Memorial to honor Van Loan

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A memorial service honoring Col. Jack Van Loan will be held Saturday at Five Points Centennial Plaza, where a bronze statue honoring the longtime Five Points Association leader stands.

Van Loan, whose larger-than-life history included six years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, died Oct. 14 at age 87.

The ceremony at the plaza, located at 555 Santee Ave., begins at 1:45 p.m. and ends at 3 p.m., according to a new release from the Five Points Association.

Van Loan, born Dec. 16, 1931 in Eugene, Ore., is survived by his wife, Linda, a brother, six children and 19 grandchildren.

Van Loan retired after a 30-year career in the U.S. Air Force in 1984. During his time serving at Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter, he first heard about the up-and-coming district of Five Points in Columbia, and moved his water business there in the early 1990s.  

He served as the economic development director of the district’s merchants’ association from 1992 to 2012. Under his leadership, the association paid off debts, cleaned up an annual St. Patrick’s Day festival that had become unruly and oversaw civic improvements including the 1997 installation of a fountain and a large-scale streetscape project.

Van Loan was in attendance when ground was broken on Centennial Plaza in September 2016.

Seating at Saturday’s outdoor memorial will be first come, first served. Van Loan’s family asked that those wishing to remember him make contributions in his name to Serve & Connect, the Wounded Warrior Project or Heartstrings Hospice.