local companies donating their efforts at the helm — PACE Engineers of Lake Oswego and Emerick Construction of Tualatin — the project is moving along on schedule with a ribbon cutting set for the monument on Memorial Day, Monday, May 27 at 11 a.m. According to Emerick's Special Projects Director Jordan Fell, work has gone about as far as it can go right now with the foundation and site work until the granite shows up. The massive granite wall was shipped in three pieces from Minnesota to Vancouver Granite Works just across the Columbia River in Washington where it's currently being etched by laser. Those pieces are expected to arrive in Lake Oswego around March 18 when crews will pour the cement columns to attach the granite in place. Following that, bricks will be laid and a final manicure of the site will take place to get it ready to open. The next steps need to be extremely meticulous, according to PACE Engineers Branch Manager and Senior Principal Engineer David Poulson. "We're trying to design the foundation and footing so that it can be taken off the truck and those big pieces of granite can be dropped in place," Poulson said. "There was certainly a 'means and methods' process to how we had to approach this project." Each of the three granite pieces weigh approximately 3,500 pounds, meaning crews have to be very diligent with how they unload, according to Poulson. "It's a delicate process," he said. Emerick and PACE Engineers are also awaiting the arrival of two smaller pieces that will serve as the monuments to police officers and firefighters which will flank the left and right sides of the larger granite monument. Their progress is visible from the pathways that cut through the grass areas near the southern entrance to Foothills Park. The next few months are an exciting time for the LO Veterans Memorial group (LOVM) who have campaigned and toiled fervently to raise awareness and funds over the past three years to get this monument to veterans, police and fire built. ...