Memorial marker
Funeral home dedicates stone to public safety office in Grovetown
Nancy King Foster, a spokesperson for Tommy King Funeral Home, dedicates a marker in front of the Grovetown Department of Public Safety as a memorial to those people who lost their lives in the attacks on September 11. 2001.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
A piece of stone now sits at the entrance of the Grovetown Department of Public Safety.
On the front is a date that few will forget - 09.11.01. On the back is space reserved for officers who will never be forgotten.
The stone, flanked by American flags, was donated to the department by Columbia County Coroner Tommy King Sr. and his ex-wife Nancy King Foster.
Foster said a similar donation was made to the Martinez Fire Department, and there are plans to donate a stone to the sheriff's office.
"We got the idea while looking through a magazine," Foster said of a funeral trade publication that offered ideas on commemorating the Sept. 11 attacks. "We just wanted to do our part."
Officials said the back part of the stone will be engraved with the names of officers who are killed in the line of duty.
"I hope that we never have to use that," Mayor Dennis Trudeau said. "But if we do, the names will be there forever."
Grovetown Department of Public Safety Director Al Robinson said to his knowledge no officer from his department has ever been killed while working, but his department greatly appreciated the donation.
"It's a real nice thing for them to do," he said.