2 friends fix sign on Aurora honoring veterans

Mike Shelton and Gary Epps of Shoreline were having a beer one night earlier this month when they started talking about the deplorable condition of a historical marker they drove by daily.

The Blue Star Memorial Highway marker, on a triangular patch of grass just north of North 65th Street on Aurora Avenue North, was among hundreds installed across the country to honor the men and women of the armed forces after World War II.

But over the years, the 57-year-old marker had been run over, bent and haphazardly welded together. A bad paint job had left the sign nearly impossible to read.

The two men have been close friends since Shelton and his family moved across the street from Epps and his family about 16 years ago, and they decided to move quickly.

"We saw a need to do it, so we did it," said Shelton, a 50-year-old property manager, husband and father of three who once mowed the lawn of a nearby school simply because it needed doing.

They spent less than $100 and less than three weeks getting the marker pressure-washed, primed, repainted and ready for a rededication ceremony Saturday attended by members of the state's Garden Club and the Washington State Guard.

According to Epps, a 67-year-old retired medical-insurance salesman and a Rotarian who tries to live by the organization's motto "service above self," the most surprising thing about the project was "how easy it was and how appreciative people have been."

He said jokingly that he had thought about "stealing the sign and fixing it" because he thought getting official approval would be tricky.

But it wasn't.

Shelton researched the marker and discovered it was installed in 1952 by what was then called the Snoqualmie District of the Washington State Federation of Garden Clubs.

He contacted the organization and found the members were delighted to have the help.

"We were ecstatic," said June Willard, immediate past president of the federation and co-chair of the Blue Star Memorial Marker Project.

"Usually the community knows something needs to be done, but nobody does anything about it," said Willard, who spoke at the rededication ceremony.

Among the most interesting things Shelton and Epps learned was Sherwin-Williams paint company already had matched the colors for another sign restorer and had given them rather straightforward names.

The dark green of the marker's background is called "Memorial Marker Background," and the shade of blue is called "Blue Star Blue."

The hardest thing was hand-painting each of the gold letters, the men said.

The first Blue Star Memorial Highway was a stretch of road where 8,000 dogwood trees were planted by the New Jersey State Council of Garden Clubs as a living memorial to the state's residents who served in the war.

The blue star was a symbol of a loved one's service in the military.

Since then, hundreds of the markers and plaques bearing the blue star have been placed throughout the country, and hundreds of miles of road are designated memorial highways.

The meaning of the markers has been expanded to honor those who have served, are serving and will serve in the armed forces.

According to Willard, there are 46 dedicated markers in Washington.

The first one was erected at the Peace Arch at the international crossing in Blaine, Whatcom County, in 1950; the second was installed in Vancouver; the third is the one on Aurora Avenue.

Willard and other Garden Club members are so pleased with the job Shelton and Epps did — it would have cost at least $700 to have the manufacturer restore the sign — that they're trying to get the men interested in doing another sign.

"There's another one in Moses Lake that is really in sad shape," she said.

Shelton hasn't committed yet, but Epps said he's ready to go get the sign.

"We've still got the paint," he said.

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com