CONWAY, Ark. (October 29, 2013) – Hendrix will dedicate the new Young-Wise Memorial
Stadium and Plaza on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 12:30 p.m.
The public ceremony will take place immediately before the Warrior football team
plays fellow NCAA Division III Southern Athletic Association conference member Rhodes
College at 1 p.m.
Completed this fall, Young-Wise Memorial Stadium and Plaza is named for Hendrix
alumni Robert Young, who was killed in World War I, and Benjamin and Jeremy Wise,
who were killed during separate actions in Afghanistan.
For the memorial plaza in front of the stadium, Hendrix commissioned public artwork
to honor the sacrifice of all Hendrix alumni who have given their lives in service
to their country. The artwork incorporates the Hendrix Veterans’ Memorial statue
of a World War I doughboy soldier and two new large bronze negative silhouettes
of military helmets. The colors on the silhouettes were chosen to reflect the service
of the Wise brothers. Jeremy was a U.S. Navy Seal, and Benjamin was a U.S. Army
Green Beret.
The installation was designed by sculptor Ken Hruby, a West Point graduate and
Vietnam veteran. Hruby is on the faculty of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts
in Boston. The College solicited design concepts for the memorial plaza and Hruby’s
work was recommended by a committee of faculty, staff, students and alumni.
“The negative silhouettes represent the loss, or absence, of the Wise brothers
in a clear, visible form,” said Hruby. “The distance between the silhouettes and
the Doughboy represents the time span of ninety-odd years between the first and
the latter two combat deaths. The siting of the three elements unifies the plaza
as a collective memorial rather than individual homages to these three fallen warriors.”
The memorial includes a plaque featuring a poem written by Hendrix English professor
Dr. Alex Vernon, a West Point graduate and Persian Gulf War veteran, and plaques
honoring each of the Wise brothers.
In addition to the Wise family, Maj. Gen. William D. Wofford, Adjutant General
of the Arkansas National Guard, and Brig. Gen. LeeAnne Pittman Burch, a Hendrix
alumna who commands the United States Army Reserve Legal Command in Gaithersburg,
Md., will attend the ceremony. Rev. Dr. Robert G. Certain, a Vietnam veteran and
Executive Director of the Military Chaplains Association, will speak.
Founded in 1876, Hendrix College is a national leader in engaged liberal arts
and sciences education. For the sixth consecutive year, Hendrix was named one of
the country’s “Up and Coming” liberal arts colleges by U.S. News and World Report. Hendrix is featured in the latest edition of Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools
That Will Change the Way You Think about Colleges, as well as the 2014 Princeton
Review’s The Best 378 Colleges, Forbes magazine's list of America's
Top Colleges, and the 2014 Fiske Guide to Colleges. Hendrix has been affiliated
with the United Methodist Church since 1884. For more information, visit
www.hendrix.edu.