491 veterans wreaths to be placed
By Sandy Morris
National Wreaths Across America Day 2020 has been scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 19 and local residents are working to arrange a ceremony to honor service members buried in the Albany Cemetery.
“We just feel that it is so important to honor those veterans in our community who served our country,” stated Melinda Musselman, co-coordinator of the event.
Musselman, along with her husband, Henry, wanted to have an event that coincided with the wreath laying ceremony at Arlington Memorial Cemetery and knew she had a lot of research to do.
When she first started the project to locate all local veterans graves, Musselmen said she was fortunate enough to be connected with Saundra Nobles, who located the designated veterans’ graves and marked them.
“I am so grateful for the path that led me to Saundra,” said Musselman. “She has been a wealth of knowledge.”
Nobles did a lot of research and footwork to locate all of the veterans buried in the Albany ceme-tery.
“Sam Burge and I walked the cemetery first, then I did research by using ‘Find a Grave’ and reading obituaries,” said Noble. “I also went by the names on the courthouse square.”
Eventually, Nobles tallied a total of 491 veterans who have been buried in the Albany Cemetery.
Nobles stated that the list is only for the Albany Cemetery, not for any additional cemeteries in Shackelford County.
Volunteers Needed
Volunteers will be needed on the day of the cere-mony to place the wreaths on the graves.
Nobles said she has the cemetery divided into 18 sections and anticipates the need for approximately 20 volunteers.
“Members of the local Boy Scouts have volunteered to help, along with several veterans,” Nobles stated. “We still could use about 10 more volunteers.”
Nobles also invites anyone who would personally like to place a wreath on the grave of a family member or friend to contact her to make arrangements for placement.
Nobles can be reached at 325-280-7725 to add or verify a specific veteran on the list, to volunteer to help place wreaths, or to request to place a wreath on a family member’s grave.
A brief ceremony is planned to begin at 11:00 a.m. at the pavilion at the Albany Cemetery before the wreaths are placed on the graves.
