Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter

Judi Kovacicek, mother of Lance Cpl. Ryan Kovacicek, who was killed in action in 2005 and for whom the veterans house is named, and City Mission marketing director Trisha Schum carry flowers and balloons across the chapel during the Freedom Path and Flag Pole Commemoration Wednesday afternoon. The flowers will be planted along the Freedom Path.

Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter

Dr. Michael Crabtree, for whom the City Mission’s veterans house is named, talks with attendees after the Freedom Path and Flag Pole Commemoration ceremony Wednesday afternoon. Crabtree purchased the naming rights to the veterans house and is one of its primary donors.

Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter

The Freedom Path’s bricks were laid by a former resident of the City Mission’s men’s house. Tom, whose last name has been withheld for privacy, lived at the house for an extended period of time before moving out and starting his own business.

Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter

“Every time we do this, it gets me,” said Dean Gartland, CEO and president of the Washington City Mission, choking up as he remembered Lance Cpl. Ryan Kovacicek, in whose honor the veterans house is named. Gartland expressed the importance of the house and acknowledged it would not be a reality without the house’s other namesake: Dr. Michael Crabtree.

Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter

Dr. Michael Crabtree speaks at the Washington City Mission chapel podium during the anniversary celebration of the Crabtree Kovacicek Veterans House. In the three years since its grand opening, the 22-bed veterans house has provided 84 veterans with shelter and clothing and offers assistance with sobriety and employment.

Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter

“This is a special place,” Dr. Michael Crabtree said to a full house during the third anniversary Crabtree Kovacicek Veterans House celebration Wednesday afternoon.