Conroe Courier October 28, 2023

Five Montgomery County cemeteries again be part of the nationwide effort to honor veterans laid to rest in local cemeteries on the National Wreaths Across America Day in December.

Preparations are taking place now to make sure volunteers are able to place wreaths on as many graves as possible in Montgomery County on Dec. 16. 

The deadline to sponsor a wreath is Nov. 28. 

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Community members can sponsor a wreath in memory of a loved one or a veteran. Wreaths are $17 each, 2 for $34, 5 wreaths for $85, 10 for $170, or select a customized number of wreaths. 

Sponsorships may be made at the national Wreaths of America website. 

Wreaths Across America is a nonprofit organization founded to continue and expand the annual wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery begun by Maine businessman Morrill Worcester in 1992.

The organization’s yearlong mission to “Remember, Honor, and Teach,” is carried out in part each year by coordinating wreath-laying ceremonies in December at Arlington, as well as at more than 3,700 veterans’ cemeteries and other locations in all 50 states and overseas. 

Ceremonies this year will take place at 11 a.m. Dec. 16 where volunteer groups will place the wreaths on veteran graves in the cemetery. 

The five Montgomery County participating cemeteries are Oakwood Cemetery on 10th Street in Conroe. This cemetery has 116 wreaths currently sponsored with 137 more needed to make the goal. 

Klein Funeral Homes & Memorial Parks serving Magnolia and The Woodlands has 32 wreaths sponsored with 93 to make the goal. 

The Montgomery New Cemetery has exceeded its goal with 211 wreath sponsorships and the Montgomery Memorial Cemetery has five wreaths sponsored and needs 62 additional wreaths sponsored. 

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Forest Park The Woodlands Funeral Home & Cemetery is participating in the project for the first time this year. 

The nonprofit Spring Creek Area Blue Star Mothers is coordinating the effort to get wreaths sponsored as a fundraiser to further their mission of serving veterans locally and overseas.

The are supporting the project at Forest Park and Oakwood Cemetery. The organization is made of mothers, stepmothers, grandmothers and female legal guardians, who have children serving in the military, guard, or reserves, or children of veterans. 

Melissa Wright, location manager at Forest Park, said several families have inquired about the project and bringing it to Forest Park. 

They are hoping to have 150 wreaths sponsored. They currently have 28 wreaths covered. 

“Most people recognize this as what the Arlington National Cemetery does with the pretty pictures of the greens wreaths on the graves. That’s the main ceremony and it has caught on at cemeteries across the country. Even if a veteran is not laid to rest at a national cemetery, they are still remembered around the holidays,” she said. 

This project is very personal to Spring Creek Area Blue Star Mother Margie Taylor as her son is laid to rest at Forest Park. Joey Lenz, 32, from Willis, died in his sleep on Feb. 1, 2022 in the barracks at Fort Hood, now named Fort Cavazos. He was in active U.S. Army service. 

“It is my obligation to carry out the mission my son was unable to fulfill to serve our country, support our active military, veterans, and their families,” she said. “It is my mission and personal goal to get each of the 150 veterans laid to rest at Forest Park represented by a sponsored wreath.”

See the Spring Creek Area Blue Star Mothers link to support the project.Â