Category: Museum News

 For immediate release

 For additional information: Dr. Circe Olson Woessner, (505) 504-6830

MILITARY FAMILY MEMORIAL TO BE UNVEILED IN SANTA FE ON MAY 13

Museum of the American Military Family Partners with the New Mexico National Guard

“Because our military families are so diverse, when we started to design our memorial, we decided to use a house because no matter which generation or which branch of service, we all keep the home fires burning – home is where our hearts are,” Museum of the Military Family (MAMF) Executive Director Dr. Circe Olson Woessner says. “We are proud to have created such a unique memorial to the mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, spouses, and others who have loved and supported a member of the U.S. Armed Forces.”

The Military Family Memorial is possible because of a grant from the Kerr Foundation and the generosity of companies like Lowe’s, RAKS, and of the National Guard, veterans’ organizations, and many individuals, especially “members of our all-volunteer board of directors, and extended Facebook family.”

The memorial is a small house, designed by Woessner and configured for a static display of family memorabilia by Museum special projects manager Paul Silva, a Sandia National Laboratories retiree. Through each of five windows, visitors can look upon displays depicting the life of a military member, of children, of spouses.

The Memorial is located on the grounds of the New Mexico National Guard Museum (formerly the Bataan Memorial Museum) in Santa Fe. It will be dedicated on May 13 at 1:00 p.m. during a weekend Guard commemoration of the end of World War II in Europe.

Army veteran and graphic designer Dominic Ruiz created the panels. He said the monument would teach people about military life and allow individuals familiar with it to reminisce. “For me, it brought back a lot of memories,” Ruiz says.

Woessner says, “I don’t know if there are any other memorials dedicated to the military family and I am grateful that the National Guard leadership recognizes the family as an essential component of military service and supports having our memorial right at the entrance to their own museum.”

For more information about the Museum of the American Military Family, visit www.militaryfamilymuseum.org or write to Museum of the American Military Family, P.O. Box 5085, Albuquerque, NM 87185. Tel: (505) 504-6830.