Wreaths to be placed Dec. 18
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 meeting for a brief ceremony prior to placing the 525 wreaths out across the cemetery.
The ceremony will start at 11:00 a.m. at the pavilion at the Albany Cemetery, followed by volunteers and family members laying the wreaths.
The distribution of the wreaths is again being headed by Saundra Nobles, who has divided the cemetery into 18 sections with maps indicating which markers are to receive a wreath.
“Last year we did it alphabetically within each section, 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.”
Nobles said she has received a number of calls from volunteers and now has enough to complete the project.
Several of the people who volunteered last year have again offered, along with new volunteers.
Family members have also requested to place wreaths on the graves of their veterans.
Family members who would like to personally place a wreath on the grave a loved one can contact Nobles to make that arrangement by calling 325-280-7725.
“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.
The project was spearheaded again this year by Henry and Melinda Musselman, who have 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.
