| Past Activities |
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MEMORIAL DAY SERVICE
(Insert Photos 1-6 attached to hard copy—on Photo 5 or 6 select 1 photo and edit head out of corner. These are all photos, not digital) Every year at 10:00 a.m. on Memorial Day Monday, people gather at Linwood Cemetery for a Memorial Day Service. The Memorial Day service is held as a special salute to those who have gone before us. Each year the service includes a guest speaker. Past speakers include: Senator Chuck Hagel, Colonel Werner Hellmer, ISMC (Ret.), Angela C. Simon, Atty. At Law, Ian M. Koontz, M.D., Mrs. Patricia Brimeyer, LTC Bob Felderman, Senator Tom Flynn, Brad McGowan, George Freund, Captain John Eddington Carr, III, MC, USN (Ret.), MSGR. Francis P. Friedl, Congressman Jim Nussle, Thomas Braden and many, many more. The growing color guard has consisted of: The U.S. Naval Reserves, The U.S. Marine Corp., HSC 389th Engineer. Combat Battalion—U.S. Army Reserve, The American Legion—Dubuque Post 6, the Tri-State Vietnam Veterans Association. A moving part of the Memorial Day Service includes the reading of the names in the Avenue of Flags. These names have been read by people such as: Brigadier General Francis J. Kelly, Colonel Bruce B. Wands, Jack Smeltzer and Barbara Smeltzer. The ceremony also includes local area bands and soloist performances. Some of the most recent past performers include: Dubuque Senior High School Band, Hempstead High School Band, Wahlert High School Band, Jefferson Junior High School Band, Washington Junior High School Band, Miss Kali Smith, Mr. Rod Smith, Tri-State Flag Team, Miss Kristin Crawford, Miss Kelly Marinko, Miss Kirstin Burgmeier, Ms. Sarah Brown, Rev. Nancy Bickel, The Dubuque Senior High School Choir, Ms. Vicki S. Carlson, Mr. D. Scott Allen, Mr. Robert Casper, and many, many more. CIVIL WAR VETERANS SERVICE (Insert Photos 7 & 8—These are photos, not digital) The American Legion, Dubuque Post 6 holds a Memorial Service in the Civil War Veterans section every year at 9:00 a.m. During some years immediately following the Memorial Day Service, visitors are welcomed to the Civil War Veteran Section where the 3rd Iowa Lt. Artillery Dubuque Battery performs a full costume Civil War Veterans Memorial Service. This service includes the placing of flowers on a fellow veterans grave from the 3rd Iowa Lt. Artillery Dubuque Battery and a Cannon Salute. OCTOBER 20, 1974 On October 20, 1974 the Linwood Cemetery had a Historical Walk through the cemetery with John M. McDonald. During this walk, the graves of several Dubuque citizens were visited including: Rider Wallis, Augusta Eighmey, Mr. Fred E. Bissell, Alexander Levi, James Beach, General Kaleb M. Booth, the Stout Family, George W. Healey and many others. SEPTEMBER 1, 1996 (Photo #9—not a digital phono) On September 1, 1996 the Linwood Cemetery Association erected the “Unknown But Not Forgotten” monument in memory of the 60 unmarked graves that had been moved from what is currently Jackson Park in 1965. In 1833 Jackson Park was selected as the site of the first city cemetery. By 1851, the city of Dubuque, aware of overcrowding at the cemetery and wanting to extend Iowa Street to 17th Street, condemned the cemetery, allowing no new graves. In 1865 the 60 graves in the city cemetery were moved to the site where this monument stands. The graves of these 60 men and women went unmarked until September 1, 1996, when the Cemetery Association erected this monument in memory of these unknown soles. AUGUST 28, 1998 – SEPTEMBER 6, 1998 (Photos #10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15—not digital photos) On August 28, 1998, the Linwood Cemetery Association became the proud sponsor and host of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial the “Moving Wall” for 10 days. The “Moving Wall” is a 253’ replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., listing the names of the 58,209 U.S. Military people who were killed in Vietnam or are still unaccounted for prisoners of war (P.O.W.’s) and missing in action (M.I.A.’s). The idea for the wall’s visit to Linwood Cemetery came from Sandra F. Smith, the cemetery’s general manager, who visited the Moving Wall in 1996 