Memorial wall plaques honor North Las Vegans

For a few years, the city of North Las Vegas has allowed residents to plant trees at one of the city’s 33 parks to commemorate loved ones, city public-information officer Delen Goldberg said. The city recently added another component, a memorial wall, where people can purchase plaques that feature the deceased person’s name.

For now, residents may only purchase a plaque in remembrance of a North Las Vegas employee or community partner, parks maintenance employee and wall co-creator John Runiks said. City leaders hope to extend the offering to the public in the future, he said. The plaques cost about $160.

The memorial wall, in the front of City Hall, was completed in August but debuted to the public in November, Runiks said.

There are two plaques on the memorial wall, one for William F. “Bill” Kaercher, a business partner with the city, and one for Paul Moormann, who worked in the city’s parks maintenance department for 16 years, Runiks said.

He said the city plans to add three more plaques to the wall, including one honoring Metropolitan Police Department officer Charleston Hartfield, who was killed in the Oct. 1 shooting, and a firefighter who died of cancer.

Kaercher’s plaque was taken from the former North Las Vegas library and has a different look than Moormann’s, which is black with gold lettering. Runiks said the designs will follow the same standard as Moormann’s.

“In a lot of cities, you see crosses or flower boutiques, a memoriam of people, and while that’s a nice gesture, at some point, it gets faded or blows away, and it loses its meaning and it just becomes trash, unfortunately,” Goldberg said. “These are permanent fixtures that are never going to be unkempt or uncared for.”

The plaques are attached to a non-textured wall to prevent them from eroding, Runiks said. There also is 24-hour security to make sure the plaques aren’t tampered with, he said.

“We’re here to provide a service, not to make money,” Runiks said of the wall’s purpose.

Contact Kailyn Brown at kbrown@viewnews.com or 702-387-5233. Follow @kailynhype on Twitter.