Veterans wreaths to be placed
By Donnie A. Lucas
Veterans in the Albany Cemetery will once again be honored during the National Wreaths Across America Day scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 18, with local volunteers fanning out across the cemetery to place the fresh evergreen wreaths on 525 graves.
A brief ceremony is planned starting at 11:00 a.m. at the pavilion at the cemetery, followed by volunteers and family members laying the wreaths.
The distribution of the wreaths is being headed again by Saundra Nobles, who has divided the cemetery into 18 sections with maps indicating which markers are to receive a wreath.
“We did it alphabetically within each section last year, but that was confusing,” she said. “Instead of having to look for names, we have assigned numbers in the order of the markers to help locate the correct graves.”
Saunders said that several of the people who volunteered last year have again offered, but more hands will be needed both for placing the wreaths and then picking them back up three weeks later.
“Last year, volunteers put the wreaths out, but Henry and Melinda Musselman and their ranch hands picked them all up,” she said. “This time we need volunteers to help pick them back up.”
Anyone wishing to volunteer with either the distribution or collection afterwards can contact Nobles at 325-762-7725.
Family members who would like to personally place a wreath on the grave a loved one can also contact Nobles to make that arrangement.
“We have some people who want to do the placement for their family members, but who aren’t able to necessarily distribute to other markers,” Nobles said. “We can make special arrangements for those markers if people contact me ahead of time.”
This year, 525 wreaths have been ordered for the Albany Cemetery alone, compared to 491 placed last year.
“We had people call who had a family member whose grave was not marked as a veteran, plus we added several veterans who passed away this year,” she said.
The project was spearheaded last year by Henry and Melinda Musselman, who have again covered the cost of all the wreaths.
“That is our family’s gift to the community,” Melinda said. “Saundra is organizing the volunteers, and we were so fortunate to connect with her last year since she did the leg work to locate the graves.”
Nobles said that Dan Key will play Taps at the ceremony and pastor Sonny McCauley, now of Breckenridge, will give a short presentation of remembrance. Both Key and McCauley are veterans.
