Marion Gunderson Art (and the Farmer's Daughter)

UPDATE 1/31/2013: Scroll down a little to see a video taken at Clinton-Garfield Cemetery in Rolfe on Memorial Day, 2010. If at first the video seems jerky, walk away while it plays through the first time. Then, without exiting your browser, play the video again. It should play flawlessly the second time, if not the first.

I’m not in my hometown of Rolfe, Iowa, today for Rolfe’s Memorial Day services; this 2-minute video from Rolfe’s 2010 Memorial Day service* is my substitute. While the video is not of good quality, all of it helps me “be there” today. Even the sounds (from the adjacent land) of the cow(s) mooing makes me nostalgic regarding rural heritage combined with honoring those who have passed.

At the beginning of the video, the camera is pointed west. The location is Clinton-Garfield Cemetery.

From my elementary through high school years, I remember several Memorial Day services in Rolfe. My dad had a perforated eardrum and therefore was not allowed to serve in the military. So, I didn’t have a familial connection to the military, which probably added to my sometimes dragging my heels prior to attending services. But, I’m so glad my parents instilled in me the importance of attending the services. Doing so made me now have a greater appreciation for those who gave their lives for my freedoms, as well as those deceased who were not a part of the military but who, in other ways, contributed positively to the world in which we live today.

If you are a young parent, when possible I hope you’ll attend with your child(ren) a Memorial Day service. Help your child(ren) hear and understand “In Flanders Field” and the “Gettysburg Address.” Listen to “Taps” (also played in this post’s video).

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*Rolfe’s services take place in Clinton Garfield Cemetery. Information about Rolfe’s cemeteries, including who is buried where, is here.

Photos from the 2010 service are here.

(Click here to go to Louise Gunderson Shimon’s blog’s home page.)

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