Gratitude for those who have given

Rotarians host Memorial Day observance

BY TAYLOR ANTONIOLI Special to the Observer

Once the Civil War was over, mothers and wives began tending to the graves of those they had lost, leading to the first official Decoration Day in May of 1868. They decorated the graves with flowers and care, to show respect to those who had died. What once was Decoration Day has now become Memorial Day, a day to honor all fallen American troops, not just those from the Civil War.

The Rotary Club of Williston-Richmond led an event last Monday in the small park between the Williston Town Hall and the

Town Hall Annex to commemorate this day.

Rotary President Sally Stockwell-Metro said the club started Memorial Day and Veterans Day events two years ago after noticing that the town had not had public observances of the holidays “in many years.”

The goal was also to recognize the park itself, which houses bricks with dedications to service members and a star with the names of those from Williston who died serving in foreign wars.

The event began with piobaireachd (the playing of pipes) from Hazen Metro of the Sergeant Catamount Pipe Band, before moving into the welcome and invocation from Stockwell-Metro and Reverend Katelyn B. Macrae of the Richmond Congregational Church.

Longtime Vermont resident (but new to Williston) Major Patrick “Gene” Enriquez with the Vermont National Guard was the next to speak.

“Service and sacrifice are intertwined,” he said. “You can’t have one without the other.”

He is a first-generation American and has served multiple tours in different countries. He shared that since World War I, almost 300 men and women from Chittenden County, some from Williston, have died or gone missing during their service.

“Recognize that our fellow Americans owe so much to those who will never come home,” he said.

His speech continued with the general theme of the world being divided, but united in our love and debt to the fallen.

Next to speak was Phil Stevens, the secretary of the Williston-Rich- mond Rotary Club, who read the names of those who had bricks dedicated to them.

“They have given and we must have gratitude,” Stevens said.

To wrap up the event, there was a reading of the names of deceased veterans and first-responders before another playing of pipes from Metro and “Taps” by Luke Buehler, a ninth-grade student from CVU.