Veterans treated to day out with music, socializing, food
Accordion player Chris Rybak plays some Czech music for several nursing and-assisted living home residents Tuesday morning at the VFW Post 4146.
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VETERANS DAY ACTIVITIES, NOV. 11
7 a.m. - Veterans pick up flags at courthouse to be taken to 32 cemeteries.
7:30 a.m - Short public ceremony on the Victoria County Courthouse steps before veterans depart for individual cemeteries. Jarrell Sharp ...
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VETERANS DAY ACTIVITIES, NOV. 11
7 a.m. - Veterans pick up flags at courthouse to be taken to 32 cemeteries.
7:30 a.m - Short public ceremony on the Victoria County Courthouse steps before veterans depart for individual cemeteries. Jarrell Sharp Sr., pastor of First United Methodist Church, will bless the assembled flags.
10 a.m. - City/County Veterans Day Parade. It starts at Ben Jordan and North Streets and proceeds along North in front of the Community Center. Gary Moses will announce the parade.
11 a.m. Veterans Day Ceremony in front of the Community Center. Gary Moses will be the emcee.
Guest speaker will be State Senator Glenn Hager.
The Rev. David Berger, associate pastor at Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church, will deliver the opening and closing prayers. The Toast of the Coast Barbershop Chorus will sing. Memorial wreaths will be placed nearby.
The Memorial High School band will perform.
The Catholic War Veterans rifle squad will fire a 21-gun salute.
Mike Martinak will play "Taps."
Guests are urged to bring their own lawn chairs for seating.
Winnie McCarrell loves her veterans.
Her red, white and blue nails, earrings and jewel-encrusted glasses prove that point.
That is why the Veterans of Foreign Wars 4146 and Ladies Auxiliary's 34th annual Patient's Day Out makes her feel proud, she said.
"Veterans are different from anybody else," said the Ladies Auxiliary District 24 president. "We don't know what they went through."
The event brings out residents, in particular veterans from seven nursing and assisted-living homes in the Crossroads.
The day features live music, games, a pre-Thanksgiving lunch and socialization.
The event is important because residents have a chance to mingle with other residents as well as with other veterans, McCarrell said.
It also does not hurt that the residents get a chance to leave the nursing home and see what is going on in the community, she added.
Chris Rybak, an accordion player from Hallettsville, has performed at the VFW event for the past six years.
In particular, Rybak remembers a 103-year-old woman last year who actually stood up and danced.
"We enjoy seeing the people light up," he said. "They are all going to end up dancing."
As the fast-paced polka, blue grass, country, oldies music pumped through the building, nursing home directors wheeled some residents onto the dance floor and danced.
Some residents clapped, some smiled and some even cheered.
"The music does that kind of thing," Rybak said with a smile.
One resident, Herbert Brietzke, was at the event for the first time.
The World War II veteran said he enjoyed seeing all the work that went into setting up the morning's events.
"It really helps you feel proud," Brietzke said.
Comments
This event was the most fun I have had in a very long time. We worked very hard to make this a great day for them but in the end it blessed us the most. My daughters who helped serve were kissed and hugged by more (grandparents) then they could ever imagine.
November 3, 2009 at 6:55 p.m.If you are a veteran or a family member you don't know what you are missing if you are not a memeber of this awesome group.