News

Mural dedication set for Sunday, Sept. 11

By Bill Moss, Published: September 8, 2016

Day after day, when she drove up King Street to take her son to Hendersonville Elementary School, Andrea Martin looked over at a large mural depicting a generic mountain scene.

She had another scene in mind for the 90-by-20-foot space. It would be a beautiful tableau to honor and thank veterans.
Martin called the building’s owner, John Taylor.
“He wouldn’t call me back,” she said. But Martin is not one to take no for an answer. When she finally reached him, she made the pitch. “You don’t have to pay me anything,” she said. “You just have to let me use your wall.”
Taylor agreed and Martin plunged in to the project.
“I started a year ago tonight,” she was saying Labor Day night. The Hendersonville Historic Preservation Commission had granted her permission to paint the new mural.
“They said I couldn’t start till after the Apple Festival,” she said.
She wasted no time. “I waited until it got dark.” Using a projector, she shined an image of the mural onto the brick expanse so she could begin outlining the scene.
It was a huge job.
Josh Smartt, a veteran who she had worked with in the non-profit Sheep Dog Impact Assistance, pressure cleaned the surface and got someone to donate scaffolding. John Criss of Strong Finish covered the old mural with a primer of gray paint. Before she was done, Martin would paint them all again by hand, to match the original red brick. A local paint store donated the 22 gallons of paint she used. Later, McNeely Rentals in Brevard donated a power lift, a toy she learned to love.

As recently as Monday night, six days before the town will officially dedicate the mural, Martin was still working on details.
“The veterans have been instrumental in helping me get these uniforms right,” she said. “I have to move some of the medals because you can Google it all day and still get it wrong.”
Jeff Miller, who owns the dry cleaners next door and is the founder of Honor Air, has been supportive.
“Jeff Miller has been phenomenal through this whole process,” she said. “He’s getting the word out and speaking to the veterans in his network. The American Legion, VFW and DAR have helped. “I tell you who I am very grateful for is the Hendersonville Police Department,” she added. Police officers will lead the Patriot Guard motorcycle riders, who will lead Gold Star families, the survivors of those military men and women who gave their lives for their country. “This is their day off and they’re volunteering their time to help with this event,” she said.
Martin’s respect for the military goes back to when she was little. The national anthem never played without bringing tears to her father’s eyes. The son of a career Army soldier who served in World War II and Korea, he had grown up largely with his father absence. “His dad was always in the war,” she said.
A CAD designer in her day job, Martin used everything from a roller to a pencil-tip sized brush to complete the work.
The military personnel depicted on her brick canvas all represent real people who served in four branches of the military:
• Terry Lee Varnadore Jr., 29, U.S. Army, died in Afghanistan in 2011. The two girls in the picture are his daughters, Ava and Leila, are receiving a folded American flag. Varnadore never met Leila. His wife was pregnant with her when he died.
• Jessie Cassada, 19, U.S. Marine Corps, died in Afghanistan in 2009. His unit was on a rooftop and he covered his men while they took cover for gun fire. After everyone had cleared, Cassada stood up and was shot.
• Todd King, U.S. Air Force, survived a suicide bomb in the Green Zone in Iraq.
• Jessica Bayne, who served in the U.S. Coast Guard, recently moved to Houston with her Coast Guard husband.
• Tony Koone, a Navy veteran, is currently a teacher at Hendersonville Elementary.
In the blue star field, the mural says “Welcome to Hendersonville.” In the center: “We honor our veterans.” A cemetery scene, an apple tree, a field and mountains are framed by a huge American flag.
“It is tattered on purpose,” Martin said. “It stands for the veterans and everything they’ve been through under her shade.”

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The veterans mural will be dedicated at 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 11, Patriots Day, at Fourth Avenue and North King Street. Organizers urged the public to arrive early and stand along King Street with American flags to honor Gold Star families, who be escorted to the dedication ceremony. The city asked citizens to be in place by 3:30 p.m. Any and all Gold Star families are welcome and encouraged to participate. Gold Star families are asked to meet at Blue Ridge Community College in the lower parking lot at 3 p.m.