The room at the Kiwanis lunch fell quiet as Michael Durbin looked across the audience, asking a single question: “How many of you have a father or family member that was a veteran? Almost every hand in the room rose, a sea of shared history and sacrifice. Beside him stood Shannan Chevallier, his partner in a mission that has become the heartbeat of Main Street .

 

For Durbin, a veteran himself, this project is deeply personal, rooted in a memory from forty years ago when, on his first night at boot camp, as an eighteen-year-old recruit, he cried himself to sleep thinking of his mother. That memory birthed the central vision for the memorial: **a statue of a mother kneeling in prayer, clutching the American flag**, surrounded by five soldiers representing each branch of service. A sixth soldier will stand alone in a corner, honoring the “fallen soldiers, men and women that did not get to come home”.

 

With a skeptical start to this project, Durbin didn’t falter. He knew he needed a partner who shared his grit and love for Winnfield, leading him to ask Chevallier to serve as Executive Vice President. He chose her because he knew she “wouldn’t quit” and possessed a deep devotion to the community. Together, they have turned a 100-year-old building into a “roofless sanctuary” where a **70-foot flagpole** will reach through the open ceiling toward the sky.

 

The project is a testament to community resilience, having already saved an estimated $100,000 through donated time, equipment, and volunteer labor. From the planned white brick walls to the black steel accents to be fabricated by local supporters, every inch of the memorial is designed to be a place of quiet reflection. “It’s going to be a memorial that people from out of town… are going to come to Winfield to see,” Durbin told the crowd.

 

Chevallier shared the vision for the memorial’s walls, which will be lined with **commemorative bricks** honoring veterans both living and deceased. Refusing to place names on the floor where they would be walked upon, the team chose to elevate these honors to the walls themselves. 

 

As the meeting adjourned, the emotional weight of the project was clear. Durbin, who recently recovered from two heart surgeries, spoke of the memorial not as a personal achievement, but as a divine calling. “This memorial will change Main Street in this town forever,” he said. With a goal to complete the sanctuary by October 18th—the anniversary of the day they received the building—Michael and Shannan invited the community to help them finish a “heart for veterans” that Winn Parish can be proud of forever. Ways the community can give. Venmo (@WinnVMA), or accounts at Sabine State Bank, and Bank of Winnfield.

 

Photo, Dr. Gaddis, Michael Durbin, Shannan Chevallier, and Mary Lou Blackley.