Opha May Johnson monument finds new home at Veterans Memorial Park

Mar. 5—The Opha May Johnson monument finally has a home.

The project, headed by the Howard County Memorial Corporation, will be placed at the Howard County Veterans Memorial Park at 600 S. Goyer Road, the organization announced Monday. The park, owned by the city of Kokomo, was formerly Darrough Chapel Park but underwent a name change after the construction of Championship Park.

The monument includes three separate, staggered walls, decorative landscaping and a bench.

The first wall will be 7 feet tall and feature a portrait of Johnson.

The second wall will be slightly taller than the first one and feature a biography of Johnson etched onto black granite.

The third wall will be the tallest at 11 feet and include a solar powered Marine emblem that will light up.

The memorial will be sculpted by renowned sculptor Benjamin Victor, who also sculpted the Women's Legacy Memorial on the northeast corner of the courthouse square and the Blue/Gold Star Family Memorial in Veterans Memorial Park.

Construction is expected to be completed by late summer.

The location on the city's east side was not the first choice for the nonprofit. In fact, the location of the monument has been a point of contention between the HCMC and the county for the last several months.

The organization originally wanted to place the monument on the northwest side of the courthouse square, but that idea was nixed after opposition from the county's courthouse security committee due to security concerns; the west side of the courthouse is where inmates are transported to and from the courthouse.

Other proposed locations, on the northside greenspace of the Howard County Administration Center or on the Firestone building property at the corner of Mulberry and Union that the county wants to turn into a parking lot, are inadequate because it would require "extensive modification of existing infrastructure," according to the Howard County Memorial Corporation.

"We have decided that in order to maintain the artistic integrity, scale and scope and original intent of the Opha May Johnson monument, the Veterans Park will be the best location for the project at this time," Jerry Paul, president of the Howard County Memorial Corporation, said in prepared remarks.

The county is pledging an additional $5,000 on top of the $10,000 it's already pledged toward the construction of the monument to help offset costs due to the move to Veterans Memorial Park.

In all, the HCMC has raised $100,000 for the Johnson monument from a variety of sources, including from a grant from the Community Foundation of Howard County, a matching grant from CreatINg Places and IHCDA, local government donations and individual contributions.

Paul has previously criticized the county's decision to not allow the nonprofit to place the monument on either the courthouse square or some other prominent county property downtown and for what he says has been a lack of respect for the organization due to a lack of communication.

"I think I'm upset more than anything because nobody had enough respect for my organization, which has done a lot in this community, and me as a veteran, to give us a heads-up and tell us you weren't going to do this," Paul said to the commissioners at their Feb. 19 meeting. "This is disrespectful to me, and I don't deserve that. I've worked hard, and I have a good reputation in this town for good quality work."

The nonprofit took a more friendly tone and approach to Monday's commissioners meeting with HCMC board member Blake Dahl thanking the board for their cooperation and, specifically, Commissioner Jack Dodd, R-District 2, for meeting with the organization last week to iron out a final location.

"We just wanted to say thank you for working with us, and we hope that we'll be able to work with the county again on future projects," Dahl said.

The HCMC has spearheaded a handful of local monuments, including most recently the Women's Legacy Memorial on the northeast side of the courthouse square.

Johnson was born on May 4, 1878, in Kokomo. In 1918, she became the first woman to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps.

The monument will be the second such in the county placed in Johnson's honor. A stone monument honoring Johnson was placed in Nov. 2022 at the American Legion Post, 2604 S. Lafountain St.

Tyler Juranovich can be reached at 765-454-8577, by email at tyler.juranovich@kokomotribune.com or on Twitter at @tylerjuranovich.

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