Wilder
Wilder, ID · LATEST NEWS
Idaho Press
Eagle families build sanctuary for grief and remembrance
EAGLE — The second installation phase of a Dry Creek Cemetery monument, intended as a place of healing for all who mourn a loved one, was commemorated Saturday. An Angel of Hope — one of nearly 200 such statues, mostly in the United States — came to the Treasure Valley earlier this year thanks to the Eagle Lions Club and a group of local residents who have experienced devastating grief. Now, a brick plaza and amphitheater will be erected around it, and its construction was kicked off with a Nov. 7 groundbreaking. “The angel is going to be totally surrounded,” said Gary D’Orazio, one of the bereaved parents who spearheaded the project. “We’re going to have memorial plaques. We’re going to have benches with engravings.” D’Orazio was instrumental in constructing the country’s second Angel of Hope statue in Nevada three decades ago. After reading the novella “The Christmas Box,” which inspired the movement, he learned that author Richard Paul Evans was erecting an Angel in Salt Lake City and wanted to do the same for his own son, Mario, near Elko where he died. The death of a second son, Rocco, in 2024 strengthened his resolve for bringing the Eagle
Idaho Press
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