REMEMBER the Fallen. . . HONOR those who Serve. . . TEACH our children the value of Freedom.
Each December at Wyuka Cemetery we honor our deceased soldiers that are buried in the three military circles with a fresh evergreen wreath with a traditional hand tied red bow placed on their headstone. Wreaths are $17 each and if you purchase 2 wreaths, WAA will give WHF a third wreath. Every dollar donated goes to the purchase of these patriotic rememberances of duty and pride.
The ceremony is held on the 3rd Saturday in December starting at 11 a.m. We invite the public to join us for a short program. Please use the Vine Street entrance to watch the program and afterwards, help us to lay the wreaths.
The wreaths are ordered and shipped from Worchester Wreath Company in Harrington, Maine under their non-profit world-wide Wreaths Across America. Donations are accepted to cover the cost of a wreath.
- Each wreath are $17. All donations go toward the purchase of the wreaths.
- Checks are to be made payable to: Wyuka Historical Foundation
- Be sure to write Wreaths in the memo line.
- You will receive a letter acknowledging your 501(3)(c) tax deductible donation.
Please send your donation to:
Wyuka Historical Foundation
3600 “O” Street
Lincoln, Nebraska 68510
If you choose to donate online, please visit: Wreaths Across America
Location ID: NEWYKC
Group ID: NE0014
For more information or if you have questions, please contact:
Diane Bartels
(402)429-3342
Pictured with Melvin is Foundation Directors Diane Bartels and Joyce Peck. (left to right)
Melvin Bates, a Lincolnite who served his country, would take an empty glass jar at the first of each year and would place his loose change in it during that year. He would call each new jar his “stupid jar” and every November he would bring this jar and present it to the Wyuka Historical Foundation.
Melvin has been honoring his follow soldiers this way for countless years. Melvin passed away on November 26th, 2020, but he did not miss dropping off his jar at Wyuka Cementery. We will miss his smile and his visit during the Wreaths Across America event.
Rest in peace; October 31st, 1926 to November 26th, 2020.
Greg Osborn, a long time volunteer and now a board member, is working the checkout table.
Rather than taking all the flowers that are not in vases after Memorial Day to the landfill, they are picked up, cleaned, and sorted. Flowers
outside of vases after Memorial Day become a hazard for mowing so they must be removed.
Each year in May, the Friday and Saturday before Sunday’s Mother’s Day, these recycled artificial flowers are placed on tables in the Wyuka’s Stables and free for the taking. There are bouquets. There are individual flowers as well as wreaths. And any color imaginable.
In return, we accepted ‘free will’ donations for the Littlest Angels
Project. This project purchases headstones for infants and children that are buried in Wyuka with no marker. [More information about the Littlest Angels Project is on a separate tab].
People are using the flowers for weddings, graduations, table decorations,
as well as decorating a grave. And your donations mark a soul.
A flag is placed next to every soldier buried in one of the three Soldier Circles at Wyuka for observation of Memorial Day. The flags are placed by the Boy & Girl Scouts of America and volunteers.
The weekend after Memorial Day, the flags are all picked up and placed in large totes. They are moved to a private garage and a couple volunteer to clean them.
Each flag is reviewed for damage to the stick or the flag itself. Flags that can be cleaned are placed in a bucket of hot water and damaged sticks are replaced with either salvaged or new sticks. Flags that cannot be repaired are destroyed according to the protocols used by the Boy Scouts of America.
Once the flags have been cleaned and dryed, they are sorted by size. The larger flags are for the circles and the smaller ones are for soldiers buried with their families in the sections. The flags are stored in groups of ten and depending on their size, they go into totes labeled either ‘Military’ or ‘Section’ flags.
New flags are ordered if the count is low based on annual distribution. There are usually six large totes and they are stored with Wyuka until the following May, when they are placed to honour those who have served.
