Dover to mark 3rd annual Wreaths of Honor ceremony
DOVER - Dover will mark the third year of laying over 2,000 Christmas wreaths on veterans' graves on Dec. 17 at Pine Hill Cemetery and St. Mary's Cemetery in Dover in the Wreaths of Honor ceremony. Opening ceremony will be at 10 a.m. at Pine Hill Cemetery at 131 Central Avenue. After laying the wreaths at Pine Hill, the group will move to St. Mary's Cemetery on Dover Point Road to lay wreaths there.
“I started this event three years ago when Arlington National Cemetery briefly considered cancelling their wreath laying ceremony. While I didn’t think that was right, I realized we didn't do anything here in Dover to honor our veterans who have passed. I created this event to honor not only the patriots who are gone, but the families who join us each year,” Matt Mayberry, founder and U.S. Air Force veteran, said.
Mayberry said the event is an important one for the city.
“The impact is profound on the surviving families. I could tell you countless stories of families who I either meet here, hear from after the event or most impactful is the families I interact with while I’m marking sites for wreath placement," he said. "This past Sunday, I was cold and tired. I had spent seven hours reading headstones. I encountered a woman who was visiting her mother and brother who had both passed."
He said the woman asked about the pink utility flags he was using to mark the gravesites. "I told her. She choked up and started to tear up and said 'my mom would be so proud that you remembered her son.' She had to walk away," Mayberry said. "My spirit was moved and I kept searching for more veterans."
As part of the wreath-laying ceremony, Mayberry honors each veteran. “I ask our volunteers to say the name of the veteran and thank them for their service to our country," he said. "Many of these veterans are long gone, but when you say their name, they live again even for the briefest of moments. Someone has remembered them."
"The best is when families come out with their young children to help," he added about the event's volunteers. "They are teaching the next generation about duty, honor and country.”
Inflation has delivered a hit on the ceremony, according to Mayberry, who said last year the group was able to place 4,121 wreaths, but it had to scale back this year.
“We have to raise $25,000 in a short period of time to make it work,” Mayberry, a Dover resident and executive vice president of the NH Home Builders, said. “I am literally asking, OK ... begging, my friends to buy one wreath or whatever they can afford. Every dollar raised is spent on wreaths.”
Both Wentworth Greenhouse in Rollinsford and Freshwater Farms in Salem kept the prices of the wreaths the same as last year to help this event get off the ground.
Those interested in volunteering or purchasing a wreath can go to wreathsofhonor.com to learn more.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Dover NH to mark 3rd annual Wreaths of Honor ceremony
