Pleasanton Veterans Memorial Dedication Set

From the City of Pleasanton:

PLEASANTON, CA — The City of Pleasanton is pleased to announce the dedication of the Pleasanton Veterans Memorial Saturday, November 12, 2016 at 10:30 a.m. The dedication will take place at the Pleasanton Pioneer Cemetery, located at 5780 Sunol Boulevard. A reception will take place immediately after the dedication, and all attendees are invited to the Veterans Memorial Hall, located at 301 Main Street.

“This memorial will serve to honor not only our fallen and those who have passed, but all the men and women who serve our country, at home or abroad,” said Pleasanton City Manager, Nelson Fialho, adding “and we couldn’t have done it without the phenomenal support of our community and veterans groups,” he concluded.
The event will mark the completion of this two-year project, which has been a partnership between the City and the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6298 and American Legion Post 237 (both of Pleasanton). The memorial will serve two purposes: to honor by name the 21 Pleasanton area residents who died during conflicts while serving our nation and to pay tribute to all veterans who have served our nation in the past, are currently serving or will serve in the future.

The memorial overlooks the graves and honors the memory of more than 500 veterans buried at the
Pioneer Cemetery and the adjoining St. Augustine Catholic Cemetery. At least two of these veterans
served during the Civil War.

The memorial design features a life size bronze statue of a World War II Marine Corps member
kneeling to honor his fallen comrades. The statue was designed and built by Colorado artist and
Vietnam War veteran Ron Petit. Speakers will include Major General (Retired) Nick Tooliatos,
Pleasanton Mayor Jerry Thorne, and Jim McGuirk, a Pleasanton native and US Army veteran, who
completed two deployments to Iraq.

On November 18, 2014, the Pleasanton City Council approved a plan to renovate the City owned
Pioneer Cemetery and designated a location for a future memorial to Pleasanton area veterans.
Within a month, the VFW and American Legion posts had formed a committee to design, fund and
build a memorial. In August 2015, the committee began seeking approval for the design and site.
On November 3, 2015 the Pleasanton City Council unanimously approved the project.

The Pleasanton Veterans Memorial Committee began fundraising on November 4, 2015. Prior to
the final plans being completed, two local families pledged and later donated a total of $140,000.
Approximately four years ago, Gary and Nancy Harrington pledged $40,000 in matching funds if a
memorial to veterans was built in Pleasanton. During the design phase, Bob and Marilyn Weiss
pledged $50,000 and then made an additional pledge of $50,000 in matching funds. These two
families have been designated as Early Visionaries for their significant role in this project. More
than 270 separate donations were received from local individuals, local businesses and community
service organizations. More than 60 of these donations were for $1,000 or more. Construction began
in July and will be completed by the end of October.

For the dedication event, parking will be available at the Pleasanton Senior Center, located at 5353
Sunol Boulevard and shuttle busses will provide transportation to and from the site. After the
dedication, attendees are invited to a reception at Veterans Memorial Hall, 301 Main Street in
Pleasanton.

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