Memorial Day commemoration in Tumwater

Mills & Mills provides lasting memories for families

By Sonia Garza on May 24, 2018

Mills & Mills Funeral Home and Memorial Park in Tumwater will host its 37th Annual Memorial Day Commemoration Monday, May 28, at 2 p.m. This event will be held in conjunction with American Legion Post 100. A few days prior to the event, Mills & Mills will have placed flags in the cemetery and on the veterans' graves.

The event will kick off with a prelude from the Capital Area Concert Band, which will serenade attendees with an Armed Forces collection and the "Star-Spangled Banner." Reverend Michael Wenzel from Trinity Lutheran Church will then give the invocation, and American Legion Post 100 will be onsite for a cannon salute with Boy Scout Troop 250 posting the colors. Military honors will include a rifle salute from the VFW Ira Carter Post 318 and "Taps," performed by Sam Reed and Wayne Appler of the Capital Area Concert Band, will conclude the ceremony.

Col. Christopher W. Wendland, I Corps Deputy G3/5/7, will speak. Wendland has been in the Army since 1994 and has an extensive military career, including overseas deployments.

The 320 large flags that fly proudly over Mills & Mills Memorial Park are donated by families who have lost a veteran. The park gladly accepts donated flags to replace those that have been retired due to deterioration and will honor them with dignity by displaying them every Memorial Day.

Mills & Mills Funeral Home and Memorial Park opened in 1901 and serves the community with a full array of funeral and memorial services. For more than a century, it has upheld a tradition of providing personal and compassionate funeral care to Olympia-area families.

The park is a peaceful final resting place for the people of Tumwater and the surrounding area. It was designed to be a serene and calming location that features the natural beauty of Washington state. Working together, the funeral home and cemetery handle everything from funerals and memorial services to burials and memorial markers.

All are welcome to attend Monday's Memorial Day event. A few hundred people are expected, said Kim Morley, general manager of Mills & Mills. Those who attend are welcome to join a barbecue from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., prior to the commemoration events.

For more information about Mills & Mills Funeral Home and Memorial Park, contact Carla Jester at 360.357.7743.

The 37th Annual Memorial Day Commemoration, 2 p.m. Monday, May 28, Mills & Mills Funeral Home and Memorial Park, 5725 Littlerock Rd. SW, Tumwater, 360.357.7743