A cloudy misty morning mimicked the somber attitude at the
Memorial Day program at the Exeter Cemetery.
The program was abbreviated due to the COVID-19 virus.
Most of the attendees listened from their vehicles.
Butch Jansen opened the program, led the group in prayer and led
the pledge.
Exeter-Milligan senior Cailtin Murphy read The Gettysburg
Address.
Jansen read the names of those from the Exeter area who lost
their lives in service before Kayla Geiger read “In Flanders Fields.”
Tim Wilbeck gave a brief address noting how the Corona virus has
“reminded everyone how fragile life can be.”
He drew similarities between the unforeseen dangers of the
current state of the world with those the military faces every day.
Wilbeck encouraged the community to honor those who died in
service or brought home an “invisible wound of war.”
He noted that the healthcare
workers are todays heroes and have “much in common with our military
heroes. They are elite and ordinary. Elite in their sense of
character and ordinary in that they represent the diverse fabric of our
country.”
The healthcare heroes, along
with our fallen warries have “given their lives to protect our way of life.”
The program closed with Murphy
playing “Taps” and Jaiden Papik playing “Taps Echo.”
