Clark County Press, Neillsville, WI

November 8, 2006, Front Page & Page 4

Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon

A Broadening Horizon

Standing on The Highground plaza, Nancy and Kirk Rodman, the memorial park?s volunteer managers for the past five years, continue to enjoy the scenic natural beauty of the park which has been enhanced by its many memorials, including ?Fragments,? (left center) The Highground?s original tribute which honors Vietnam War veterans, and the figures (right), representing the soldiers in a Korean War tribute to be completed next year.

The Highground?s legion of volunteers and supporters

Playing a major role behind the growing majestic scene

By Mike Kuzjak

The Highground?s breathtaking view and the quiet magnificence of the tributes to veterans continue to make an immediate impression on people who come to the memorial park for the first time.

It only gets better with time, according to Kirk and Nancy Rodman, who speak from the experience of overseeing day-to-day operations at The Highground for the past five years as volunteer managers.

The attractions and programs at the park have been expanded during their watch, now drawing nearly 200,000 visitors a year to the Neillsville area. For most of them, it starts with the majestic natural setting overlooking a sweeping panorama of thousands of acres of forest and fields.

Nancy Rodman recalls first coming there as a visitor 10 years ago. She was immediately awestruck.  ?It was such a beautiful spot,? she said last week as The Highground staff prepared for the annual Veteran?s Day ceremonies this coming Saturday, Nov. 11^th. 

Kirk agreed, adding that his appreciation grew even more once he began volunteering to give tours back in the mid-1990s.  ?I was struck how The Highground reaches people,? said Kirk.  He still is, he said.

?This is a wonderful place to work,? said Kirk, a Korean War-era veteran.  It?s not only the beauty and serenity of the memorial park and the feelings it evokes, he explained.  It?s also the commitment of its support staff that makes The Highground a truly special place.

When he was asked to serve as The Highground?s volunteer general manager in 2001, Kirk said, he felt he had something to offer with the management skills he garnered while heading up some of the largest of the J C Penney retail stores before retiring in 1990.

Nancy, who first met Kirk while working at Penney?s brought her own background in retailing to help boost the sales at The Highground Gift Shop that funds the day-to-day operations at the park.

But, back in 1998 when she first started volunteering at the shop, there was little commerce going on there.  ?The cash register was just a cigar box,? she recalled of a tiny shop that sold a lot of T-shirts and postcards, and little else, mostly to veterans.

Under Nancy?s management, the shop has since taken on a wider inventory of items appealing to a broader range of tastes while retaining the themes of military service, education or healing.  ?We didn?t want it to be just a souvenir shop,? Kirk said.

It was important, the Rodmans said, that high standards extended throughout the memorial park.

?The Highground is also what you don?t see,? said Kirk, noting that visitors won?t see any cigarette butts or the old Porta Potties that have been replace by clean and modern permanent restrooms.

The Rodmans give much credit for the professionalism at The Highground to its current staff of four people, which includes one full-time maintenance man, Mike Purgett.

When the Rodman?s are asked to reflect on how far The Highground has come in recent years, they recall former staff members that brought their own special kind of expertise to The Highground, and made it a better place.  They speak appreciatively about Beth Martin who excelled in drafting grant applications and other writing skills.  And Judy Morrow, they said, did much in the way of event planning and organizing volunteers, including the 40 or so ?porch greeters? at The Highground?s visitors? center.

The Highground is fortunate, the Rodmans said, to have the best of neighbors, people living close by who have been proving to be real troopers, ready to lend a hand or provide a tractor or a backhoe for a landscaping project.

They spoke thankfully of the women, many of them senior citizens, who bake up pies, cookies and other goodies to help make Highground fundraising events a success.

?There are a core of people that are here when we need them,? said Nancy.  ?They are the life-blood of The Highground.  Without them, we do nothing,? Kirk added.

One of his goals in taking on the job five years ago was to build bridges back to the community, he said. There was a need to do that, Kirk said, if The Highground was going to grow.  ?We had to get more people involved,? he said.

And people have gotten involved, from near and far ? more volunteers, along with many contributors and donors.  Fund raising, so critical to The Highground, has gotten a tremendous boost in recent years, the Rodmans said.  Three years ago, the Friends of The Highground, with each donor being honored for giving $1,000 to the memorial park was started.  ?It?s grown every year,? Kirk noted.  It has joined other fundraising efforts so critical to The Highground?s continued well-being, including the statewide bike tour that started back in 1984, and the motorcycle rally at Neillsville that began in 2001.

Thanks to the volunteers? efforts and donations of money or materials, the Rodmans said, The Highground is expanding.

Once largely confined to the 22 acres of the elevated plaza and surrounding grassy hillsides, the area open and accessible to the public has spilled over and into much of the memorial park?s 140 total acres.  A forest of trees includes a pine plantation, tree house retreat and four miles of walking trails for anyone wishing for a bit of a quiet escape.

Closer to the main plaza, there?s been a renewed effort to create an opportunity for healing with a Meditation Garden.  Nearby, through the initiative of local Korean War veterans, a recognition tribute to the ?Forgotten War? is under construction and due to be completed next year.

Education, one of the mainstays in The Highground?s mission statement, remains very much on their minds, the Rodmans said.  So, along with the informational tours of The Highground?s many memorials and sites, The Highground has been holding special events, including ?Diversity Day? for local students, a time when they can learn and appreciate the lives of other people of the world, and their cultures.

For all its changes over the years, The Highground remains loyal to its original ideals, the Rodmans said.  That makes it unique in many respects.  It is one of the few manned memorial parks in the country.  ?When visitors come, they?ll find someone here,? Kirk said.

?There are no heroic figures her.  They?re all life-sized,? he said, adding that there are no tanks or cannons on display.

?It?s not a war memorial,? said Nancy.

?It?s a place of safety?? Kirk said.  ?And healing,? Nancy said, finishing his sentence.  The Rodmans have seen the out-pouring of emotion many times in their years at the park.

He believes it?s the spirituality at The Highground, Kirk said, that draws people ? veterans and non-veterans alike ? to the memorial park.  ?There is something here,? he said.

?You can?t explain it to people,? Nancy said, ?You have to feel it.?

The Rodmans obviously do and, for them, just as with so many of the other Highground volunteers, it continues to grow.