Bayport man shows love of country by waving American flag

Mary Divine, Pioneer Press
·7 min read

Gary Lorence stepped outside his home in Bayport one day last year and began waving an American flag.

He’s been doing it ever since.

For seven hours a day, rain or shine, hot or cold, Lorence, 71, stands near the corner of Minnesota Highway 95 and Seventh Avenue North and proudly flies his flag.

Drivers smile and honk. Children wave. Passengers salute. A connection is made.

“This is my ministry,” Lorence said. “It’s my way to connect with people. It’s not about politics, it’s about uniting people. … The flag is the one thing that will bring us all together, and in the last year and a half, I’ve seen what the flag does. It works well. People love their flag.”

The first day Lorence stepped out with his flag — in February 2021 — the temperature was 20 below zero, he said.

Recently, the temperature topped 100, but Lorence, dressed in a red, white and blue tank top, still strapped a thick leather belt around his waist with a makeshift flag stand attached to it and headed to the corner.

“That’s when you need to go,” he said. “They need to see the flag. You see them transform. They just come out of where they were, and they’re happy.”

FLAG ‘UNITES US’

Lorence waves his flag from around 8 a.m. to noon and again from 3 to 6 p.m. on the days he’s in town. He doesn’t go out from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. because he doesn’t want to distract the drivers going in and out of Andersen Corp. at shift change. Lorence and his wife, Barb, live across the street from the factory’s main entrance.

“I don’t want to cause an accident,” he said. “They’re in a hurry to get in and get out. Plus, I need a break. My waver gets tired.”

A Marine Corps veteran, Lorence worked as a rigger at Xcel Energy’s Allen S. King plant in Oak Park Heights for 32 years, retiring in 2003.

He had a stroke two years ago that left him with short-term memory loss. He sometimes struggles to find the right words to say, he said, but not when it comes to expressing his love for the United States.

“There are so many of my fellow brothers who fought in battle to protect our country, and I feel our flag is a symbol of what they did for our country,” Lorence said. “The flag is what inspired the people and gave them hope. It’s what unites us.”

Gary and Barb Lorence fly three flags on a flagpole outside their house: a red, white and blue American flag; an American flag featuring blue, green and red stripes to honor police, military and first responders; a white “An Appeal to Heaven” flag that features a pine tree.

The pine tree flag originally was used by a squadron commissioned under George Washington’s authority as commander in chief of the Continental Army in October 1775.

“When George Washington thought all hope was lost during our battle for independence, he said what it says on that flag, ‘An appeal to heaven,’” Lorence said. “That’s a big part of our history.”

Lorence, who belongs to CrossWinds Community Church in Stillwater, also makes and gives away birch crosses. There’s a stack of them on a table in his front yard.

One of his favorite Bible verses is Psalm 33:12: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance.”

“His whole thing is God and country, and he wants to bring people hope and unify everyone,” Barb Lorence said. “It breaks his heart to see the country in the position that it’s in. He’s a proud vet. He loves his country. He loves his flag.”

Gary Lorence works to wave and make eye contact with every driver who passes. When a police car, fire truck or ambulance drives by, he said he salutes “to show them honor and respect.”

MAKING CONNECTIONS

Making eye contact and establishing a connection with people has been especially important since the coronavirus pandemic, Barb Lorence said.

“It’s one of the best things he could do because people have been so isolated,” she said. “By being out there and doing what he is doing, he’s trying to acknowledge that everybody is important, everyone has value.”

Gary Lorence said he can tell he’s made a difference in people’s lives in the past 17 months.

“I’ve seen the people. I’ve seen their faces,” he said. “When I first started, they weren’t interested in connecting; only about a dozen or so a day would wave, but now they’re all waving. People have come to depend on my being out here. If I miss a day, they’ll ask me where I’ve been.”

Molly Jo Severson brings him hot chocolate in winter and cold water in summer.

The River Falls, Wis., woman even has dropped off baskets of food and homemade soup and chili.

“I call her my ‘street angel,’” Lorence said. “It’s because of people like her that I’m out here.”

Severson, 48, used to drive past Lorence twice a week on her way to her part-time waitress job at Matchstick Restaurant & Spirits in Stillwater.

“He would always be standing on the corner with a huge smile on his face and always waving and always so happy,” she said.

On an especially cold day last fall, Severson said, she was moved to turn around and meet him. She stopped at the Bread Art bakery and bought him a cup of hot chocolate and some pastries.

“I have a very strong faith in the Lord, and I just felt this huge pull to turn around,” she said. “It wasn’t me; it was completely God. I drove back and asked if I could give him a hug. … I think I was drawn to him because I wanted to know his story. I knew that there was a story behind why he is doing what he’s doing. He was just so sweet, and he got tears in his eyes.”

Severson continued to stop, and a friendship developed between Severson and her husband, Shawn, and the Lorences. The couples have attended each other’s churches and gone out for meals together.

“I love listening to him talk,” Molly Jo Severson said. “He’s just this bright light. I think it’s so important for kids to see people supporting our country.”

Severson took another job in Hudson, Wis., in June, so she doesn’t get to drive past Lorence as much as she used to, but she still makes a point to connect with her friend.

“It’s those little small things that we can do in our life, like being on that corner and doing that or just saying ‘Hello’ to people — you know, ‘Have a great day.’ It’s all about little kindnesses and making connections,” she said.

LOOKING FORWARD TO INDEPENDENCE DAY

Not everyone passing by is happy with Lorence’s display of patriotism, “but we don’t even give them the time of day,” he said. “They don’t even rate. There is too much good in the world.”

Police Chief Laura Eastman said the Bayport Police Department has fielded a couple complaints about Lorence since last summer. One was about honking cars and another about obstructing traffic, which was unfounded, she said.

“Most people appreciate Mr. Lorence’s love for the American flag and respect his right to wave it,” she said.

Stillwater resident Liz Swiersz smiled and waved as she drove past Lorence the other day in her black Buick LaCrosse.

“It warms my heart to see him out there waving our American flag, proudly sharing his patriotism with all,” said Swiersz, who was born and raised in Bayport. “It’s just one more thing that makes Bayport such a Norman Rockwell picture of Hometown, USA.”

The Lorences have lived in Bayport since 1976. They enjoy their cabin in Bruno, Minn., their farm in Shell Lake, Wis., and have three birds.

One of their main hobbies is tapping maple trees at a friend’s farm in Wisconsin and giving away dozens of bottles of maple syrup to local police and fire departments and EMTs each year.

Gary Lorence can’t wait to celebrate Independence Day on Monday.

“It’s going to be the greatest Fourth of July ever because we are united as a country,” he said. “This is about God and country. This is not political at all. No matter where you might fall on the political spectrum, the flag is for everybody. It’s not for Democrats or Republicans; it’s for all of us as Americans.”

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