I grew up in Spencer, graduated from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, taught school in Wilmington and Charlotte and was a social worker at Rowan County Social Services. So I am a Tar Heel at heart. When I married, I moved to California and stayed for about 40 years. After my husband died, I moved back to N.C. to be near kin. Although I live in Concord, I visit Salisbury occasionally. I was sad to hear of the removal of the “Fame” monument from Innes Street.

As a child, I enjoyed going to Salisbury for three things: the city park, the railroad station and the angel statue on Innes Street. I would ask the story of the angel and the man. My mother would say it was a soldier who died in the war and the angel was taking him to heaven. That was the only explanation I needed. I knew that soldiers died in wars and angels took people to heaven. It didn’t matter which war or where the soldier died. It didn’t matter if the soldier was red, yellow, black or white; angels serviced all. It didn’t matter if they were Democrats, Republicans or didn’t like politicians period. It was the angel doing its job.

I was sad to hear the angel was removed from downtown and put in storage and that the city fathers wanted to put the angel in an obscure cemetery. Let’s face it: people don’t go to cemeteries much. Just a hard visit for a lost loved one. I don’t need a grave site to remember who I lost. Why send the angel to a cemetery?  Why not put that creature of light where people can see her and appreciate her beauty?

While I was visiting the city park, I noticed the people there with their dogs, their sports equipment, and their kids, enjoying the green and the lake and the sun. I saw the stately monuments to the fallen dead from several wars. I read names of people I had heard of.  Why not find a place for the angel in the park? We are not honoring wars in these monuments; we are honoring people who did their jobs, who gave up their lives for others. At least put the angel some place where people visit and are blessed by.

— Judy Ellenburg Davison
Concord