What Tuscarawas Valley communities are doing to observe Memorial Day
Communities throughout the Tuscarawas Valley are planning ceremonies on Memorial Day weekend to honor deceased veterans and those who have died in this nation's wars.
Here are the activities planned:
BOLIVAR and ZOAR
A parade will form at the Zoar Village Hall and Community Center and march to the Zoar Cemetery for Memorial Day Services at 8 a.m. Monday. The service will be conducted by the Bolivar American Legion Post No. 190.
The Bolivar parade will form at 10 a.m. at the Tuscarawas Valley Intermediate School, located on Park Street, and march to Fort Laurens State Memorial Park.
At both the Zoar and Bolivar services, the Tuscarawas Valley High School band will provide musical selections directed by Merri Gensley. Karen McFadden is the parade marshal.
At each site, Post Commander John Stewart will give the welcome and thank you. Chaplain Pete James will give the invocation and benediction. The Pledge of Allegiance will be led by the Ladies Auxiliary of Post No. 190. The legion honor guard will post a wreath at the memorial and the decoration of the graves will be held along with the roll call of the deceased veterans.
In case of rain the service will be held in the Tuscarawas Valley Intermediate School gym, located on Park Street, at 10 a.m.
DOVER
Services will begin at 10 a.m. Monday at Maple Grove Cemetery. Keith Thomas, commander of Dover American Legion Post No. 205 will serve as master of ceremonies.
The invocation and closing prayer will be given by Father Jimmy Hatfield, pastor of St. Joseph Catholic Church. Mayor Shane Gunnoe will give the mayor's welcome, and the guest speaker will be Doug Russell, Ohio District 10 American Legion commander.
Music will be provided by the Dover High School Band, and the Ars Nova Singers will give a presentation, "Tribute to the Armed Forces."
Elle Baughman will give "In Flanders Field" and Ava Bonanno will recite the Gettysburg Address. Both are Dover Middle School students.
GNADENHUTTEN
Services will begin at 9 a.m. Monday. Participants will meet at the village square and march to the Gnadenhutten Cemetery, where services will be held. Sandra Mann, pastor of Restoration Centre in Gnadenhutten, will be the guest speaker. Her husband and father were both veterans.
MIDVALE
The service is scheduled for 11 a.m. Monday at the memorial on E. State Street and Barnhill Road.
MINERAL CITY
A parade will begin at 9:15 a.m. Monday and march to the Mineral City Cemetery, where the service will be held. Bob Smith, pastor of Mineral City United Methodist Church, will be the speaker. The Tuscarawas Valley High School band will provide music. The event is sponsored by the Carr-Bailey American Legion Post No. 519.
NEWCOMERSTOWN
Mayor Pat Cadle will be the speaker at Memorial Day services at 10:30 a.m. Monday at West Lawn Cemetery. Pastor Jimmy Lewis of Victory Assembly of God will give the invocation and the benediction. Music will be provided by the Newcomerstown High School band. The Newcomerstown Honor Guard will also be participating. Those attending should bring a lawn chair.
NEW PHILADELPHIA
The New Philadelphia Veterans Coordinating Committee will be conducting its annual Memorial Day service on Monday beginning at 11 a.m. on Court House Square in downtown New Philadelphia. The New Philadelphia Veterans’ Coordinating Committee represents New Philadelphia’s three veterans’ service organizations ‒ American Legion Post No. 139, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 1445 and Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter No. 857 − and is supported by the Tuscarawas County Veterans Service Office.
The guest speaker will be New Philadelphia VFW Post 1445 Chaplain Jerry Chenevey. He served 4 years with the U.S. Army Security Agency as a signals intelligence specialist, including a year attached to the 4th Infantry Division in Vietnam in 1968 and 1969.
The New Philadelphia High School Marching Quaker Band student musicians, under the direction of Jeff Furbay, will launch the program with the playing of the National Anthem. Student vocalists from the NPHS Delphian Chorale under the direction of Kristi Prucha and the Central Elementary School 5th Grade Choir under the direction of Cheryl Graham will perform patriotic songs. Welty Middle School students under the direction of Sharon Ricklic will demonstrate the proper folding of Old Glory, explaining the meaning of each fold. Welty students will also recite President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and "In Flanders Fields."
In the event of severe weather, the program will be held in the banquet hall at the New Philadelphia VFW post, located at 441 Park Ave. NW, New Philadelphia.
PORT WASHINGTON
Jason Miller, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and a member of the Newcomerstown Honor Guard will be the guest speaker at services held at noon at Union Cemetery. Music will be provided by the Indian Valley High School band, with member Emily Lewis playing Taps. Abigail Adams, choir and band director at Coshocton High School and a Port Washington native, will also be performing. Members of three 4-H groups ‒ the Red Rock Rebels, Thunder Valley Pioneers and the Kountry Kids ‒ will be doing the Pledge of Allegiance.
Recognition will be given to each veteran in attendance. Special recognition will be given to the late Milton "Doc" Gossett by the Port Washington-Salem Historical Society. His daughter, Kay Gossett Dennis, will read a poem he wrote while he was in the service.
Following the service, there will be a parade from the cemetery to the fire station. Trophies will be awarded to the most decorated bicycles in the parade. Then the Delaware Valley Joint Fire District will hold its annual chicken barbecue.
