A day for remembering

 

Marione Martin

Top Left: A large map mounted on the wall of the pavillion shows the streets and sections of the Alva Municipal Cemetery. The map was donated by Marshall Funeral Home and put in place by Arden Chaffee. Top Middle: Darin Kearns, pastor, Alva Friends Church, offers a benediction at the Memorial Day Service held Monday at the Alva Municipal Cemetery. Top Right: Scout Troop 392 raises the flags at the Alva Municipal Cemetery for the Memorial Day remembrance Monday. Bottom Left: Cemetery Board Chairman Lenny Reed speaks during the Memorial Day Services Monday morning. He kept his remarks brief as light rain began. Bottom Right: People attending the Memorial Day Services at Alva Municipal Cemetery Monday shelter under the trees as a light rain begins.

"Color guard, attention. Audience, attention. Color guard, forward march." So began the Alva Memorial Day Services at the municipal cemetery. Members of Scout Troop 392 formed in two lines and marched to the tall pole where they attached and raised flags. One young scout lifted his trumpet and played "Taps."

The program remembering those who have gone before was held at the flagpole located on the south end of the cemetery on the street appropriately named Flag. Onlookers gathered beneath the surrounding trees under overcast skies. Birds chirped from the trees and lowing cows could be heard in the distance.

Flags decorated the graves of veterans, placed earlier by the Alva American Legion and volunteers. As the ceremony continued, light sprinkles began to fall, prompting those who came prepared to raise umbrellas.

Darin Kearns, pastor of the Alva Friends Church, asked the audience to bow for a prayer. In his benediction he quoted from Hebrews, the chapter of faith. He read from Philippians 4:4-9 which concludes with "Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me, put into practice and the god of peace will be with you always."

"Important words for today with what's going on in our world," said Kearns, "but also important words every day for the people that have gone before us as we remember them. If they have given us anything to think on that is admirable that is worth praising, something good, let us remember them that way. We thank the Lord for their sacrifice and for his sacrifice for us."

Cemetery Board Chair Lenny Reed thanked those who helped organize the ceremony and prepare the cemetery for Memorial Day including the cemetery board, the Boy Scouts, the American Legion, Sexton Chris Greve and Arden Chaffee who put together the ceremony.

As a history teacher, Reed said, "Before the family disagreement we called the Civil War, there was no such thing close to Memorial Day. Because of what the nation went through in that event, after the Civil War, families began to gather in the spring to clean the graves, to pull the weeds, to do whatever was necessary and even cleaning the tombstones. Eventually that became what we call today Memorial Day."

Reed described how people used to bring blankets and picnic on the grass near their family graves. "But we still do honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice," he said.

As the rain began to fall harder, he explained that a map of the cemetery had been placed in the pavilion showing the blocks of the cemetery to make locating graves easier. He thanked Marshall Funeral Home for providing the map and Arden Chaffee for mounting it.

 

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