VIN'S PEOPLE: Big Memorial Day ceremony planned at City Pier Park in Anna Maria
Looking for a way to observe Memorial Day? Head out tomorrow to the City of Anna Maria Memorial Day Patriotic Symphony Salute.
The 35-piece Anna Maria Island Concert Chorus & Orchestra, conducted by Leonard Murphy, will play patriotic music on the lovely waterfront at City Pier Park, 100 N. Bay Drive.
Festivities begin at 10 a.m. with the invocation by Bishop Michael Garrison of the Episcopal Church of the Annunciation and welcome by Mayor Dan Murphy.
There will be a colors presentation by the Marine Corps Honor Guard, a memorial wreath placement by Marine veteran David Minor, a special veteran and veteran’s spouse recognition ceremony, and “Amazing Grace” by Manatee County Sheriff’s Detective Nate Boggs on bagpipes.
There will also be a flyover by a C-130 Hercules and an MH 60 Seahawk helicopter from the Coast Guard Aviation Station in Clearwater.
• Speaking of honored veterans, Don Courtney received the President's Lifetime Achievement Award for over 5,500 hours of volunteer service to the veterans community. He’s only the fifth Floridian so honored. Don was Manatee’s 2004 Veteran of the Year and 2019 Florida Veterans Hall of Fame inductee.
• Friday marks 44 years of wedded bliss for Rod and Kathy Flanagan.
• Farewell to Eddie Mulock, whose Celebration of Life is June 25, 3 p.m. at alma mater Manatee High’s auditorium. A Bradenton icon, he was an amazing heart, liver and kidney transplant survivor, a formidable attorney, a passionate booster and knowledgeable radio voice for Manatee Hurricane football. He was also a caring children’s advocate whose pride and joy was his Foundation for Dreams and Dream Oaks Camp for kids with special needs. There will never be another like him.
• Perico Island’s Bill Embody is 102 years young!
• A bow to Marilyn Vreugdenhil, retiring after 43 years teaching – all at Bradenton Christian School. Volunteering and quilting beckon, as well as more traveling with husband Max.
• Chris Manring is 39. Again.
• Well done to 2022 Braden River High grad Beyonca Mitchell. A recipient of a Gates Scholarship, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, she’ll study biomedical engineering and computer science at Georgia Tech.
• May God speed to Lloyd Grantham, who was 93. The founder of Bradenton Senior Softball had a field named after him at G.T. Bray Park in February.
• And good luck to John Biezuns. The Lakewood Ranch High football assistant and former Bayshore head coach is joining head coach Jed Kennedy at Alabama’s Dothan High. They were teammates at Wisconsin-River Falls in the late ’90s.
Vin’s People runs Sundays. Email Vin Mannix at vinspeople@gmail.com Or call 941-962-5944. Twitter: @vinmannix.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: VIN MANNIX: Anna Maria planning major salute for Memorial Day
