PHOENIX — An American Indian veterans memorial in central Phoenix will likely break ground in 2025. Thirty years in the making, it was founded by a Kiowa veteran, with designs by a Hopi architect, and implementation by a Navajo designer.
The construction plans have been approved by the city of Phoenix, with the memorial to be built at Steele Indian School Park, which sits on the land that once was home to Phoenix Indian School, an American Indian boarding school from 1891 until the federal government closed it in 1990. The city of Phoenix was able to obtain the land in 1996.
Kent Ware Sr., a highly decorated World War II veteran from the Kiowa tribe of Oklahoma, established the American Indian Veteran’s Memorial Organization (AIVMO) in 1996, and planned to honor all American Indian veterans around the country with a memorial.
AIVMO was granted a site to build the memorial at Steele Indian School Park under a Memorandum of Understanding with the city of Phoenix, Parks and Recreation Department in 1998.
When Ware Sr. started planning the memorial, there were no national memorials honoring Native American veterans. Ware Sr. worked tirelessly to implement a national memorial in Phoenix until his death in 2004.
A Hopi Artist
Renowned Hopi artist and architect Dennis Numekena, Phoenix Indian School graduate and veteran, was chosen by the Wares to design the memorial.
“We saw some of (Numekena’s) different productions and saw his artwork, and he was an outstanding artist and a real good architect,” Ware Jr. said. “Dennis was a great guy.”
Numkena, who was born in 1941 and died in 2010, founded the first Native-owned architectural firm in the U.S. During his lifetime, he also designed the former Yavapai Apache Cultural Center in Camp Verde, the Pyramid Lake Museum in Nevada and the Anasazi Resort Condominiums in Phoenix.
For the American Indian memorial, Numekena wanted to capture the spirit of the eagle and incorporate the four elements of creation: fire, water, earth and air, to act as a guide for bringing the spirits of all beloved warriors home.
“A circle within circles represents our Mother Earth, who gave us our first breath and to whom we dedicate our last breath,” Numekena wrote about his design at the time. “A pool of water symbolizes that which nourishes our body, soul and spirit. A breath of fire brings the intensity of our being and purpose to its spiritual finality. The blowing wind guides our spirits to other and further dimensions.”
Read the article in the Navajo-Hopi Observer: