EHS monument unveiling set for August

Angie Faller

The unveiling ceremony for the new monument at Effingham High School will take place at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 23, before the annual Buck Bowl event.

Rain initially delayed the scheduled laying of the foundation of the monument, but the concrete and monument are now in place on site. Behind the monument will lie a landscaping motif of plants and shrubs.

Effingham Unit 40 Superintendent Dan Clasby has no doubt the finished project will be beautiful, but it’s been a long road to complete preparations for the monument.

The concept of the monument began when Clasby, high school art teacher Charlie Huber and Central Grade School art teacher Karen Littleford began discussing the idea of a monument. Huber and Littleford were asked to come up with a design for the monument.

“It all started a little over a year and a half ago. He (Clasby) wanted to incorporate students, faculty and community at Effingham High School,” said Huber of the process. “I went back and forth with a couple of designs. There were a lot of things that were changing and evolving, but I was pretty pleased with the way it turned out at the end.”

The black marble monument, which incorporates the high school red heart mascot, is currently covered and will be unveiled at the August ceremony. It was funded through local business sponsors, graduates and memorial funds.

“I just really wanted to create something that was going to be aesthetically pleasing. I wanted it to be something that people looking at it would admire and think it was well created,” said Huber, who also is the designer of the Effingham County Veterans Memorial on the lawn of the old Effingham County Courthouse.

Once a design was under way, a Paver Committee was formed with Clasby, Huber, Littleford, Brandi Matteson, Tonya Siner, David Ring, Bev Soltwedel, Greg Sapp and Cynthia Wise.

Committee members hoped the monument would be completed by high school graduation in late May. However, weather delayed pouring of the concrete for the foundation.

“They (J.B. Esker & Sons) had to wait until it was dry enough to get the equipment out. Of course, this spring’s been very wet,” Clasby said.

The concrete has been finished since early June, and the monument was installed on July 3. Clasby said the two pieces of the monument weighed 4,000 pounds and 6,000 pounds, respectively.

The monument is a three-phase project. The first phase was the placement of the black monument, which was imported from overseas.

An inscription of a quote by former President Harry Truman is found in the highest corner of the marble block: “The successful man has enthusiasm. Good work is never done in cold blood; heat is needed to forge anything. Every great achievement is the product of a flaming heart.”

Some of the upcoming work on the monument will entail preparing the ground for the pavers and adding a plaque with names of some of the donors later in the summer, which will probably be added simultaneously with the first round of pavers.

Work will continue on the monument until it is unveiled at the August dedication ceremony.

The second part of the project is the placement of red brick pavers that will surround the ground around the monument. Pavers went on sale in early May. A 4-by-8-inch paver is $50, and an 8-by-8-inch paver is $100.

Pavers may be purchased in honor or in memory of past or present students, graduates, teachers, staff and friends of Effingham High School.

“The pavers represent a number of things; people who have passed or just graduated or in remembrance of someone who has had a relationship with the school,” Clasby said.

The final part of the project includes a portion of the funds raised from selling pavers going toward the Effingham Unit 40 Scholarship Fund, which provides college scholarships for graduating EHS students.

For more information, contact any member of the Paver Committee or call the Unit 40 Board Office at 217-540-1500.

Angie Faller can be reached at 217-347-7151 ext. 131 or angie.faller@

effinghamdailynews.com.

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