Community Park

The Christmas Box Angel Statue was introduced to the world in the book The Christmas Box, a worldwide bestseller and hit television movie by author Richard Paul Evans. In the book, a woman mourns the loss of her child at the base of an angel monument. Though the story is mostly fiction, the angel monument once existed in Salt Lake City, but is speculated to have been destroyed. A new angel statue was commissioned by Richard Paul Evans, in response to reports that grieving parents were seeking out the angel as a place to grieve and heal. The sculpture is the creation of a father and son from Salt Lake City, Utah, Ortho and Jared Fairbanks, and modeled according to the description in Evan’s book. The face of the angel is that of Evan’s second daughter, Allyson-Danica. If you look closely you can find in the angel’s right wing the word “hope”.

The Angel of Hope statue in Port Dickinson was dedicated on July 11, 2004. The monument provides support to parents who lost a child of any age, for any reason. May you find healing and comfort in her presence.

On Hope…

Hope is a rare gift that, if we are lucky, comes to us with the power to heal our lives. I’ve come to know that the deepest sense of hope often springs from the hardest lessons in life. It is in the darkest skies that stars are best seen … perhaps it is divine irony that within the darkest moments we are capable of revealing the greatest light, demonstrating what is best with humanity.

~ Richard Paul Evans