By Mark Ambrogi
When Doran Gwyn heard about Peace Poles, the Carmel resident was intrigued.
Gwyn said a Japanese man, Masahisa Goi, had made one several years after the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The pole had the simple inscription, “May peace prevail on earth.”
“I think it’s a good message to put out to the community,” Gwyn said.
So Gwyn decided to design one and put it up at the end of his driveway at 11420 Ralston Ave., which borders an entrance to the Monon Trail.
“A woman told me there is a World Peace Prayer Society where you can register your Peace Pole, and right now there are more than 200,000 around the world,” Gwyn said. “I haven’t certified mine yet but I’m going to.”
Gwyn painted the pole himself and planted it in the fall of 2016. There is solar light above the pole.
“This is a project that took me three years to finalize it and get it up,” said Gwyn, who works for Chrysler Corp. in Kokomo. “It’s an 8-foot pole (with six feet above ground), and I started painting it in my basement. I painted it when I got free time because I work full time, and over the last few years I put in quite a few hours at work.”
Gwyn also made a free reading library for children. There are three neighborhoods that use that entrance to the Monon Trail.
“We were out at Glacier National Park in Montana and we saw one of those little libraries,” Gwyn said. “We have a bench there. It’s turned into a fun project for the whole neighborhood. There are families that come out there and read. There are kids that check the books out. Some bring their own books and put them in. There are two little boys in the neighborhood that love stuff about pirates, so I put a couple of pirate books in there. They take them home for a week or two and bring them back.”
Gwyn and his wife, Elizabeth, have lived in the home for 23 years. His sons, Shawn and Travis, are Carmel High School graduates. Both are married and live in Carmel.
For more, visit peacepoles.com.
