99 Lives Gold Star Memorial Continues to Honor Knox Veterans
Additional information added to the exhibit located in the lobby of Knox's Memorial Gymnasium
Knox College's 99 Lives Gold Star Memorial has recently been updated, adding to the legacy of sacrifice given by the veterans of Knox who died serving their country abroad.
The 99 Lives Gold Star Memorial outside Memorial Gymnasium initially began in 2016 as a project by Jamie Bjorkman ’57 and staff and students from Knox College Special Collections and Archives. The exhibit, featuring photos and biographies of 99 Knox veterans, went on display in 2018 in the Ford Center for the Fine Arts.
Since then, Bjorkman, with the help of many at the Seymour Library and historians throughout the country, has expanded the memorial to now include 129 veterans.
A visitor to Knox's Memorial Gymnasium since the building was erected in 1951, Bjorkman says he often noticed a small display in the lobby with photos of the Knox veterans who died in World War I and II and later updated with names and photos of Korean and Vietnam war casualties.
“I wondered who these guys were,” Bjorkman said. “I started [in Special Collections and Archives], and the great cooperation from Carley Robinson and Maryjo McAndrew helped me get started. Then it was going to cemeteries to try to learn about these people, but there’s only so much you can learn from a stone.”
After the initial work slowed, a new group joined Bjorkman to help do research for a new interactive digital display in the lobby of Memorial Gymnasium, as well as an online database in 2022.
“For a while there was a lull, after we had our event at the Fine Arts Center,” Bjorkman said. “Then came along Wendy Scherwat Ducourneau ’72 and Chip Evans ’68, who started the push again. They came up with the kiosk that has a lot of information. They were able to use different methods and research I didn’t know how to do.”
The memorial includes the photos, names, and biographies of men who served in the United States Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. The hope is to keep updating the memorial when more names, photos, and biographical information are found.
“We have 129 individuals who went to Knox. I no longer wonder who these people were, but now I think about who they are,” Bjorkman said. “You get attached to them and their stories.”
Published on November 11, 2025
- Scott Holland, Knox College Office of Communications