Wellstone Memorial and Historic Site opened

[kskiska]

Wellstone's way

The Wellstone Memorial and Historic Site opened to the public Sunday, drawing an appreciative crowd of supporters -- and the late senator's famous green bus, of course -- to a remote, wooded area near Eveleth where the plane carrying the senator and seven others crashed in October 2002.

For most of the crowd Sunday, it was their first glimpse of the area where Sen. Paul Wellstone; his wife, Sheila; their daughter, Marcia Markuson; three campaign staffers, and two pilots died. They read the markers and walked the grounds with a mix of sadness and smiles.

"I didn't know how I'd react when I saw this," Mark Wellstone, the younger of the Wellstones' two sons, told a crowd of several hundred people. "But it turned out really, really nice. And it felt really good to see all the faces today."

(snip)

Like Wellstone, the memorial is far from traditional.

The first thing visitors see is a roadside marker and a shiny green boulder engraved with a poem and a drawing of an eagle.

From there, visitors can follow a wooded path, or "legacy trail," that passes by a half-dozen markers that describe Wellstone's career in words and photographs. It begins with the curly-haired, flannel-shirted Wellstone -- the community organizer -- and ends with the senator dressed in a suit and tie in Washington, D.C. There's also a marker for Sheila Wellstone, her husband's constant companion and trusted adviser, and tireless advocate for battered women.

Another short trail leads to an overlook point near the site of the crash, a marshy area with scattered pine trees.

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http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/5634170.html

[WarNoMore]

1. I am sooo cyring now

Wellstone was the closest thing to Bobby Kennedy I ever knew, maybe beyond. We "boomers" have been traumatized ever since JFK. and it hurts so much it's hard for me express. I hope someday to see this memorial