Recognizing the 75th Anniversary of the Mt. Vernon Memorial Gardens Cemetery

Floor Speech

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Mr. BOST. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 75th anniversary of the Mt. Vernon Memorial Gardens Cemetery.

The cemetery was acquired by Gene and Betty Wells in 1952. In 1967, their daughter and son-in-law, Cathy and Eugene Stanford, acquired and placed 25 flags to honor our heroes in uniform laid to rest in the cemetery. Over the years, they also began placing homemade crosses bearing the names of each veteran interred there. Earlier this year, the Stanfords and their staff set up an avenue of 419 flags and 1,200 crosses to represent every veteran laid to rest at Memorial Gardens Cemetery.

In 2019, a local citizen encouraged Memorial Gardens to participate in the Wreaths Across America program. Since then, the Mt. Vernon community comes out to the cemetery every year to place small flags at the marker of each veteran ahead of Veterans' Day. When the wreaths arrive in December, the community uses those flags to easily identify which graves bear the heroes from the Mt. Vernon area who served our nation.

I also want to recognize the Stanfords' daughter, Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Stanford, who answered the call to serve on September 11, 2001. Twenty-one years later, she continues to patriotically serve our nation in the U.S. Army Reserves.

Madam Speaker, please join me in recognizing the Stanfords' efforts to keep the memory of generations of servicemembers alive and for the important role they've played in providing a place of comfort for grieving Southern Illinois families.

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