Gallup holiday tradition under new LEADERSHIP
By Steven Hughes
Sun Correspondent
Gallup veterans and their families, friends, and supporters gathered at the Gallup State Veterans Memorial Cemetery on Dec. 14 for the ever-magical mid-morning scene of evergreen wreaths wearing red bows powered by Wreaths Across America.
Wreaths Across America is an organization that collaborates with various location coordinators at cemeteries across the country to bring live pine-smelling sponsored or donated wreaths adorned with a red bow to decorate headstones. The event brings lots of emotions as it is a time to acknowledge the void left behind by veterans who have passed and honor living veterans and those currently serving.
“I appreciate the people who do it,” David Cuellar, commander for Gallup Veterans Helping Veterans, said. “It means a lot to us veterans.”
This year was a special experience for Gallup as Wreaths Across America saw a new location coordinator stepping up to start the journey of honoring Gallup veterans.
Rocky Thompson, a new location coordinator for the Gallup State Veterans Cemetery, — which houses 300 veterans’ graves — continues the legacy work of Janice and Jack Bradley and David and Kim Brown, who were past location coordinators during Wreaths Across America.
The Browns recently moved two hours away from Gallup, and the Bradleys decided it was time to pass the tradition onto a new set of shoulders.
“I’m a bit nervous, actually,” Thompson said several days prior to this year’s weekend event. “I’m the master of ceremony. I can speak in front of people, but never in a large group before, but it’s scripted.”
Even then, many gave him the foundation to maintain the legacies at these cemeteries.
Gallup has 10 location coordinators in Wreath Across America’s Gallup State Veterans Cemetery Fundraising Group — four of nine Gallup cemeteries have location coordinators: Ben and Janice Welch, coordinators for Hillcrest Cemetery; former city councilor Fran Palochak and her daughter, Susan, coordinators for Sunset Memorial Park; Stacey Randolph and Sharadee Etsitty, coordinators for the Gallup City Cemetery; Angela Barker and Melvina Musket, coordinators for Rehoboth Cemetery; and Thompson and Andrew Montoya, coordinators for the Gallup State Veterans Cemetery
In an interview with the Sun, Palochak said she loves being a part of Gallup’s team coordinating Wreaths Across America as it reminds folks to love and respect each other. Although it’s an event that, to an extent, is scripted, it’s also not easy to organize over 300 live wreaths annually.
These sponsored and donated wreaths arrived on the iconic Wreaths Across America-decorated semi-trucks, with a giant wreath similar to the wreaths placed on headstones attached to its front. They traveled over 2,300 miles from Maine.
Wreaths were available for purchase at the respective Wreaths Across America webpages for each participating cemetery.
Many local businesses showed their support for local veterans by donating wreaths.
Amigo Chevrolet was one of the businesses. The dealership donated $10 from every car sold in November to purchase the wreaths. Palochak said they donated approximately $2,000.
Volunteers are the powerhouse of Wreaths Across America — even some truck drivers are volunteers. Gallup’s Wreaths Across America often sees participation from the Boys and Girls Scouts and the Commission Corp of the U.S. Public Health Service, to name a few.
The event perfectly represented Gallup’s title, “The most patriotic small town in the U.S.”
During the event, members from Gallup Veterans Helping Veterans performed as an honor guard, Palochak sang the National Anthem, and youths and other adults respectfully and meticulously placed the wreaths on hundreds of headstones while calling out each veteran’s name.
The location coordinators’ work didn’t end at the veteran state cemetery’s ceremony. They also traveled to the other cemeteries to place the well-deserved wreaths on the remaining headstones.
Palochak noted that the wreaths, after spending a month at the cemeteries, are composted. She also mentioned that Wreaths Across America offers a variety of actions one can do in the wreath-purchasing process, such as sending a wreath to their home for their doors in dedication to those currently serving.
“I like to see when you get all these volunteers to come out and help put them on the grave sites,” Palochak said. “That warms my heart. It’s a moment where everybody comes together to honor veterans, and I love that.”
She hopes that more people volunteer to become location coordinators next year. Volunteers don’t have to be veterans to help execute Wreaths Across America.
