Fallen veterans saluted at local Memorial Day services

American history teaches us there are many ways to honor the nation.

Memorial Day in La Conner added the lesson that there are just as many ways to salute the country’s fallen heroes.

There were large turnouts at both the Pleasant Ridge and Swinomish Tribal Community cemeteries Monday morning for local Memorial Day services. Each stressed the need to remember the many sacrifices made by America’s men and women in uniform.

Each ceremony was equal parts reflective and spiritual.

Rev. Don Robinson, a La Conner High alum officiating his final Pleasant Ridge Memorial Day gathering – he is due to retire later this year – delivered a message that focused on help and hope.

Drawing from scripture, Rev. Robinson noted how all people require help at some point, and are thus obliged to render it when possible. He said everyone is fueled by hope, and as such must likewise be ready to provide it for others.

He said veterans are among those who have been called upon to offer help and hope – often simultaneously.

“We remember those who have helped us, who’ve sacrificed their lives so we may live,” he said, “and we also remember those who gave us hope.”

La Conner resident Jean Wharton, a native of the United Kingdom, said it was American soldiers like late Swinomish Senator Chester Cayou, Sr. who gave her friends and family help and hope by opening a second Allied front in 1944 as Western Europe sought deliverance from the Nazis.

“I would not be with you here today,” said Wharton, a special guest speaker at the Swinomish services, “were it not for Chet Cayou, Sr. He and others like him from this country, who didn’t even know us, were willing to offer their lives to help us.”

Cayou survived the Battle of the Bulge and other engagements and returned home to assume various Tribal leadership roles, serving more than a quarter-century in the Senate.

His son, Chester Cayou, Jr., delivered the welcome address for the Tribal Memorial Day program.

The Battle of the Bulge was one of a long string of highlights from U.S. history that Lee Schuirman of the Marine Corps League recited by memory at the outset of the Pleasant Ridge services.

Schuirman told America’s story from the perspective of Old Glory.

“It’s the inseparable link in the history of our nation,” he said of the American flag.

The flag was likewise much in evidence at Swinomish, flying above Joe McCoy, Sr., as he shared an ecumenical invocation stressing common bonds shared by Americans.

“We all pray to one God in different ways,” he said, “and it all comes to a good result.”

In related Memorial Day notes:

• Joyce Johnson, 99, the last remaining charter member of the original Pleasant Ridge School Preservation group, read aloud her poem “Last Chance Survivor” in tribute to the historic building. Pleasant Ridge Cemetery

• Commissioner Gail Thulen presented Johnson with a bouquet of flowers and provided an update on renewed efforts to restore the old Pleasant Ridge School, which stands on property purchased by the cemetery district. “We all want to bring the schoolhouse back to life,” he said. “The number one priority is putting a new roof on the building.”

• Tribal and other local veterans closed the Swinomish services by receiving handshakes from those in attendance. The Swinomish canoe family sang and drummed while the reception line was in place.

• Diane Vendiola called upon Janie Edwards Beasley to offer a bi-lingual prayer as part of the Blessing of the Graves portion of the Swinomish program.

• La Conner Middle School student Aubree Jolly drew a well-deserved ovation from those at Pleasant Ridge for her vocal rendition of Blades of Glass and Pure White Stones.