A12 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1, 2016
FROM PAGE A1
FLAGS:
continued from Page A1
STAFF PHOTO BY JADE McDOWELL
The grave of Clemit C. Brock is marked with lowers and a lag on Memorial Day at the
Hermiston Cemetery. Brock’s casket lag is one of the last known 48-star lags displayed
on the Avenue of Flags at the cemetery.
STAFF PHOTO BY JADE McDOWELL
Ken May displays the 48-star lag he found on the Avenue
of Flags at the Hermiston Cemetery on Monday.
STAFF PHOTO BY JADE McDOWELL
Kelly Jackson, left, with her mother Grayson Jackson sits with a bouquet of lowers to put on her great-grandfather’s grave at the Memorial Day
ceremony at the Hermiston Cemetery.
STAFF PHOTO BY
JADE McDOWELL
STAFF PHOTO BY
JADE McDOWELL
A lag is folded
while members
of VFW Post
4750 and
American Legion
Post 37 stand at
attention during
a ceremony at
the Hermiston
Cemetery on
Memorial Day.
Duane Storms,
right, of VFW
Post 4750 reads
off the names
of the veterans
who died in the
past year during
a Memorial Day
ceremony at
the Hermiston
Cemetery.
PROM:
continued from Page A1
STAFF PHOTO BY TAMMY MALGESINI
Armando Mendoza dances with Ruth Hawes during the
Senior Citizen Prom Saturday at Brookdale Hermiston.
STEP (Student Tech Expanded Programs)
would like to thank the regional community for the support
and out-of-this-world participation which contributed to the
extraordinary success of IMESD’s STEP Tech Expo. Continued
support is appreciated as we plan for additional programs!
with Hermiston Kiwanis,
organized the event as a
way to reach out and give
back to the community.
All the smiling faces,
Zepeda said, made the ef-
fort worth it. About two
dozen students helped with
organizing the prom, which
included dancing, bingo,
pictures, refreshments and
visiting with those in atten-
dance.
Vanessa Ambriz, a HHS
junior and Key Club vice
president, said it was a
great way to bring the two
generations together. Ruby
Halvorson, 89, agreed.
“It makes your heart
just beat happily,” she said.
“I’ve enjoyed everything
— the laughing, the danc-
ing and everybody is so
friendly.”
Lori Scheel, Brookdale
Terrace executive director,
said she appreciated the ef-
forts of the high school stu-
dents. The event, she said,
provided an opportunity for
the residents to socialize
with the younger genera-
tion while spurring memo-
ries from their youth.
With her face beaming,
Halvorson shared about
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Graduation
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HWY 395, HERMISTON
with local ties who have fought to
defend their country. May makes it
a tradition to visit the cemetery ev-
ery Memorial Day to ind the lags
of his father and grandmother, who
both served in the Army.
He said he often chats with other
people also looking for the lags of
their family members, which isn’t
always easy in a large cemetery
where the Avenue of Flags is never
set up the same way twice.
“That lag next year might be all
the way in the back corner,” he said,
pointing to his grandmother’s lag.
Duane Storms, who led Mon-
day morning’s memorial ceremony
at the cemetery on behalf of VFW
Post 4750, said when volunteers
gathered at 5 p.m. to put away the
lags he would retire the 48-star
lag. It will be folded properly and
placed in a shadow box, where it
will be displayed in the VFW post
along with the four other 48-star
lags already retired from the Ave-
nue of Flags.
Later in the day a search of the
cemetery before the lags were tak-
en down by volunteers resulted in
four more 48-star lags being lo-
cated. Storms said all of them will
be placed in shadow boxes and dis-
played.
The lags displayed at the Av-
enue of Flags are casket lags do-
nated by veterans’ families. Names
of the deceased the lag honors are
stenciled on the side of the lag.
Flags from the display are peri-
odically retired, Storms said, “be-
cause they’re so weathered, and
they can’t be replaced.”
He said there are about 75 oth-
er lags that are starting to get too
weathered to continue to display.
The VFW plans to publish a list
of the names on those lags in the
newspaper this year to try and re-
turn them to family members who
wish to get them back.
The star-spangled banner had 48
stars from 1912, when New Mex-
ico and Arizona were added to the
union, until 1959, when Alaska and
Hawaii became states.
The 48-star lag that May dis-
covered Monday had “Clemit
Brock, Navy Air Wing” stenciled
on the side. In a nearby section
of the cemetery a headstone read
“Clemit C. Brock 1924-1950.”
Many of the visitors to the
Hermiston Cemetery Monday
morning were there for the annual
Memorial Day Ceremony hosted
by Veterans of Foreign Wars Post
4750 and American Legion Post
37. During the ceremony Storms
offered a prayer before reading the
names of all of the local veterans
who died in the past year. Veter-
ans, families and individuals stood
quietly at attention while a bugler
played “Taps” to bring the short
ceremony to a close.
Storms said he was grateful for the
volunteers who stepped up each year
to set up and take down the lags.
“We need all the help we can get
because our youngest guy is 63,” he
said.
attending her high school
prom and graduation in
Haines. However, she said
the celebrations back then
weren’t as elaborate.
“They didn’t throw a big
party like they do now,”
Halvorson said.
GeorgeAnne
Smith,
66, said the Senior Citizen
Prom facilitated additional
interactions with her fellow
residents that didn’t cen-
ter around mealtime. Also,
she said it was fun to get
dressed up.
Johnson
and
Del-
la Burch, 71, were both
crowned prom queens.
Thrilled with the honor,
Burch said she couldn’t
wait to call her grand-
daughter and tell her
about it. Johnson took ad-
vantage of the honor by
calling Mendoza over for
one final photo opportu-
nity.
“The looks on their faces
says it all,” said Alex Que-
sada, out-going Key Club
president.
STUDENT
OF THE
WEEK
Juana Martinez
Boardman Riverside High School
Juana Martinez is an outstanding student leader who has taken
great pride in being the first in her family to graduate from high
school and go on to college. She is the daughter of Martin
Martinez and Maria Vazquez and has two younger siblings
following in her footsteps. Over her four years at Riverside Juana
has maintained a 4.0 GPA, earning her the title of Valedictorian.
Juana has also earned 57 college credits towards her AAOT
degree through BMCC. In her spare time Juana enjoys spending
time with friends and family and participating in various clubs
and community service activities. In the fall Juana plans to attend
BMCC before transferring to the Oregon Institute of Technology
to earn a degree in nursing.
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