Senior Center honors veterans, mothers

MEMORIAL DAY PROGRAM – Veterans attending the Senior Citizens Center Memorial Day program are (second from left) William Murriel, Richard Greer, Diane Wicknick and Sam Miller. They are being commended by Senior Citizen Center director Archie Cox (left) and program chairman Gwendolyn Thomas.

by Brittan Pyron

The Humboldt Senior Citizens Center held a program recently that was dedicated to honoring both veterans on Memorial Day and

mothers for Mothers Day.

The women were asked to wear all white and the men came in white shirts with black jackets and pants. Patriotic music was played at the beginning of the program. Senior Citizens Center Director Archie Cox opened the program, greeting everyone and thanking them for coming.

Veteran Diane Wicknick stood to give tribute to all of the deceased veterans. She spoke of those who gave their lives and of how they made the ultimate sacrifice so that we may have our freedom. She offered a little history on how Memorial Day came to be. She then read the poem “In Flanders Fields” before ending her speech by saying, “All gave some, some gave all. God bless America.”

A moment of silence was held before moving on to the candle lighting portion of the program. Veteran Richard Greer was asked to light the candles while revealing their purpose.

“These candles are here to represent those who have served and the candle in the center is for the ones we lost,” he said.

Edmond James then said a closing prayer and all of the veterans were asked to stand and be recognized.

To honor all of the mothers, Gwendolyn Thomas sang a tribute. She then asked all of the mothers to stand. They also received a round of applause.

To end the program, another prayer was said to bless the food and each table took turns going through the buffet line.

This was a wonderful way for Humboldt to celebrate our veterans and mothers. The Senior Citizens Center was proud to provide a heartfelt reception and lunch.