Howard County Veterans Host Groundbreaking for Monument

It was a standing room only crowd at the Groundbreaking Ceremony for the Howard County Veterans Monument and the Vivian C. “Millie” Bailey Neighborhood Park on the Lakefront in Downtown Columbia. Hosted by the Howard County Veterans Foundation, the event drew elected and civic leaders and members of the armed forces and veterans, who turned out to celebrate the long-awaited start of the monument and to honor Bailey, a beloved community leader and military veteran.

Master of Ceremonies Robert Gillette, president of the Howard County Veterans Foundation, Inc., reminded the gathered attendees that the 26,000 square foot park will be “nestled between two iconic landmarks: the Lakefront fountain and Jim Rouse’s former office” in the Frank Gehry-designed building that was once the headquarters of The Rouse Company and is now a Whole Foods Market.

The park will serve “as a beacon, calling us to gather as a community and give thanks to those who have put our collective safety above their own,” Gillette said. The name of the park to be the home of the Howard County Veterans Monument was selected “with purpose. We have chosen a living example that personifies how one individual who has made serving others her core purpose in life can inspire so many to do so much,” he added.

Bailey was recognized for her military service during World War II and for her lifelong commitment to public service, including roles on many local boards of directors and as a philanthropist who adopted Running Brook Elementary School as one of the beneficiaries of her support as well as that of the many people she encouraged to “give a little.” Now 100, Bailey lives in the Residences at Vantage Point in Downtown Columbia, where some of the city’s pioneers and early arrivals now live. Her fellow residents came to the ceremony by shuttle from the nearby retirement center.

The new Neighborhood Park is being developed by the Howard Hughes Corporation as part of the Downtown Columbia redevelopment, and the land will be donated to the county as a public park. The veterans monument is being developed by the Howard County Veterans Foundation, Inc., which has raised one-third of the estimated $1.2 million goal for construction and ongoing maintenance. The park will include three areas: a community gathering place or “free speech” zone, a play area for children, and the veterans monument.

In his remarks, Howard Hughes Corporation Regional President Greg Fitchitt noted, “This is part of the Downtown Columbia Plan, to have a truly public space … Freedom of speech and the right of the people to peaceably assemble are enshrined in the First Amendment, and this new public place at the Lakefront, Bailey Park, will provide space to guarantee those rights here in Downtown Columbia, along with the space to honor those who give so much of themselves to protect those rights. What could be more fitting.”

The Groundbreaking Ceremony for the Howard County Veterans Monument and the Vivian C. “Millie” Bailey Neighborhood Park included Columbia Association President Milton W. Matthews, Howard County Veterans Foundation President Robert Gillette, Rev. Sue Lowcock Harris of First Presbyterian Church of Howard County, The Howard Hughes Corporation Regional President Greg Fitchitt, Vivian C. “Millie” Bailey, County Executive Calvin Ball, Jonathan Branch of the Howard County Commission for Veterans and Military Families, Raul Delerme of the Howard County Department of Recreation and Parks, Howard County Commission for Veterans and Military Families Administrator Lisa Terry, and Wanda Riddle of the Howard County Veterans Foundation, Inc.