Decoration Day at the Tillsonburg Cemetery
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Betty Mercer drops in to visit the Tillsonburg Cemetery ‘off and on.’
But she always makes a point of visiting on Decoration Day, which was held last Sunday afternoon in a freshly cut, trimmed and decorated cemetery.
“Been coming here quite a few years,” said Mercer, from Hemlock, east of Port Burwell.
Her husband Harry, who died at the age of 80, was interred in the cemetery in 2002.
“For remembrance,” she said.
Attended by about 40 members of the community, clergy and service clubs, and Tillsonburg Royal Canadian Legion Branch 153, Decoration Day goes back a lot of years in Tillsonburg, said Branch 153 president Dianne Hodges.
“At least 25 years or more,” said Hodges, who joined the local Legion in 2001. “Probably more.”
“Quite a few years,” nodded town parks and rec worker Sharlene Nevill, who started at the 133-year-old cemetery in 1991.
“We celebrate our loved ones and our comrades,” said Hodges. “It’s a time we can come and remember people. We have a big veterans section here – I think about 325 veterans in this cemetery, and every veteran gets a Canadian flag.”
“I think it’s mostly for remembrance,” said Judy Peppler, Mercer’s daughter. “I think it reminds people that the cemetery is here... Some of these names are pretty old Tillsonburg names.”
“To honour the people who have gone before,” nodded Mercer.
Bright and colorful decorations, said Peppler, seem to give the cemetery an extra touch of beauty.
“It’s less tragic, maybe,” she suggested. “It doesn’t have to be sad to be here.”
“At my age, I think it’s a privilege,” smiled Mercer, who still lives on the farm that her “great, great, great-grandfather” settled on North Road.
“I’ve got lots of family and friends here… my mom and dad, my great aunt and great uncle, my husband, and my brother-in-law. And I think Uncle Harvey and Aunt Maude are here too,” she added.
“I think so,” said Peppler. “It’s nice, there’s lots of trees.”
“It is a pretty place,” Mercer nodded.