The Perry community came together Monday evening to honor one of its own, as Dallas “Pete” VanKirk was officially welcomed to the Wall of Witnesses.

Soumas Court was packed with attendees looking to pay tribute to the late philanthropist and former owner of Progressive Foundry as he was enshrined into one of Perry’s most exclusive clubs. VanKirk became the 24th member of the Wall, which Hometown Heritage President Bill Clark says is made up of individuals from Perry who have an interesting story and did a great deal for the community. Clark got the evening rolling by taking people through the history of the Wall. Next, Perry Historic Preservation President Connie McGuire explained the process of nominations and selection for the Wall’s honorees.

Rick Stewart, a sculptor from Newton who has now crafted 15 of the 24 reliefs hanging on the Wall, then went through the process of creating the art to immortalize each individual. He unfortunately still had some work left to do on VanKirk’s relief, so while people got a first glimpse of it at the event, the final product won’t be hung for a few more days. Clark then invited friends and family members of VanKirk to talk about the man himself, and each gave a poignant tribute, leaving few dry eyes in Soumas Court.

Clark did his best to sum up everyone’s thoughts on someone who meant so much to an entire City. “Not only was he philanthropic with the wherewithal that he had, but he started businesses, (and) as the sculpture says he was a blue collar advocate. He was a friend of anyone no matter where they came from, no matter what their socioeconomic background was. He was the kind of man that you wanted to be able to call your friend. And I think that’s more important than even some of the financial things he did for the community, which he did a lot!”

Clark added, the Wall of Witnesses has become a great landmark for Perry, and feels the community appreciates the fact that everyone is able to come together to select deserving individuals to be immortalized.