Monitor Photo/Denise York
The Pineywoods Leadership, Experience, Opportunity (LEO) Club based in Crockett brought 20 members and others to help lay wreaths. LEO Club Advisor Ellen Brooks said the club is sponsored by the Lions Club and is a community service organization for students ages 12 to 18 years of age. The Club marked the graves of veterans in Oaklawn Cemetery days prior to volunteering to place wreaths Dec. 16.

Monitor Photo/Denise York
Shaun Strong (left) and daughter Karleigh prepare to place a wreath on a veteran’s grave at Eubank Cedar Creek Memorial Park Dec. 16. They were part of the volunteers who gathered for Wreaths Across America, an annual event.

Monitor Photo/Denise York
Amy Aldredge (at podium) of Eubanks Cedar Creek Memorial Park and Funeral Home offers a prayer before the beginning of the program. Location Coordinator Susan Martz-Cothran (at right) bows her head in prayer for veterans and their families.

CEDAR CREEK LAKE–Wreaths Across America (WAA)  Local Coordinator Susan-Martz Cothran welcomed volunteers Dec. 16 at Eubank Cedar Creek Memorial Park who were there to place wreaths on the graves of veterans interred in the cemetery. Cothran, who began this effort with Mabank City Administrator Bryant Morriss five years ago has seen it grow to two cemeteries and 625 wreaths being placed. The number of local volunteers has grown too.
Nationally, there are 4,225 locations in 2023 and over 2.9 million veterans were so honored this year. The wreaths are paid for by donations, corporate and individual. WAA began in 1992 when a surplus of wreaths from Worcester Wreath Company in Maine gifted them to Arlington National Cemetery.
Cothran told the volunteers, “Please enjoy this experience with reverence and kindness. Remember that your gratitude shown by placing a wreath on the grave is not a decoration for Christmas. Each wreath thanks a veteran from the American Revolution to our present troops around the world. The circle symbolizes infinity. In a few years, we will celebrate 250 years of freedom.”
Cothran explained how the wreaths should be placed with the ribbon at the top touching the stone. She also explained the WAA mission to remember the fallen, honor those who serve and their families and teach the next generation the value of freedom, values that closely align with the mission of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, of which Cothran is a part. She emphasized the need to teach the next generation, saying, “We are never more than one generation away from extinction, if we don’t pass this on to our children. It (freedom) must be protected.”
Cothran explained the symbolism of the balsam wreath as a tribute to the characteristics of serving. Each sprig represents valor, courage, bravery, discipline, patriotism, skills and more. It also honors every veteran, alive or gone and their families who sacrifice so much. She urged the participants to ask questions and listen to veterans. “Each one has a story to tell,” she said.
Wreaths representing each branch of the service were placed on stands. Doug Compton played TAPS and Amazing Grace on the bagpipes. Before releasing the volunteers to place wreaths, Cothran reminded them that they were there to not only remember the veterans’ deaths, but to honor their lives. “As a nation standing together, we can defeat terrorism, hatred and injustice. Thanks to our veterans, we have the freedom to do just that,” she concluded.
After a short break, volunteers gathered again at Oaklawn Cemetery to place 425 wreaths for veterans interred there. For more information, visit www.wreathsacrossamerica.org/TX0818. For a limited time, those wishing to sponsor wreaths for the 2024 laying of wreaths will receive additional wreaths for each one sponsored.