Westall Monument

Update: On April 18th, the relocated Westall Monument was rededicated in a ceremony developed by West Jefferson Middle School students. We’ll have that story for you here soon.

This monument to the sacrifice of Billy Westall may be our most cryptic memorial. There is very little detail on the stone itself to fill in the story. Fortunately, Milly Roeder did that for us, and you can read all the details at Billy Westall and the Westall Monument, originally published in Historically Jeffco in 1998.

Billy Westall Monument, photo by Milly Roeder

The plaque on the stone simply reads:

Charity, Hope, and Protection
"Tell my wife I died thinking of her."

The cryptic logo and initials A.O.U.W. suggest an affiliation. In fact, the monument was erected by the Ancient Order of United Workmen in 1899, one year after the railroad accident that took engineer Billy Westall’s life.