Nestled here in the southeast corner of Wilderness Park is a quiet place for remembrance and grieving, but also for joy and peace. In front of you stands a small angel with outstretched wings and her arms open in welcoming, as if at any moment she may lift off the ground and ascend through the trees into the boundless sky. She is the Angel of Hope, a memorial for children lost but never forgotten. Family members and friends, not just from Garrison but the broader regional community as well, may come here to remember children who have died, or to reflect in gratitude for the children they have in their lives. This memorial is one of several in the state of North Dakota alone, and among dozens across the United States, Canada, and even Japan.

The movement behind the Angel of Hope Memorials has literary origins. In The Christmas Box, the best-selling book by Richard Paul Evans, the plot involves a woman who regularly mourns the loss of her young daughter at the base of an angel monument. Although the work is fiction, grieving parents began seeking out the angel statue as a way to find solace and commonality, as well as to create a space of observance for their own lost children. In 1994, the first Angel of Hope Memorial was placed in the City Cemetery in Salt Lake City, Utah, the location of the monument in the book. Designed and sculpted by father-and-son Ortho and Jared Fairbanks, the angel was modeled according to the description in Evans’ book, and the face is that of the author’s own daughter.

Since then, many cities, including Garrison in 2017, have installed their own Angel of Hope Memorials, exact replicas of the original. The angel stands as a symbol, not only of healing and comfort, but if you look closely at her right wing, you will see what else she represents: “hope”.

The city of Garrison holds a remembrance ceremony every 6th of December here at the Angel of Hope Memorial.