STRASBURG
Strasburg-Franklin Local Schools Superintendent Vince Lindsey will be the guest speaker at the Memorial Day services to be held at 10:30 a.m. Monday at Grandview Union Cemetery. The services are sponsored by the Strasburg Charles Hofer American Legion Post 522.
A parade, led by the Strasburg police and Tiger marching band, will form in front of the school at 140 N. Bodmer Ave. at 9:30 a.m. and step-off at 10 to march to the cemetery.
Pastor Jason Rissler of Strasburg St. John United Church of Christ will give the invocation and benediction. Strasburg Mayor Steve Smith will give the welcome and Post Commander Don Gerber will serve as master of ceremonies. Rev. Jim Baker will read the names of veterans who are buried at Grandview, along with residents and former residents buried in other cemeteries.
Marvin Simmons, sergeant at arms, will honor the prisoner of war and those missing in action by placing the Prisoner of War flag on an empty chair and will place a wreath at the memorial at the entrance to the cemetery.
The band will provide a patriotic medley and play the national anthem. The band is under the direction of Joshua Loar. Carolyn Zehnder of Strasburg will provide a musical selection, “Let Freedom Ring.”
Boys State Delegate Hunter McKenzie, son of Josh and Missy McKenzie, will give the Gettysburg Address. Girls’ State Delegates Ada Richards, daughter of Jimmy and Krissie Richards, will offer “In Flanders’ Field” and Amelia Spidell, daughter of Tommy and Veronica Spidell, will give the “Response to Flanders’ Field.” Garett Thomas, son of Josh and Nancy Thomas, and Derek Rissler, son of Jason and Heather Rissler also Boys’ State Delegates, will participate in the services.
In case of rain, the service, will be held in the high school at 10 a.m.
SUGARCREEK
Memorial Day services, sponsored by Homer Weiss Post 494 of the American Legion, have been scheduled for Monday.
The post Honor's Team is planning to conduct a ceremony at 7:45 a.m. at the Veteran's Memorial in Walnut Creek. The team will conduct honors at the Dundee Cemetery at approximately 8:30-8:40 a.m. Sugarcreek ceremonies will be at Eastlawn Cemetery at 9:30. There will be a short ceremony at 10:30 a.m. at Union Hill Cemetery at the grave of Homer Weiss, to honor all veterans buried there. Post 494 will then go to Ragersville Cemetery. A service will also be held in Baltic at 10:30 a.m.
Navy veteran Neal Slaby will be the featured speaker at the Sugarcreek services.
Also participating at Sugarcreek will be the Garaway High School Band, Boy and Girls Scouts, Post Commander Linda Stefanov and Post Chaplain Bill Johnson. Two students from Miller Avenue Elementary School will give the Gettysburg Address and In Flanders' Field. The students are Michael Hamsher, son of Jason and Stacy Hamsher, and Macie Custer, daughter of Jay Custer and Susan Saron.
TUSCARAWAS
Events will begin at 10 a.m. Monday at Memorial Park. Speaker will be Eric Hiller with the Veterans Administration, and the Indian Valley band will provide music. A parade will be held prior to the parade. It will begin at Indian Valley Middle School, go down Main Street and then continue on to Cherry Street. The Warwick Township Volunteer Fire Department and local baseball teams will participate.
UHRICHSVILLE and DENNISON
Several services for Memorial Day are planned for Monday in the Twin Cities. Events will be held at St. Mary's Cemetery at 8 a.m., Haverfield Park in Uhrichsville at 8:30, the Dennison Railroad Depot Museum at 9, the Civil War memorial at Union Cemetery in Uhrichsville at 10, the new soldier's plot at Union Cemetery at 11 and Newport United Methodist Church at 11:30.
Blair Hillyer will serve as master of ceremonies at the Civil War memorial, and Bob Michels will be the guest speaker. John Stevenson of the Bethel Worship Center will be the chaplain. Music will be provided by the Claymont High School band and Terry Wright. Mayor Greg DiDonato will give greetings in Dennison and Mayor Mark Haney in Uhrichsville. Zane Kuczirka will be special reader. Wendy Mann will read the names of deceased veterans. Mark Allison will be the deacon at St. Mary's Cemetery. American Legion Post No. 491 will be participating.
WARREN TOWNSHIP
Services will be held at 12:30 p.m. Sunday at Holmes United Methodist Church, 6428 Ripley Road, New Philadelphia. Deceased veteran Doral Paul McCartney and living veteran Vernon Albaugh will be honored. A parade will be held at 12:30 p.m. Monday in New Cumberland, with a military service to follow. Deceased veteran Harold Moreland and living veteran Ryan Cox will be honored.
WILMOT
The Wilmot Cemetery Association will conduct the annual Memorial Day observance at Greenlawn Cemetery on Monday, starting at 8:45 a.m. Ceremonies honoring all veterans will be conducted by the Beach City American Legion Weimer-Widder Post 549 and will include the reading of the Roll of Honor of veterans who are buried in the cemetery. Music will be provided by the Fairless High School Marching Band.
Association board member and retired Stark County Family Court Judge David Stucki will honor Korean War veterans and share the story of Sugar Creek Township resident and POW Vernon Judd, who died on Feb. 15, 1951, and whose remains were identified on June 14, 2019, and later interred at the Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery.
In case of inclement weather, the event will be held at Faith Christian Academy, 511 W. Main St,, Wilmot.
This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: Memorial Day activities in communities around Tuscarawas Valley
