Special to IFN
The Troutman Ruritan Club invites the community to attend its first National Wreaths Across America event at the New Perth Cemetery, located at 886 Perth Road at 12 noon on Saturday, December 13.
The event honors and remembers America’s veterans during the holiday season.
The club raised the funds to place wreathes on each veteran’s grave as part of the National Wreaths Across America Day, held nationwide this year on December 13. More than 2 million volunteers and supporters will gather to “Remember, Honor and Teach” at more than 5,200 participating locations in all 50 states, at sea, and abroad.
The 2025 theme is “Keep Moving Forward.” National Wreathes Across America Executive Director Karen Worcester explained that ”there will always be challenges to overcome as individuals, communities and a country, but we must keep moving forward together.”
CEREMONY DETAILS
Prior to the wreath-laying, retired U.S. Navy Lt. Barry Fosberg will address attendees during a ceremony honoring these veterans.
South Iredell High School Chorus student Meaghan Chavez will sing the National Anthem, Jeremy Shaw of Sound Wave NC will provide music, and Rev. Dan Hazen, pastor at New Perth ARP Church, will offer a prayer for veterans, their families, and the community.
The South Iredell High School Marine Corps JROTC cadets who will present the colors as well as accompany each military branch wreath and pay honor by slowly presenting arms as each is placed in its holder.
Boy Scout Troop 377 built the wreath stands, and Senior Patrol Leader Evan Johnson and troop members will deliver the Pledge of Allegiance. Scouts will also assist in parking and escort those needing assistance.
After the ceremony, volunteers will place a donated wreath on each veteran’s headstone. When a volunteer places a wreath on a veteran’s grave, he or she is encouraged to speak the veteran’s name aloud, thank the military member for his or her service and sacrifice, and reflect on the person’s life.
Parking will be available to the north of the cemetery.
WREATH MEANING
The ten balsam bouquets that make up each veterans’ wreath represent the ten special qualities that American veterans embody:
1. Their BELIEF in a greater good.
2. Their LOVE for each other.
3. Their STRENGTH, work ethic, and character.
4. Their HONESTY and integrity.
5. Their HUMILITY, selflessness, and modesty.
6. Their AMBITIONS and aspirations.
7. Their OPTIMISM for America.
8. Their CONCERN for the future.
9. Their PRIDE in their duties.
10. Their HOPES and DREAMS that didn’t always come true but left them with no regrets.
The evergreens in the wreath represent longevity and endurance, the forest scent purity and simplicity, the red bow great sacrifice, and the circular shape, eternity.
HISTORY
Wreathes Across America had its beginnings when Morrill Worcester, owner of Worcester Wreath Company of Harrington, Maine, had a surplus of wreaths near the end of the 1992 holiday season.
Remembering his boyhood experience of visiting Arlington Cemetery, Worcester seized the opportunity to honor America’s veterans. With the aid of retired Maine U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, Worcester made arrangements for the surplus wreaths to be placed at Arlington in one of the older sections that received fewer visitors with each passing year.
Other companies and organizations stepped up to help, and the local American Legion and VFW Posts gathered with members of the community to decorate each wreath with traditional red, hand-tied bows. Members of the Maine State Society of Washington, D.C., helped to organize the wreath-laying, which included a special ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
This annual tribute continued quietly until 2005 when a photo of the Arlington Cemetery stones, adorned with wreaths and covered in snow, circulated on the internet. Thousands of requests soon poured in from all over the country from people wanting to help purchase and lay wreaths at Arlington.
In 2007, the non-profit Wreaths Across America organization formed to expand this effort and support others around the country who wanted to replicate the project. The simple mission of the organization was then established: “Remember. Honor. Teach.”
The US Congress also unanimously voted to declare December 13, 2008 as “Wreaths Across America Day.” The wreath-laying that began more than 30 years ago is still held annually on the second or third Saturday of December.
Wreaths Across America is committed to teaching all generations about the value of their freedoms and the importance of honoring those who sacrificed so much to protect those freedoms.
As Pierre Claeyssens (1909-2003) said, “To be killed in war is not the worst that can happen. To be lost is not the worst that can happen… to be forgotten is the worst.”
LEARN MORE
For more information, contact the Troutman Ruritan Wreathes Across America committee chair Michelle Bond at michellebond123@gmail.com or visit the Troutman Ruritan website at https://www.troutmanruritanclub.org/ or the club’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/troutmanruritan.