Memorial Day Commemorated in Tiskilwa with Flags, Online Ceremony

At the gravesites of veterans, bright American flags wave in the breezes on the hills surrounding Tiskilwa. Last week, volunteers placed flags at Mount Bloom Cemetery, St. Mary’s Cemetery south of the village, and Old St. Mary’s Cemetery, two miles west of town.

On Monday, May 25, a traditional Memorial Day Ceremony will be available online, hosted by Navy veteran, Jennifer Fisher and family of Tiskilwa. The program will be recorded near the two war memorial monuments in Tiskilwa’s East Park. On Sunday evening, the link for the YouTube video will be posted on Tiskilwa Historical Society’s Facebook page as well FB’s “Remember Tiskilwa,” and at the website tiskilwahistoricalsociety.org. The society is hoping for another large crowd, this time virtual, will view the ceremony from home.

Volunteers made sure that local cemeteries would be decorated for Memorial Day to honor all veterans buried there. At Mount Bloom Cemetery, Jerry and Mary Zabransky installed flags at more than 300 gravesites, some dating back to those of Civil War veterans.

Two miles west of town at Old St. Mary’s Cemetery (established 1864), Reece Bohms and Cecille Gerber spruced up the area around the cemetery sign with new plantings and then placed several flags.

At St. Mary’s Cemetery south of Tiskilwa, Sarah and Ian Fritz carried on the family tradition of their dad and grandpa, Donnie Sims, by placing flags at veterans’ markers.