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2 The Stonewall Argus • Thursday, August 11,2011Photo submittedRM of Rockwood Public Works staff removed the Stony Mountain cenotaph on the morning of Aug. 5, the first part of a project that will ultimately see a new cenotaph installed in the community.Continued from p. 1the piece of history that it should be in Stony Mountain.”But what they found was that the cenotaph had deteriorated beyond the point of repair. Cracks which had formed in its base were past fixing, and local concrete experts they called in to look at the monument told them that any further repairs would only be temporary. Pieces of stone had begun to fall off the cenotaph itself. Since it has a flat top, water had gradually collected and seeped into the monument, freezing inside and damaging it from the inside out.What was happening was, the stone itself was deteriorating,” Hidlebaugh says.The whole question came up, how viable is it at this point to repair something that’s obviously beyond repair?’”And so they began looking at the prospect of replacing the cenotaph completely, a plan they eventually decided was the best course of action. After consulting with local Legion members, they were informed that since the cenotaph sat on government land, its restoration would be a municipal matter. They received great interest in the project from local veterans, especially those who had been members of the now-closed Stony Mountain Legion, which amalgamated with Stonewall in 2009.There were some members of the Legion who were originally from Stony Mountain who had really wanted to see this brought back to the glory that it once was,” Hidlebaugh says.One of the members they spoke with was Julia Lee, who had spent years trying to get the cenotaph restored with her late husband, George, who passed away nearly three years ago. She was very pleased to hear the cenotaph was finally being rebuilt.I think it’s just about the most wonderful thing, because George and I really worked on it,” she says.We did a lot of inside input to it.”The couple worked with other Legion members for about two years trying to get the cenotaph restored. Julia was eventually put on the Stony Mountain Legion’s executive, where she continued working on it, but eventually the plans came to a standstill.It was going ahead, and then it came to a standstill because they couldn’t get the grants from Ottawa,” she says, adding that was about four years ago.When they decided they would try to build a new cenotaph, the committee looked to the RM of Rockwood for some financial support for the project, and were given an $8,000 grant. Hidlebaugh says council gave the project unanimous support.There wasn’t a member of council that didn’t agree that it needed to be fixed,” he says.The committee then wrote to the federal government seeking a matching grant, which they received. Hidlebaugh looked to the business communityfor further support, and was floored by the response he got.I’ve had phenomenal support from local business people as well,’” he says.The support didn’t just come from the Stony Mountain community, but from all over the RM. The fact that Rockwood residents from many different communities wanted to help with the project led the committee to decide that the new cenotaph should serve the entire community, not just Stony Mountain.Now we have a cenotaph shared by the entire municipality that’s located in Stony Mountain, because we’ve had everybody from around the municipality... step forward that are not in the town, and say 'we see the relevance to fixing this,’” Hidlebaugh says.When the old cenotaph was taken down, pieces of it were saved so that the history of the original monument could be incorporated into the new one. Further, the new cenotaph will pay tribute to veterans from allover the RM, and will include the names of local soldiers from more recent conflicts in addition to older ones such as the First and Second World Wars and the Korean War. Hidlebaugh mentioned that they would like to honour the wounded on the cenotaph as well.Lee says she felt including the whole municipality in the new cenotaph was a wonderful” idea.I think it’s wonderful, Stonewall got theirs done, Teulon got theirs done, different ones got done, and for some reason, I don’t know why it’s taken so long to get ours moving,” Lee says.I think it’s really good.”Since the project began, the plans for it have expanded more and more: They now plan to plant three flagpoles at the site instead of one (so that the cenotaph will feature national, provincial, and municipal flags}, and they would like to include lighting. The new cenotaph itself, Hidlebaugh says, will look similar to the old one.The construction of the new cenotaph itself is still in the very early stages: There are no concept drawings finished yet, and they don’t yet have an estimate as to how much the project will end up costing, though Hidlebaugh says they plan to keep costs reasonable.We’re spending within our means,” he says.The project technically started with the removal of the old cenotaph, and he says they plan to try and have the new one finished and installed in short order.I’m hoping that we would be able to have this up fairly shortly,” he said, though he added they don’t have a concrete time line yet for the project.In speaking to the project, Hidlebaugh paid tribute to the people of the community whose efforts to restore the cenotaph predate the work of the committee.There was a commitment there previously by veterans... that really saw that cenotaph as such a huge thing in the community,” he says.It was just us picking up the torch and walking with it.”
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Stonewall Argus and Teulon Times
Stonewall, Manitoba, CA
Thu, Aug 11, 2011
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