Even after death, a veteran can still be a hero and inspiration to others. Just ask Mark Winders and Hank Elsworth from Point Man Ministries in Coos Bay.

Winders and Elsworth had a friend, U.S. Navy veteran David Dewett, who graduated from North Bend High School before going into the Navy.

“David was a wonderful man,” Winders said.  

He was quiet and somewhat shy, Elsworth said.

“He had a gentle spirit,” he added.

At one Point Man meeting in late April 2005, Dewett spoke up and chastised everybody at the meeting for not making progress on an idea he worked on — a veterans’ memorial to be built at a wayside north of the McCullough Bridge.

It was the last meeting Dewett would attend. For weeks after the meeting, Dewett didn’t feel very well, Winders said. On June 8, he called Winders and told him he had lung cancer. Doctors predicted he would live about three to five years. Dewett tried a new chemotherapy treatment, Winders said.

On Thursday, Aug. 4, Dewett called Winders and asked him to visit him. He died two days later.

“The Lord knows the day and time we’re called and that’s all there is to it,” Winders said.

During Dewett’s funeral service, somebody brought up the idea of naming the planned memorial project after him.

On a stretch of U.S. Highway 101, just after Horsfall Beach Road heading north, is the David Dewett Memorial Wayside. Right now, it’s nothing more than a piece of land, with a gravel turnout surrounded by green grass. The McCullough Bridge can be seen in the distance. The gentle lapping of Coos Bay on the nearby shore is overpowered by the sound of traffic only a few feet away.  

The wayside is not a memorial to Dewett, but named after him to honor veterans, Elsworth said.

But the group wants to do something more. So if everything goes to plan, a memorial to honor veterans — past, present and future — will be built within the next few years, said Julie Olsen, who volunteers at Point Man Ministries. The new memorial will feature five pedestals of granite and three flagpoles.

Olsen started at Point Man Ministries in July, but she’s already spearheading the push to make the memorial a reality. She’s talked with several Bay Area agencies and businesses about the idea.

“So far the response has been absolutely awesome,” Olsen said.

And the group may get some help from the state.

The day before Dewett died, the Oregon Legislature passed House Bill 2739, which made provisions for “state funding assistance made available from State Parks and Recreation to nonprofit veterans’ organizations,” according to information from Point Man Ministries. The funds could be used to “build and restore veterans and war memorials located on public property.”  

The group turned to the Oregon Department of Transportation to discuss the project. Officials from the agency said they would help with initial planning of the memorial, Olsen said. Calls to ODOT officials were not returned in time for publication.

The group needs about $22,000 for its portion of the project, if the grant it is seeking is approved, Elsworth said. The group has raised $4,000, he added. The project is expected to cost between $80,000 to $90,000, Olsen said.

To raise the funds, the group is selling bricks, which will be placed at the memorial as pathways, she said. The bricks can be inscribed with the name of a veteran, family names, poems or business and organization names to honor military personnel.

For Winders and Elsworth, the memorial will serve to remind people that veterans deserve respect.

“We’re looking to leave something for the community in recognition of the cost of our freedom,” Winders said.

As for the name of the memorial, Elsworth said that Dewett would probably shy away from the recognition.

“He’d be embarrassed,” he said.

For more information on the David Dewett Veterans’ Memorial Wayside, or to purchase a brick, those interested can contact Mike Harris at 267-4755 or Olsen at 756-5061. Those interested can visit http://www.pointman101.org/Dave.Dewett.Memorial.htm.