Veterans honor roll memorial refurbished at Murrysville church

For Rick Klingensmith of Altoona, the veterans’ honor roll memorial in front of Emmanuel Reformed Church of the United Church of Christ in Murrysville has a personal meaning.

Restoring the memorial, which bears over 170 names of military veterans who have belonged to the church, dating as far back as the Revolutionary War, was his parents’ passion project.

His father, Everett Klingensmith, often called “Sonny,” cared for the monument first, and when he died in 2016, Rick’s mother, Helen Klingensmith, took over until her death in 2023.

“This has been our lifelong church — my grandparents are buried here, great-grandparents are buried here,” he said.

On Sunday, Rick returned to the church at 3618 Hills Church Road to see the results of the restoration project that had refurbished the memorial, and to attend a service dedicating the monument in his parents’ name.

For Rick, seeing the memorial refreshed and his parents honored is encouraging, he said.

“It was just nice to see them get honored for all the years of work that they put in, helping (keep) it going for folks,” he said.

Repairing a monument

The project was facilitated by several local businesses and organizations, including Rutters Supply, American Legion Post 711, Kacin Companies of Murrysville, Pro Trucks of Murrysville, Stanford Home Centers, and Cub Scout Pack 213. Volunteers from the Cub Scout pack put together the repairs according to scoutmaster Bill Moutz.

The pack first seriously started discussing restoring the monument around Memorial Day, Moutz said.

“We brought in the mulch, we brought in the kids to help with the restoration, and we power-washed everything,” he said. “We sought out donations in the community, and the generosity of our community made it possible.”

Before the repair, the weeds had taken over the plot around the monument, and the benches were in disarray, he said. A few additional restorations, including planting flowers and anchoring the benches, are still in progress.

“We re-bedded everything, put all the new mulch in, we pressure washed everything, cleaned all the moss off of it, painted the memorial, I wired in new lights for the honor roll and the flag,” Moutz said. “It was on our radar, (but) Memorial Day brought it to light that we needed to do something.”

Church history

Constructed in 1943, the keystone-shaped memorial’s names were updated in 2008. Veterans dating from the Revolutionary War all the way up to the Persian Gulf War and Iraq War are memorialized on handwritten panels.

Not all of the veterans were buried in the cemetery at the church, but all were members of the church during the time that they served, pastor Joe Hedden said.

The church traces its roots back to a church that was held in the home of a local landowner, Peter Hill. The church’s other name, Hills Church, comes from the original owner of the land.

“The official date of our church, but we’re not exactly sure, is 1820,” said Hedden. “That was when an actual congregation was founded.”

The earliest iteration of the church held its worship services in German, Hedden said.

“They would sit on the porch after the service was over on Sunday afternoon and have family, (and) the women would cook the meals,” he added.

That long history is part of Hills Church’s legacy. One of Hedden’s favorite parts of being pastor, he said, is getting to talk to visitors to the church who can trace their history back generations to the site.

“They’ve got a relative buried in the cemetery, and they want to meet somebody. If I’m here, I love to talk to them and help them find, if they can, where they’re buried,” he said.