COITSVILLE Heroes are heart of honor garden

To raise funds to care for the garden, the historical society is selling bricks and granite paving blocks.
By MARALINE KUBIK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
COITSVILLE -- Dorothy Morse clenched her fists together in rage after the terror attacks on America last September.
"When this happened to our country," Morse said, "I felt like the ashes fell right on my house."
As she tried to pray, she relaxed her grip, pulled back her thumbs and noticed that her index fingers, curled against each other from tip to knuckle, curved into her palm to form a heart.
"Then I remembered what Jesus said: 'Forgive them Lord, they know not what they do,'" she said.
Morse, director and president of the Coitsville Historical Society, knew then she had to do something to honor those who died in the attacks as well as all those who helped America recover.
Honoring heroes
Remembering the heart her fingers had formed, Morse started building a heart-shaped memorial garden to honor America's heroes.
The 100-foot-by-35-foot garden sits on a quarter-acre plot on U.S Route 422 near a pavilion from the McGuffey homestead and will be dedicated at 4 p.m. Labor Day.
Morse leases the property to the Coitsville Historical Society for $1 a year.
To raise funds to care for the garden, the historical society is selling bricks and granite paving blocks that will be used to build sidewalks near the garden.
Both can be inscribed with the name of a fallen hero, soldier, police officer, firefighter, teacher, reporter, laborer, newscaster "or anyone else who helps make America great," Morse said.
Bricks cost $50, granite paving blocks $150.
The historical society is also seeking donations of plants and flower bulbs.
Other plans
Other items of interest at the garden, Morse continued, are a flagpole that will be inscribed, "Lest we forget all those who kept the flag waving," and a glacial boulder at the center of the heart.
For more information, call the Coitsville Historical Society, (330) 536-8331.
kubik@vindy.com