The Capital Garden Club has a fondness for military service members and veterans.
Installing a Blue Star Memorial Marker on Tuesday at the Ike Skelton Training Site is the latest project the 17-member group has taken on.
Brig. Gen. Gregory Mason called the marker a fitting tribute at the dedication ceremony, held under the gaze of the recently relocated Spanish-American War Soldier Memorial.
Most of the garden club members are either mothers, daughters, spouses or siblings of those who have served or are serving, said organizer Jeanne Schwaller.
The blue star symbol, meaning "hope and pride," emerged during World War I as families of serving soldiers hung a blue star in their home window. Garden clubs nationwide revived the expression of appreciation after World War II, installing Blue Star Memorial Markers along U.S. 50 from the Atlantic to Pacific oceans.
Jefferson City's first marker was installed by the Hawthorn Garden Club in 1951 at a roadside park, where Capital Mall is today. That marker has been relocated to Washington Park.
At first, it was a highway program, in the following decades expanded to parks and community locations. The marker at the National Guard is the fifth in the area and the 94th in Missouri.
The Missouri Federated Garden Clubs of Missouri installed another memorial marker in Jefferson City at Memorial Park to mark its 75th anniversary. Other markers have been placed at the Jefferson City National Cemetery, McClung Park and near Lincoln University's Soldiers Hall.
This November, one will be dedicated in Russellville's Railroad Park.
The patriotic project is often a partnership. The Capital Garden Club facilitates the paperwork and national approval for the official marker, and the club also has covered the cost of the markers at some sites, like the national cemetery, Schwaller said.
The markers may only be placed by garden clubs, she said. This project was a cooperation of the club, the Guard and the Federated Garden Clubs of Missouri Inc.
Like the newest marker in front of the Museum of Missouri Military History, the club tries to plant a companion garden when possible, she said.
The club members planted roses, boxwoods, spring bulbs and annuals. They will continue to maintain the sign's garden in the future, Schwaller said.
In future years, "the marker will still be there," she said. "It says some group of people cared enough to do this. It's a tremendous tribute that a very small garden club cared for their community."
