S moke S ignals
MAY 1, 2017
5
Memorial Day event set for Monday, May 29
10 names being added to West
Valley Veterans Memorial
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
The annual Memorial Day event
at the West Valley Veterans Me-
morial on the Grand Ronde Tribal
campus will be highlighted by Trib-
al Council Chairman Reyn Leno,
a Vietnam War-era Marine Corps
veteran, reading the 10 names be-
ing added to the four black granite
pillars that represent the major
branches of the U.S. armed forces.
The event begins at noon with a
meal served in the nearby Tribal
Community Center.
The outdoors ceremony begins at
1 p.m. with Steve Bobb Sr., chair-
man of the Tribe’s Veterans Special
Event Board and also a Marine
Corps veteran from the Vietnam
War era, giving the invocation and
serving as master of ceremonies.
Grand Ronde drummers will
play a memorial song, Tribal youth
JC Rogers will sing the national
anthem as she did in 2016 and
Grand Ronde Royalty and Vet-
erans Royalty will perform “The
Lord’s Prayer.”
The Grand Ronde Honor Guard
will post the colors and speakers
will include Polk County Veterans
Service Officer Marie McCandless,
Yamhill County Veterans Service
Officer Jerry Wilson and Veterans
Benefit Specialist Niki Volz.
Names being added to the West
If you go
15th Memorial
Day ceremony
When: Noon Monday, May 29
Where: Tribal Community
Center & West Valley Veterans
Memorial, 9615 Grand Ronde
Road
More info: 503-876-3118
Valley Veterans Memorial this year
are Navy veterans Steven Rife Jr.,
Russell Talmadge, Dennis Kleff-
ner and Ryan Jackman; Air Force
veteran Walter Schmale; Army
veterans Harold Hobbs, Dennis
Ylitalo and Charles Parker; and
Marine Corps veterans and Tribal
members Toby Gerard Bolden and
Dru Stromberg Jr.
Stromberg joined the Marine
Corps in June 2001 and was sta-
tioned in Charleston, S.C., for five
years as a corrections officer at the
Naval Consolidated Brig. He was
honorably discharged in 2016 and
walked on on Oct. 2, 2016, leaving
behind a wife and two daughters.
The addition of 10 names brings
the total number of veterans hon-
ored on the pillars to 2,335.
The ceremony will close with Bud
Abbott reciting his traditional poem
“Remember Me, America” and Rob-
ert Thornburg performing taps on
the trumpet.
The West Valley Veterans Memo-
Smoke Signals file photo
The Grand Ronde Honor Guard brings in the flags during the 14th annual
Memorial Day ceremony held at the West Valley Veterans Memorial on the
Tribal campus last May.
rial, which was dedicated in 2003,
was designed by Bobb and features
a man and a woman dressed in tra-
ditional Native clothing standing
side by side reaching to the sky.
Surrounding them are four black
granite pillars, which feature the
names of Tribal and community
veterans from Grand Ronde, Wil-
lamina and Sheridan.
Clothes Closet open Monday, Friday
The Clothes Closet is open from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. the first and third
Fridays of the month and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. all other Fridays on the Tribal
campus near the Elders Activity Center at the end of Blacktail Drive.
The Clothes Closet accepts clothing, small appliances, small pieces of
furniture, electronics and household goods that are clean and in good
condition. It does not accept books, large TVs or large furniture, but
there is a community board where people can post those items. Donations
are accepted during regular business hours. For more information or
emergency clothes, contact Lori Walker-Hernandez at 559-847-7565.
Ad created by George Valdez