Wednesday, June 30, 1999
Display keeps heroes' memory
Village supports vet's creation
BY LEW MOORES
The Cincinnati Enquirer
ELMWOOD PLACE — He began it nine years ago, first in his mother's yard just down the street, now in his own side yard on Walnut Street here. Anyone heading across Elmwood Avenue, anyone going over the railroad tracks near the corner has a clear view.
“I'm going to build something,” Terry Rook, a Vietnam veteran, saidto himself back then.
He took three-quarter-inch plywood and, using a jigsaw and hand saw, began cutting out headstones and crosses. He painted them white with black lettering. He added plywood rifles and helmets, the rifles stuck in the ground barrel first. Each year he tries to add something new to his plywood garden that memorializes those who served in America's wars.
He calls it “Remember.”
Mr. Rook puts his makeshift memorial up in early May and leaves it up until July 5, following the Fourth of July village parade that he has chaired for 10 years.
The private memorial and the parade are Mr. Rook's contribution to the life of the community in this village of 2,900. A sense of patriotism was his motivation, he said.
“I've had a lot of people stop in the middle of the street and look,” said Mr. Rook, who works for the Ohio Bureau of Employment Services.
Elmwood Mayor Richard Ellison said the memorial has been an enduring symbol in the village.
“Terry is a very patriotic, very conscientious individual,” Mr. Ellison said. “Many are very supportive of Terry's memorial. It's heartfelt. What he's doing is total sincerity.”
Nancy Kear, a neighbor and co-chair of the parade, says the parade, which will be Mr. Rook's last as chairman, and the memorial are part of Mr. Rook's legacy. A small gesture of thanks.
“They really appreciate what he did,” Ms. Kear said. “It shows somebody cares. I think he's done a great job.”
This year's parade will feature about five fire departments and their equipment, restaurants, floats, vehicles, bicycles and marchers. It begins at 10 a.m. and runs about 2.5 miles, ending at Town Hall at Maple and Vine streets.
“I'm citing health reasons,” said Mr. Rook for why this will be his last year as parade co-chair. What he'll miss, he said, are the support and loyalty of those who have helped over the years and the obvious pleasure it brings those who watch it pass through village streets.
“He really does a good job,” Mr. Ellison said of Mr. Rook's work on the parade. “It's just a good time. It stirs up a little bit of the old Fourth of July spirit.”
Mr. Rook will continue the memorial, adding to it each year. This year he added a kneeling soldier, painted jet black, an eerie silhouette. A POW-MIA sign was added in the past few years.
“Everything you see out here, I made it with my own hands,” Mr. Rook said.
His son, Robert Rook, 8, helped him. A student at Elmwood Place Elementary, Robert said he knows the memorial has to do with war.
“It means when the people die, we put it up,” Robert explained. “That's what it means. I put the flags down in the ground. I helped paint it so it would look good.”
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