Mother Gold Star Michigan is planning a memorial for those who have lost family on active duty

VAN BUREN COUNTY, MI – Laura De Roo expresses pain over the loss of her son, Sgt. US Army. Gabriel De Roo, who served in Iraq in 2006, will never be completely gone.

It’s a burden she and other family members will carry for the rest of their lives, she added.

“It’s an ongoing struggle that we all face,” said De Roo, who chairs a committee to erect a Gold Star monument to the village of Paw Paw in Van Buren County. “Less than 1% of the population serves in the military. The number of people who die on active duty is much lower.”

The Gold Star is awarded to the closest family members of a soldier who died in active military service, regardless of whether he took part in combat.

“Military death is different because that child knows that when they sign up, it’s always a possibility,” she said. “We never know what to expect. Wars come and go from day to day.”

Knowing that death is a possibility is part of the sacrifice that comes with enlisting in the military, she said. However, it doesn’t make losing a loved one any easier. Not for her or another Gold Star mother, Robyn Wixom of Bloomingdale, whose son U.S. Army Sgt. Cole Wixom died in a training accident in New Mexico in 2019.

De Roo said members of the Gold Star community need to have a place where they can meet and support each other. She said the memorial would also help other community members better understand the loss Gold Star families are living with.

The goal is to raise funds to place the memorial in Maple City Veterans Memorial Park, 510 E. Michigan Ave., sometime in 2026. The memorial was intended to honor the families of servicemen and women who sacrificed their lives serving in the nation’s military.

De Roo, Wixom and fellow commission members — veteran Steve Haddad and Karen Straffon — are working with the Woody Williams Foundation to bring this vision to life. As De Roo said, we hope to raise just over $100,000 to complete it.

The monument would be made of black granite and would be 7 feet high and 13 feet long. One side of the monument was intended to pay tribute to Gold Star families and relatives. The other side would tell a unique story of the community based on four pillars: homeland, family, patriot and sacrifice.

At the center of the monument was the silhouette of a saluting service member. The silhouette is an intentional “emptiness”, indicating that the loved one can no longer be touched or embraced.

De Roo said that depending on the amount raised, the committee also considers memorial benches or another way to pay tribute to specific fallen servicemen and women. She said the memorial itself would not include those families, as was the case with everyone else.

Those interested in making a donation may do so at woodywilliams.org/monuments/paw-paw-mi.html or by mailing a check to the Woody Williams Foundation, 12123 Shelbyville Rd, Suite 100, Louisville, KY 40243. If mailing a check asked to write “Paw Paw, MI” on the note to ensure funds are transferred correctly.

Anyone with questions can contact De Roo at [email protected] or 269-365-8666.

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