| John Watson: Veteran Falls Memorial Park holds stone ceremony The Cleburne Times-Review Mon Nov 29, 2010, 09:50 AM CST On Nov. 20, the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association Chapter 23-1 out of Lewisville organized a memorial ride to Veteran Falls, arriving about noon. Lunch was served at the site and afterward they held a Memorial Stone Ceremony, where family members of the fallen, placed memorial stones in the canyon of Veteran Falls. There was a good turn-out for the ceremony. The Memorial Stone Program offers families a way to honor their fallen heroes, by placing a stone in Veteran Falls, engraved with their name, rank and the date of their death. The stones are then placed where the water will flow over and around the stone, truly making it a part of the memorial. There is no cost to the families for these stones; the cost being covered by donors and sponsors of the Memorial Stone Program. The stones are provided to the families of our fallen heroes, and they are invited to attend a special ceremony at Veteran Falls, prior to the unveiling, to select a resting place for the stone. After the ceremony, I visited with Robert Stapleton, the developer of the falls. Robert grew up in the mountains of New Mexico, surrounded by spectacular rock formations, where he grew to love God’s natural works of art. As a child he often played in the canyon behind his house; hiking, climbing and inspecting every inch of this magnificent landscape. He was fascinated by the colors and textures of the stone, and that fascination is still with him today. While living in northern Colorado, at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, in the late 1980’s, Robert was once again drawn to the stone and the mountains. He established the first Waterfall Center of its kind, where the client could see and hear their water feature on display, before they bought it. Each display was unique, no other like it anywhere. The display was then disassembled and reassembled at the client’s home. A while back the developer of Knox Ranch equestrian community at Granbury approached Robert about building a large waterfall for their development project. At first Robert was not interested. The Knox Ranch official then countered with the following offer; “What if we built a national memorial for those who have died in the war on terrorism since 9-11. We’ll donate the land and we’ll build a public park around it, and I’ll give you all the rocks off this 2100 acres to build something. Will you build it then.” Robert told me; “I thought about it for a minute and realized this was what God had wanted me to be doing for the last 20 years. I’m a veteran, my father is a veteran, my grandfather and my son and daughter-in-law are in the Air Force. They had just gotten back from Iraq.” “I said, ‘Sure I would.’ So I took this on and two days later started harvesting stone and building it. The only thing they wanted was something big, but I didn’t have any limitations on the size to make it, I could make it as big as I wanted; so I made it 290 feet and 70 feet wide, not knowing where I was going to get the money or how I was going to get it. I talked to a lot of great companies that furnished equipment and material for the construction. God needed to teach me patience so he stuck me on something for two years. “Knox Ranch is a big development. I believe it is going to have an amphitheater, a sports complex, an equine center, a number of housing units and an RV park.” There will also be a five acre public park to showcase the Veteran Falls. The park will be located on a corner of the property next to U.S. 377 west of Granbury, across from the VFW Hall and is destined to become Texas’ newest landmark. The stones were laid in place to give the falls a natural look with no cement or mortar of any kind used to hold them in place. So far they have used more than 220 tractor-trailer loads of stone, each one taken from the surrounding property, the largest stone weighing more than 35,000 pounds. A thick plastic liner was placed beneath all the rock to conserve the water. The liner was provided and installed by Oilfield Plastics, using more than 28,000 square feet of liner. There are a total of three pumps with two large discharge pumps at the base. There will be a total of 180,000 gallons of water per hour coming over the falls, roaring down the canyon to disappear at the end of the canyon. The water then flows through an underground concrete conduit to a nearby pond where it is then pumped back to the top of the falls. Every once in a while there is a geyser that goes off, powered by the third pump. The water will have to flow 24/7 for the filter system to work; so at night when it’s not needed to be visible, it will be throttled down to 20% flow. The developer of the property where the memorial is being constructed donated the land and all the stone, as well as startup capital for the project. The remainder of the funds has come from sponsors and supporters through fund raising events and donations. At this time construction has halted on the project and Robert is out doing fund raising projects. Construction will resume when 100% of the funds are available to complete the project. You may see the construction, history of the falls and find out more about the memorial stones at: www.veteranfalls.com. John Watson is a Cleburne resident who can be reached at texastraveler@sbcglobal.net |
