A bronze tear streams down the face of the statue of a Gold Star Mother on the stairwell of the newly renovated City Hall in downtown Waterbury. The memorial was a gift to the city from the Waterbury Veterans Memorial Committee. The group raised $70,000 in six months to have Philadelphia sculptor Andrew Chernak craft the statue. Waterbury is only the third community in America to have a memorial to Gold Star Mothers, which honors the sacrifice a family makes to freedom when one of their children dies in battle. Chernak said it didn’t matter how many more were created, it would be impossible to have one in a more beautiful setting than the one in Waterbury City Hall. Photograph by John Murray