$70,000 Fund Raising Campaign Launched
Armando “Chick” Galella, Sleepy Hollow resident and decorated WWII veteran and Pearl Harbor survivor, has announced a $70,000 campaign to commission and erect a Gold Star Mother Memorial to honor Margaret J Horan, mother of local resident John J Horan who was killed on December 7, 1941 during the attack on Pearl Harbor. The memorial will represent all the GSM who have lost a son or daughter during their military service to this country.
The Gold Mother Memorial Committee of Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown is comprised of: Committee chairman, Chick Galella, who will celebrate his 100th birthday on January 1, 2021; Vivian Allen, President of the Gold Star Mothers of Hudson Valley. Vivian of Chester, New York lost her son 1st Lieutenant Lou Allen in 2005 while serving in Iraq; Michael Dawley, a Sleepy Hollow resident, President of Bluefin Partners, LLC, and retired Managing Director of Goldman Sachs; Ms. MaryAnn Ragusa a 1996 graduate of Sleepy Hollow High School and a veteran’s advocate; Colonel Adam Subervi, USMC; Lt. Colonel Kurt Perhach, U S Army.
The life-size bronze will be the work of distinguished sculptor, Andrew Chernak. Mr. Chernak is a decorated Vietnam War Veteran whose work is internationally acclaimed. The memorial will be placed at Horan’s Landing, a park in Sleepy Hollow.
The Trustees of the Village of Sleepy Hollow have already approved the memorial’s site. It will be at Horan’s Landing park in Sleepy Hollow.
The Committee is partnering with The Historical Society Inc. of Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown to complete the project. Tax deductible contributions can be made to The Historical Society of Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown and must be earmarked for the Gold Star Mothers, Margaret Horan Memorial. The following Historical Society link; http://www.thehistoricalsociety.net/donations/gold-star-mothers-margaret-horan-memorial/ is now available. PayPal contributions can be made on the website.
The American Gold Star Mothers is a private, nonprofit organization of American mothers who lost sons or daughters in service of the United States Armed Forces. It was originally formed in 1928 for mothers of those lost in World War I, and it holds a congressional charter under Title 36 § 211 of the United States Code. Its name came from the hanging of the gold star custom mentioned above.
Membership in the organization is open to any woman who is a U.S. citizen or legal resident that has lost a son or daughter in active service in the U.S. military regardless of the place or time of the military service, regardless of whether the circumstances of death involved hostile conflict or not, and including mothers of those missing in action.
