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W
e e k l y F
e a t u r e P a g e
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The contents of the “Weekly Feature” page are provided
to you for your entertainment, amusement, and perhaps information.
Here you may find articles of interest, pictures, historical information
on the Club, or whatever shuffles to the top of the pile on our
desk. The only defined characteristic of this space is that we
will make every effort to change/replace it around the middle of
each week. Thank you for visiting, and please stop by again. Click
on any photo to see it larger in a separate window. |
A
Time to Remember
Just a gentle reminder, Memorial Day is just around
the corner. Traditionally, it’s a day that heralds the beginning of the vacation season,
occurring as it does at about the time when the Michigan weather finally
turns to summer. It’s a time for Lilacs and Asparagus, Rhubarb
and remembering. Remembering those who have gone before us, who may
have charted our course in some way. There are those who may have given
us life, and there are those who may have given their life in the service
of our Country. They may have added immeasurably to our own lives,
by being family, by being friends, or just by being there. So we set
aside a holiday weekend to remind us to remember. The day might be
observed by a parade, or a cookout, or maybe a family trip back home.
For some it might mean a visit to a cemetery where your own history
lies at rest. You might do a little trimming around the stones, plant
some fresh flowers, or tidy the place up a little. You might pause
a moment to enjoy the warmth of the late May sun, while you lean on
a headstone that bears the name of someone you knew. Or maybe your
fingers will quietly trace the engravings on the monuments, while you
remember.
Most of us are from what we like to call the “heartland”,
where small towns are the norm, and the local highways and country
roads that stretch between them are lined with farms and forests, small
businesses and country churches, and every few miles, you’re
likely to see a cemetery. In our part of the world, many are small
and very local in nature. If it’s an area you grew up in, you
will recognize many of the names on the markers, maybe know the people
they memorialize. If you’re like me, it’s hard to resist
wandering a bit through the cemetery, as the quiet, reflective nature
of the surroundings bids you to do. All those monuments are like the
edges of the books you see on the shelf in the library. You can see
the names, but you wonder about the story behind them. Gravestones
usually give you just a little hint about the lives they represent.
But for the people you knew, they are like a permanent record, verifying
and remembering a story that you may have lived along with them. Reminding
you to remember.
[The photos below were not taken for the purpose
of this article, but rather for one of the kid’s school projects a couple of years
ago. Most of the names will not be familiar to you, some are to me,
but the point is to remind you to treasure the stories of those who
have walked this way before. Don’t let them be forgotten on your
watch]
(click individual photos to enlarge)
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