when it was in Muscatine and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. “There I saw the healing process for the people who were visiting it and thought we should offer that same opportunity here,” she said. John Devitt, one of the three Vietnam veterans from California who created the Moving Wall accompanied it to Linwood Cemetery. The wall was open 24 hours a day, for people to visit, leave small memorials, or take a rubbing of their loved ones name. All of the tributes were gathered up at the end of the visit and added to those that will become a part of a permanent collection. Regardless of the hour, area veterans who volunteered their time were on hand, standing watch over their buddies, one more time. The Opening Ceremony, held at 10:30 a.m. on August 29, 1998, welcoming the Moving Wall to Linwood Cemetery, drew about 600 people. The ceremony included a reading of the names of those from the Tri-State area who are enshrined on the Vietnam Memorial. In reply to each name, a veteran called out the military response for those missing, “Absent, Sir!” a heart-breaking reminder of those forever absent. Every evening, at dusk, David Overby, clad in his Class A Army uniform, played taps on the same bugle he carried in Southeast Asia. The Closing Ceremony, held at 12:30 on September 5, 1998 again included a reading of the names of those from the Tri-State area who are listed on the Memorial. On September 6, 1998, at 4:00 p.m. the wall closed to public, but to this day remains deeply etched in our minds and in our heats. September 7, 1998 the Abate Motorcycle Club lead the moving wall in a motorcade from the cemetery to the outskirts of town. Once out of town, the motorcycles split into two lanes, forming a pathway for the wall to travel to it’s next destination. NOVEMBER 8, 1998 (Photo #16—not a digital photo) On November 8, 1998, the members of St. Lukes United Methodist Church gathered at Linwood Cemetery and did a moving Cemetery Walk. Members of the congregation dressed up as people buried in Linwood Cemetery and gave autobiographical talks to the those who attended the walk. Some of the people depicted were: Susan Ann Dean, Mr. and Mrs. John T. Hancock, Woodbury Massey, Mr. and Mrs. Dennis Cooley, J.P. Farley, Charles H. Eighmey and many more. SEPTEMBER 25, 2004 On September 24, 2004, the Hoffman Development Center hosted a “Historic Cemetery Tour.” Dressed as people buried in Linwood Cemetery the group gave autobiographical talks to those who attended the tour. The first stop on this tour was at the grave of Nancy Hill, followed by Lucius Langworthy, Mathias Hamm, John Francis Rague and concluding at the grave of A.Y. McDonald. This tour was such a success, another tour was planed 2005. Photo #64 on LCA 2004 CD—photo of man sitting in chair at grave site—copy attached) OCTOBER 1, 2005 On October 1, 2005, the Hoffman Development Center hosted a “Historic Cemetery Tour.” Dressed as people buried in Linwood Cemetery the group gave autobiographical talks to those who attended the tour. The first stop on this tour was at the grave of Nancy Hill, followed by Richard Bissell, Theodore Ellsworth, William Boyd Allison and J. K. Graves. SEPTEMBER 9, 2006 On September 9, 2005, the Hoffman Development Center hosted it’s 3rd “Historic Walk Thru Linwood Cemetery” tour. Again dressed as people buried in Linwood Cemetery, actors gave autobiographical talks to those who attended the tour. The featured characters in 2006 were: Anna Lawther, a woman instrumental in getting women the right to vote, and the first Democrat National Committee woman from Iowa. Jesse P. Farley, a miner, grocer, woodworking manufacturer and twice mayor of Dubuque. Dennis Cooley, an attorney, Iowa State Senator, and served as President of First National Bank for 21 years, Clara Aldrich Cooley, Dennis’s wife and founder of the Dubuque Women’s Club and she blazed trails in the field of literature, the Methodist church and philanthropic circles. David B. Henderson, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and the highest-ranking governmental figure buried in Linwood Cemetery and Charles and Elizabeth Eighmey, prominent Dubuquers whom the entrance gates and the cemetery are named. |