'Undying patriotism': Blaine statue honors children who lost military parents

On Memorial Day two years ago, an honor guard presented a flag to Meghan Valentine, then 18, in honor of her father. At this year's ceremony Monday at the Blaine Veterans Memorial Park, a statue capturing that moment was unveiled, giving the children of people who died in war or in military service their own corner of the park to honor their losses.

Valentine was too young to participate in her father's funeral in 2008. Holding the flag in Blaine two years ago, Valentine said she was transported back to Arlington National Cemetery, when her father, Senior Chief Petty Officer Thomas Valentine, a Navy SEAL, was buried just before her fifth birthday. The loss again felt overwhelming.

"I held that flag close to me like it was my dad, and we're getting through it together," Valentine said.

During the past three years, Steve Guider of the Veterans Memorial Park of Blaine made it his personal mission to honor each of the four Blaine High School graduates who have died while serving in the military. One of them was Thomas Valentine, who made his life in Virginia and was the first to be recognized at the park.

Guider said it has been difficult to convince still-grieving families to participate in the annual Memorial Day observance. The ceremonies can be challenging for families, but he said he thinks it's important they be recognized in Blaine.

"It's our way of honoring them," Guider said.

This year's ceremony honored Samuel Peterson, a 2014 Blaine High School graduate who served three years in the Marines and died by suicide at age 21 in 2017.

"Wherever Sam was there was laughter, until there wasn't. He made his decision and as always it was final," the obituary read.

Guider saw a photo of Meghan Valentine by Star Tribune photojournalist Elizabeth Flores from the 2021 ceremony, and with the park board he worked to commission a bronze statue in Valentine's likeness, based on the image.

After this year's ceremony, the statue was unveiled. People crushed in to take photos of Valentine standing next to the statue. She was touched by the experience, Valentine said, but she's really happy to see a memorial for families at the park as well as memorials for service members.

The whole family makes a sacrifice when someone joins the military, she said, and the whole family grapples with a loss when a loved one dies.

"I lost my father. My mom lost her husband," Valentine said.

Meghan Valentine remembers only flashes of her father from her early childhood, and all-too-vivid memories of the days and weeks after his death in a training accident in Arizona in 2008. But she said her father comes through strongest in the stories of the others who knew and loved him. He still sets an example, she said.