PARKLAND, Fla. — Tony Montalto is among the parents of Parkland school shooting victims who have channeled their grief into activism.
Montalto’s 14-year-old daughter, Gina, was a freshman who had been a Girl Scout, a church volunteer, a soccer player, and a member of her school’s Color Guard.
To honor her and the 16 others who died with her on Feb. 14, 2018, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, he has been working on a memorial.
“It will be a truly fitting memorial to the bright and brilliant lives that were sadly taken from us,” said Montalto, the founder of the Parkland 17 Memorial Foundation.
Artist Gordon Huether’s design is based on concentric circles, with a central fountain and seating, surrounded by 17 limestone obelisks and 17 royal palm trees.
“Their legacy should be the smiles and the laughter they left behind, not the tragic way they were taken from us,” Montalto said.
The land in Parkland, Montalto said, is in “a serene” preserve “with great sunset views” at the former Heron Bay Golf Club, near the Heron Bay neighborhood in Coral Springs.
“We have been able to berm out the spot, to put plantings of native trees that won’t require a lot of maintenance,” Montalto said. “Additionally, we have the base to begin the construction of our foundation.”
For more information about the nonprofit organization’s fundraiser, visit this page.
REMEMBERING THE 17
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