A different kind of Memorial Day at St. Paul’s cemetery

Posted 5/28/20

For decades, at 10 a.m. on Memorial Day, a service is held at the cemetery of St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, just east of Gerald.

This year was no different, with one noticeable …

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A different kind of Memorial Day at St. Paul’s cemetery

Posted

For decades, at 10 a.m. on Memorial Day, a service is held at the cemetery of St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, just east of Gerald.

This year was no different, with one noticeable exception. There were no Boy Scouts participating in the ceremony.

In the past, on the Friday evening of the holiday weekend, the scouts volunteered their time to place a flag on the grave of each veteran. Not just at St. Paul’s, but also at Boeuff Presbyterian Cemetery. The scouts then return on Monday to raise the flag to open the Memorial Day service.

This year, due to concerns about the coronavirus, such gatherings of the scouts were prohibited.

In their stead, adult leaders John Colombo, Paul and Karen Stillman and St. Paul’s Pastor Glenn Hollander placed the flags at both cemeteries. On Monday, John and Paul presented the flag in their scouts’ forced absence. And the show went on. Just as it has for years and years.

The crowd was smaller, the singing subdued, but those who died in service were remembered.