This photo was taken in 2019 at the Smithville Cemetery in New Ipswich, NH. There will be no Memorial Day ceremonies in New Ipswich in 2020 due to the Pandemic shutdown.
New Ipswich observes Memorial Day one week before the Official Federal Holiday. This is done to ensure that the town can schedule a Color Guard and Marching Band for the afternoon parade. In the Pre-pandemic years the day began with a coffee and Nissu social hour at the home of Peter and Bonny Jo Aho.
Don Poirier and Ollie Niemi are responsible for the Morning celebrations held at the Smithville Cemetery. This photo was taken in 2019 before the morning program.
2020
In normal times there would be a large group of residents in attendance at the Memorial Day observances. However this year we wore our masks and place flags on the graves of our Veterans.
No handshakes for Don and Ollie as they posed for a photo while maintaining proper social distancing.
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Ollie Niemi and I were school mates. I’ve been visiting graves and will visit a few more before Memorial Day to pay my respects. We’re living through some very sad times.
Very sad times indeed. COVID-19 is now the leading cause of death in the US. I fear it will be worse in the Fall. Thanks for your comment, stay healthy.
So good to see the graves of Veterans having flags placed beside them. What a wonderful gesture from Jill Hopkins to go above and beyond volunteering to help. As always, Ollie and Carl, are at the forefront of ensuring that our town is at the forefront of the utmost respect for the fallen veterans. A special thanks goes to John Poltrack for chronicalling and photographing the activities for the town and as time goes by these will be great memories.
I missed the coffee and Nissu. Thanks for leading the parade all these years. Hopefully in 2021 we’ll be back better than ever.