Memorial Day: More than a 3-day weekend
As we head into the first three-day weekend of the summer season, it's good to remember why Memorial Day is observed. In 1868, it was known as Decoration Day, a day to decorate the graves of Civil War soldiers. Now it commemorates American war dead through the generations.
Take some time from the picnics and attend one of many ceremonies being held in our communities this weekend.
On Saturday at 11 a.m. the Coeur d'Alene Tribe will dedicate a new veterans memorial at the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes in Plummer. I've seen a photograph of the warrior statue and it's absolutely stunning.
Also on Saturday the Pappy Boyington Detachment of the Marine Corps League will place hundreds of flags at Coeur d'Alene Memorial Gardens beginning at 8 a.m. and welcomes volunteers.
On Monday at the 3rd Street Bell in Coeur d'Alene, there will be the ringing of the bell followed by the laying of a wreath in the water at the docks by the American Legion Post 14. At 10 a.m. a brief ceremony at St. Thomas Cemetery and at 11 a.m. a ceremony at Forest Cemetery near the Civil War statue are scheduled. Also at 11 a.m. Post Falls American Legion Post 143 will hold a service at Evergreen Cemetery.
Hayden's Robert J. Gordon Veterans Memorial Plaza at city hall will be the site of a ceremony that includes the Albeni Pipe & Drum Corps. At 2 p.m. Monday, the Marine Corps League hosts Memorial Day services.
Ace Walden continued his May 17 birthday celebration three days later with a party thrown by his LakeView Towers neighbors, Don and Sue Sausser.
So what do you give a 103-year-old who jokes that he doesn't buy green bananas any longer? Green bananas! Ace sure got a kick out of opening that gift.
I enjoyed meeting so many of his neighbors and marveled at how beautiful the ladies of the towers are ... Ivanka Suveg treated me with a loaf of her famous banana bread and Nathalie Mitchell and Edwina Boyll lit up the room.
Kudos to the Post Falls High School softball team and Coach Jack Foster for bringing home the school's first-ever state softball championship this past weekend. Once again this great community turned out on a Sunday afternoon to caravan the team into town. It was great to see the state champion Trojan boys basketball team and Coach Mike McLean there to congratulate the ladies.
In the recent wind storm a 90-foot tall tree was broken near the Mica Flats Grange on Kidd Island Road, which is an historic school house. Neighbors Ryan Heflie and Doug Weniger used chainsaws and wedges to bring it safely all the way down. The trunk measures 30 inches across and Grange members counted 75 rings. That's a lot of firewood for the pot-belly stove!
Tomorrow Kenny Gabriel celebrates his birthday. If the flames from so many candles get too hot, he can call on his fellow Coeur d'Alene FD firefighters. On Friday Scott Shellman, Melissa Feusier, Tom Lewis and Shirlee Wandrocke have birthdays. The incredible Ms. Shirlee gets more beautiful every year! My sweet friend from our school days, Starr Sigler Shewey, is Saturday's birthday girl. On Monday Peggy Suenkel and Meredith Close will blow out their birthday candles.
THERE'S MORE: New stories and photos almost every day at More Main Street. There's a link on the righthand rail for adding your birthday to the Main Street Birthday Club for 2010!
Kerri Rankin Thoreson is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the former publisher of the Post Falls Tribune. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press. More Main Street blog is at http://moremainstreet.blogspot.com. Kerri can be reached at mainstreet@cdapress.com
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