'A call to freedom through service'

The visionary moment that helped inspire a community-square project came after death in Iraq touched Doylestown.

A routine morning jog capped by the sight of a flying bald eagle led a local businesswoman to think of a patriotic pin worn by one grieving mother and the dog tags around the neck of another.

That moment last spring helped bring the jogger together with a mosaic artist and the mothers of two 26-year-old Doylestown Township servicemen who died within a week of each other.

The four women are working on Freedom Square, a space in the center of Doylestown Borough inspired by the death of two, but designed to honor many.

"This is about a call to freedom through service," said Janet Manion of Doylestown Township, whose son, Marine First Lt. Travis Manion, was killed last year near Fallujah. "It's not just about the military. You can serve in many ways."

Manion and Nancy Umbrell, whose son Colby was killed four days after Travis Manion, have joined forces with mosaic artist Katia McGuirk and businesswoman Lynn Goldman to develop Freedom Square in what they hope will be a teaching moment for the community.

Manion's son was killed April 29 by a sniper. Umbrell's son, a first lieutenant and an Army Airborne Ranger, died May 3 when an explosive device detonated in Musayyib. In all, the Doylestown area has lost four in the post-9/11 war on terrorism, and a total of 17 Bucks County families have lost loved ones.

"A lot of people don't understand why people in our community, which is fairly well off, would choose to serve," Umbrell said. "It's not about war. It's about helping their country."

Umbrell wears her son's dog tags. Manion wears an eagle pin and her son's crests from the Naval Academy and the Marine Corps. They were the two women Goldman thought about months ago while she was jogging. Goldman then called McGuirk.

The tile artist long has been involved in Doylestown community art projects. Earlier, she collaborated with Goldman in the creation of Star Garden, a small "pocket park" with a mosaic wall that has a plaque dedicated to Army Ranger Kristofor Stonesifer. The Central Bucks High School West graduate was killed in a 2001 helicopter crash near the Afghan border.

Freedom Square will be just a wall away. Plans for the 1,000-square-foot project include a fountain, statues and a labyrinth. The unifying feature will be a long mosaic wall whose creation will be a community effort.

"I hope it makes the next generation understand the service they can offer, the sacrifices people make, and they can learn as they participate," Manion said.

Community groups, Boy Scout troops, schools, and individuals are invited to go to McGuirk's studio and create tiles for the wall involving themes of courage, service, honor and hope.

The planners want it to be a "proud place, not a sad place," Goldman said.

The Umbrell and Manion families have become close since their sons' deaths. Janet Manion runs a foundation named for her son and helped her husband, Tom, in his unsuccessful bid to unseat U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy.

Umbrell, a painter, is recommitting herself to art. Her husband, Mark, built her a studio. Once, she went to a regularly held peace vigil on Main Street and handed out little plaques to the demonstrators. The plaques read: "The home of the free, because of the brave."

Umbrell said she was grateful for projects such as Freedom Square, partly because parents in her position "just need to do something."

The community effort will cost $100,000, and fund-raising is in progress. The Travis Manion Foundation will contribute, and the women are seeking donations from other foundations and individuals and perhaps a government grant.

On Wednesday, which would have been Travis Manion's 28th birthday, more than 100 people went to McGuirk's Doylestown studio for the project's launch - or "clay date," as the artist called it.

Parents and children designed tiles and painted them in the shapes of stars, hearts and flags. Paula Vito, an art teacher with the Central Bucks School District, created a house of clay.

"I taught Colby Umbrell," Vito said, "so a little of my heart is here today."

Nancy Umbrell and Janet Manion created stars. On Umbrell's was "#67," her son's number when he played football for Central Bucks High School East. One of two stars designed by Manion showcased her son's favorite saying: "Don't send a boy to do a Manion's job."

The first tiles are slated to placed on the Freedom Square wall Dec. 5, the day Travis Manion is to be posthumously awarded the Silver and Bronze Stars with special recognition for valor during a ceremony at the courthouse in Doylestown.

To learn more about Freedom Square, call 215-345-1086 or visit

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