| John Watson: Veteran Falls Memorial Park holds stone ceremony The Cleburne Times-Review Mon Nov 29, 2010, 09:50 AM CST On Nov. 20, the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association Chapter 23-1 out of Lewisville organized a memorial ride to Veteran Falls, arriving about noon. Lunch was served at the site and afterward they held a Memorial Stone Ceremony, where family members of the fallen, placed memorial stones in the canyon of Veteran Falls. There was a good turn-out for the ceremony. The Memorial Stone Program offers families a way to honor their fallen heroes, by placing a stone in Veteran Falls, engraved with their name, rank and the date of their death. The stones are then placed where the water will flow over and around the stone, truly making it a part of the memorial. There is no cost to the families for these stones; the cost being covered by donors and sponsors of the Memorial Stone Program. The stones are provided to the families of our fallen heroes, and they are invited to attend a special ceremony at Veteran Falls, prior to the unveiling, to select a resting place for the stone. After the ceremony, I visited with Robert Stapleton, the developer of the falls. Robert grew up in the mountains of New Mexico, surrounded by spectacular rock formations, where he grew to love God’s natural works of art. As a child he often played in the canyon behind his house; hiking, climbing and inspecting every inch of this magnificent landscape. He was fascinated by the colors and textures of the stone, and that fascination is still with him today. While living in northern Colorado, at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, in the late 1980’s, Robert was once again drawn to the stone and the mountains. He established the first Waterfall Center of its kind, where the client could see and hear their water feature on display, before they bought it. Each display was unique, no other like it anywhere. The display was then disassembled and reassembled at the client’s home. A while back the developer of Knox Ranch equestrian community at Granbury approached Robert about building a large waterfall for their development project. At first Robert was not interested. The Knox Ranch official then countered with the following offer; “What if we built a national memorial for those who have died in the war on terrorism since 9-11. We’ll donate the land and we’ll build a public park around it, and I’ll give you all the rocks off this 2100 acres to build something. Will you build it then.” Robert told me; “I thought about it for a minute and realized this was what God had wanted me to be doing for the last 20 years. I’m a veteran, my father is a veteran, my grandfather and my son and daughter-in-law are in the Air Force. They had just gotten back from Iraq.” “I said, ‘Sure I would.’ So I took this on and two days later started harvesting stone and building it. The only thing they wanted was something big, but I didn’t have any limitations on the size to make it, I could make it as big as I wanted; so I made it 290 feet and 70 feet wide, not knowing where I was going to get the money or how I was going to get it. I talked to a lot of great companies that furnished equipment and material for the construction. God needed to teach me patience so he stuck me on something for two years. “Knox Ranch is a big development. I believe it is going to have an amphitheater, a sports complex, an equine center, a number of housing units and an RV park.” There will also be a five acre public park to showcase the Veteran Falls. The park will be located on a corner of the property next to U.S. 377 west of Granbury, across from the VFW Hall and is destined to become Texas’ newest landmark. The stones were laid in place to give the falls a natural look with no cement or mortar of any kind used to hold them in place. So far they have used more than 220 tractor-trailer loads of stone, each one taken from the surrounding property, the largest stone weighing more than 35,000 pounds. A thick plastic liner was placed beneath all the rock to conserve the water. The liner was provided and installed by Oilfield Plastics, using more than 28,000 square feet of liner. There are a total of three pumps with two large discharge pumps at the base. There will be a total of 180,000 gallons of water per hour coming over the falls, roaring down the canyon to disappear at the end of the canyon. The water then flows through an underground concrete conduit to a nearby pond where it is then pumped back to the top of the falls. Every once in a while there is a geyser that goes off, powered by the third pump. The water will have to flow 24/7 for the filter system to work; so at night when it’s not needed to be visible, it will be throttled down to 20% flow. The developer of the property where the memorial is being constructed donated the land and all the stone, as well as startup capital for the project. The remainder of the funds has come from sponsors and supporters through fund raising events and donations. At this time construction has halted on the project and Robert is out doing fund raising projects. Construction will resume when 100% of the funds are available to complete the project. You may see the construction, history of the falls and find out more about the memorial stones at: www.veteranfalls.com. John Watson is a Cleburne resident who can be reached at texastraveler@sbcglobal.net |