Community gathers for Memorial Day program
On the morning of Memorial Day, people gathered to honor the nation’s fallen soldiers, sailors, and aviators, at Veterans Memorial Park at Beacon Hill.
The John C. Gainous Veterans of Foreign Wars Post number 10069 hosted a service for those on the park’s lawn, shadowed by the park’s half mast flags.
Opening marks were offered by Alan Wetzstein, and the VFW post led those gathered in the Pledge of Allegiance. Jerry Blosser provided the divine blessing and Mary Lou Cumbie sang the national anthem.
Then, General Logan’s General Order Number 11, the order declaring Memorial Day a national holiday.
Auxiliary Officers Robert Ray, Mike Kennedy, Chad Williams, Jeff Bushue, Natalie Dolan and John Miick then adorned a memorial with flowers and greenery. Taps were played and Cumbie sang “America the Beautiful” before the ceremony drew to a close.
Meet the Editor
Wendy Weitzel, The Star’s digital editor, joined the news outlet in August 2021, as a reporter covering primarily Gulf County.
Prior to then, she interned for Oklahoma-based news wire service Gaylord News and for Oklahoma City-based online newspaper NonDoc.com during her four years at the University of Oklahoma, from which she graduated in May with degrees in online journalism and political science.
While at OU, Weitzel was selected as Carnegie-Knight News21 Investigative Fellow among 30 top journalism students from around the country. She also was senior editor managing a 12-person newsroom in coordination with Oklahoma Watch, a non-profit news organization in eastern Oklahoma.