We’re just connecting the dots.
VOLUME 8 • ISSUE 5 • November 9, 2022
hello FROM KRISTI
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Memorials and Monuments: Honoring Veterans Year-Round
I had the opportunity to spend
last week in beautiful Montreal, Canada, doing what I love most-promoting travel to Texas to prospective retirees at the Salon International Tourismeet Voyage Travel Show. What a wonderful experience! The city was historically beautiful yet sleek and modern. Over the last few years, we’ve made marketing South Texas to snowbirds a priority. You see, they are snowbirds until they come to Texas for the first time; then they realize they aren’t snowbirds at all. They are part of an incredible community you all know as Winter Texans. I’ve spent time traveling throughout the Midwest but felt it was high time to take our message north of the border, and when I got the invitation to go with the state tourism agency, I jumped at the opportunity. Seeing the places so many of you come from is important on so many levels. It helps us connect the dots and serve you even better. I look forward to seeing you soon! ~We’re just connecting the dots. •
Kristi THANK YOU TO OUR 2022-2023 SEASON SPONSORS
The focal point of Veterans Park in Brownsville. Story and photos by Eryn Reddell Wingert
The “Father of Veterans Day” is a World War II veteran named Raymond Weeks, according to nationaltoday. com. The site explains that Weeks campaigned for Armistice Day to acknowledge all veterans, in addition to the fallen, establishing the first Veterans Day event in Alabama in 1945 and garnering the support of General Dwight Eisenhower. It wasn’t until 1954, more than eight years after the first celebration,
that November 11--Armistice Day-was amended by the United States Congress to be Veterans Day. However, honoring veterans can be practiced year-round in South Texas by visiting the impressive memorials and monuments permanently in place to acknowledge those who have served this country. The City of Brownsville’s Veterans Park is located next to the public library at the corner of Central Boulevard and Wild Rose Lane. The focal point is a concave of short
walls engraved with the names of local veterans, spanning World War II through Afghanistan. Flanking the monument are two statues, one honoring female veterans of the Rio Grande Valley and the other of Sergeant Jose Mendoza Lopez, who grew up in Brownsville. Beneath his likeness are the words, “Whose valor and distinguished record honors all who serve our country.” MEMORIALS AND MONUMENTS CONTINUED ON PAGE 3 >>