Community Corner
Loved Ones Commemorated in Remembrance Garden
Emmaus Commemorative Gardens Foundation recently installed 17 additional bricks for veterans in peaceful garden at Knauss Homestead.
Step onto the grounds of The Remembrance Garden at The in Emmaus and find peace. The garden is tucked away, not far from nearby Emmaus Avenue, so there is the sound of traffic.
Yet, it is a peaceful place with gentle breezes and the chirping of birds. Established in 2004, it is open 365 days a year from dawn to dusk.
The Remembrance Garden is a special community setting where friends and families can gather to remember their loved ones.
Find out what's happening in Emmauswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Service clubs, Emmaus High School, businesses, Eagle scouts, police, veterans and others have placed remembrance bricks at the site.
“The Remembrance Garden was created as a place where families, friends and organizations can place engraved bricks to remember important people and events in their lives,” said Mike Waddell, executive director of the Emmaus Commemorative Gardens Foundation.
Find out what's happening in Emmauswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The ECGF, a volunteer and nonprofit organization, installed 17 additional bricks for veterans at The Remembrance Garden on May 29.
This marks the fifth year that the ECGF has worked with the Emmaus Veterans Committee plus Emmaus veterans’ posts for the Catholic War Veterans, VFW and American Legion, and the Emmaus Historical Society to honor veterans with bricks in The Remembrance Garden.
About 100 persons attended the May 29 ceremony. U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent, state Rep. Douglas Reichley, Emmaus Veterans Committee representative Ron Heckman and ECGF member Tom Gettings gave remarks. The Honor Guard fired over the garden and taps was played.
The featured speaker was Paul Kunkel, who talked about his World War II experiences and what they meant to him.
According to The Remembrance Garden’s Web site, the ECGF board meets several times a year to direct the development of the garden. The ECGF began as a task force in 2002. One of the task force members knew about a memorial garden in Hawthorne, Nevada, that had more than 900 rose bushes planted in remembrance of persons in the community who had died.
The Hawthorne concept inspired the ECGF in Emmaus to create an area at the historic Knauss Homestead, which is owned by the Borough of Emmaus and overseen by the Knauss Homestead Board. The Remembrance Garden was dedicated in July 2004 and today offers beautiful walkways and commemorative bricks.
For more information about The Remembrance Garden, go to www.emmausremembers.org or call Mike Waddell at 620-967-5709.