Wellstone memorial is about more than remembering

Gabe Brisbois stood at the microphone on a makeshift stage Sunday and spoke for the 500 people who had gathered to dedicate the Wellstone Memorial and Historic Site near Eveleth.

“I am a past, present and future Wellstone supporter,” were his first words.

The site (three miles east of Highway 53 on the Bodas Road just north of the Highway 37 interchange, signage on Hwy 53 is good) is a memorial and historic site but supporters of Paul and Sheila Wellstone refuse to let their work end. Brisbois’ succinct statement and words about the future were not empty. And it was in his home in Hibbing that Wellstone made the decision to run for the U.S. Senate over 15 years ago.

The dedication ceremony was short, which allowed those in attendance to walk the three trails, touch the beautifully polished stones that remember the victims of the Oct. 25, 2002, airplane crash, and have their picture taken before Wellstone’s beloved green bus, which managed yet another road trip.

The site can handle a crowd if you don’t mind parking as much as a mile away as many did Sunday. But it will forever be best visited when few are there. Tears will keep the trails compacted as was evidenced Sunday. But it is a place of much hope for the future as well.

Mark Wellstone, Paul and Sheila’s son, liked the way the site turned out. The natural setting was hardly disturbed, which his parents would have liked.

“Come alone and remember…find peace at this site and remember your loved ones,” he told the gathering. “I hope you come back and do it again.”

One trail leads out and back in a short walk to a a simple metal beam that marks a line to the actual airplane crash site a few hundred yards away. A short circular outside path has signs that tell the story of Paul and Sheila Wellstone.

A tight inner circle has polished stones that have the names of the Wellstones and staffers who lost their lives in the crash.

“Schoolchildren can come here and learn about a great man,” said Judy MacLaughlin, mother of Will, who died in the crash. “Think of your committment to public service, think of your role in society, remember, then act.”

In addition to Paul and Sheila Wellstone and staffer Will McLaughlin, others who died in the plane crash were the Wellstones’ daughter, Marcia Wellstone Markuson; staffers Tom Lapic and Mary McEvoy; and the two pilots, Captain Richard Conroy and Michael Guess.

One of Wellstone’s favorite expressions was “don’t separate the life you lead from the words you speak.” Good intentions are not enough, Wellstone Iron Range staffer Lisa Radosevich Pattni said.

Thousands of people nationally are making sure of that. The Wellstones’ work in being carried on in every state through Wellstone Action,www.wellstone.org.

But their memorial is in Eveleth on Minnesota’s Iron Range, a place they called their second home. Radosevich Pattni knew why.

“They loved the first and second generation Americans on the Iron Range,” she told the gathering. “They loved the way we fight for what we believe in and our high voter turnout.” She said Wellstone was the first U.S. Senator to open an office on the Iron Range, and he had one in Willmar as well “because he felt he needed to be available to all Minnesotans.”

Thanks to the efforts of those who raised the $300,000 for the site and the labor of love of so many in building it, the Wellstones will forever be available to all Minnesotans.

Larry Sillanpa edits the Duluth Labor World, the official publication of the Duluth Central Labor Body. Visit the Labor World website, www.laborworld.org

Photos from the dedication
All photos by Erik Peterson except where indicated.

Kelsey Peterson of St. Paul reflects at the beautiful stone work that remembers Mary McEvoy at the Wellstone Memorial and Historic Site. McEvoy was a staff person for Sen. Paul Wellstone who also died in the Oct. 25, 2002 airplane crash. Peterson knew McEvoy and her family as she is the daughter of Connie Lewis, who was Wellstone’s chief of staff in Minnesota. Lewis was part of the memorial’s task force. Photo by Larry Sillanpa

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Mark Wellstone addressed the crowd.

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Jon Youngdahl was among those who journeyed to northern Minnesota for the dedication ceremony.

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More than 500 people attended the memorial dedication.

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Steelworkers District 11 Director Dave Foster recalled the Wellstones and their legacy.

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The simple stone monument commemorating Paul and Sheila Wellstone.

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An eagle and a poem are engraved on a boulder near the entrance.

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Placards describe the Wellstones’ legacy and how their work continues today.

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The Wellstone bus, used in two victorious U.S. Senate campaigns, is another tangible symbol of the Wellstone legacy.