The bridge several miles out Little Sand Run Road was normally known as Sand Run Slab No. 2 but now bears signs marking it as the U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Luke Christopher Wamsley Memorial Bridge.

Del. Robbie Martin, who first introduced the House Resolution, said Saturday was a special day.

“This took me two years to get this bridge named,” he said. “Dion contacted me when I was first elected to the House of Delegates. That was something I had never done before. It took me a little bit of time but working with other delegates to get this done, here we stand today with this bridge name. This is a great day and I’m glad to be a part of it.”

Luke was born Sept. 28, 1986 in Buckhannon, a son of Dion Wamsley, of Buckhannon, and Janice Wamsley Rollins, who now lives in Burlington, Vermont. He graduated from Spaulding High School in Barre, Vermont, where he became a substitute teacher. A 2009 graduate of Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, Luke served in Afghanistan in 2013 and received 12 federal medals including the Air Force Achievement Medal, Meritorious Unit Award, Air Force Outstanding Unit Award and Afghanistan Campaign Medal and four state medals.

The Inter-Mountain photo by Edgar Kelley Family and friends gathered in Dailey for a bridge dedication ceremony in honor of U.S. Army CPT Nancy Margaret Kiess on Saturday. Kiess was a U.S. Army Nurse Corps captain who served with distinction during World War II. The bridge is newly constructed and is located off U.S. 219/250 in East Dailey.

Luke was a senior airman for the Green Mountain Boys, Vermont National Air Guard where he served as a CE electrician from 2009 until the time of his death on Sept. 23, 2015 while on duty.

Delegates Rowan, Bibby, J. Jeffries, Hanna, P. Martin, Howell, Phillips, Worrell and Fast also signed onto the resolution. A concurrent resolution sponsored by Sen. Boso, Beach and Stollings passed in the State Senate.

Pastor Dave Cunningham, of Horizons Church, said, “There is no greater work that God does than what we do in our lives as individuals.”

He went on to say that the idea behind a memorial is “for us to remember.”

“This bridge is very special to this family,” he said. “I think the beautiful part of this is where they crossed in the Jordan River was a wilderness. We are in a wilderness today. There is water flowing underneath this bridge and this bridge is a reminder that we put things across water to go places we have not gone before.”

“In these waters is where the young man played,” he said. “I can see him now. It just wouldn’t be enough to go into the muddy water, he had to have been under the bridge.”

“His aunt Debbie and [uncle] Tom Kelley have the privilege of looking from their home and seeing these beautiful signs that are hung as a memory of Lukey, the little boy they loved, who grew to be a man and serve his country.

“The day will come when we, like our predecessors, we won’t be here but our children will be here, our grandchildren will be here. Someone, I guarantee, will ask, “Who is Luke Christopher Wamsley?”

“Memorials are important for the stories of life, for the life people have lived,” he said.

Dion Wamsley said the timing of the bridge dedication coincided with the week of anniversary of his Luke’s death but also his birthday. Luke would have turned 34 today.

“To me, it’s something everlasting we can always have to keep his memory alive,” he said. “I have a letter from the president from when he passed away, I have his monument at Dayton Air Force Museum and this is the last thing I can really do for him is to get a bridge named for him.”

The Upshur County Honor Guard performed the traditional 21-gun salute prior to the unveiling of the signs at both ends of the bridge. The Washington District Volunteer Fire Company and Upshur County Sheriff’s Department assisted with traffic control.