A Town In Vermont Remembers Veterans, A Cemetery And My Dad

The Whipple Hollow Cemetery in West Rutland, Vermont
looking immaculate thanks to the hard work of many
town residents. Thanks to Ken and Jean Heleba for photo.  

Years ago, my dad, Red Sutkoski, restored an old cemetery in a remote corner of his hometown of West Rutland, Vermont.

He loved his projects, and the outdoors, so he spent a lot of time at the cemetery, clearing TONS of brush, trying to prop up old gravestones, planting flowers and erecting a flag pole at the Whipple Hollow Cemetery.

It was a huge project. People stepped forward to help him by excavating rocks and debris, donating flowers, and doing whatever it took to make the cemetery whole again.

Red's project - and the town's great help with it - caused quite a little stir, garnering publicity from the Associated Press and the Boston Globe, among others.  Dad had a great sense of history, and remembering the dead was important to him.

He thought that we all build on the shoulders of the people who came before him and us, so we need to honor everyone who came before us, and remember the contributions they made. ,

Now dad has passed on, having slipped away at the age of 95 back in January.

A couple months after dad died, I stopped by the Whipple Hollow Cemetery. People had been trying to take care of it the best they could. Somebody had been mowing the grass. Some weeds had been pulled here and there.

But Red in his later years couldn't handle the big jobs. The woods was beginning to encroach again into the grave sites, wild grapevine was attacking everything at the cemetery and tall weeds rattled against the gravestones in the cold March wind.

The Whipple Hollow Cemetery was beginning to look sad again.

My dad, Red Sutkoski, at the West Rutland
World War II Memorial unveiling last August 

April 24, which would have been my dad's 96th birthday, was a sunny, pleasantly cool day. Me, my siblings, our husbands and partners and nephews, I think there were eight of us, went to the Whipple Hollow Cemetery to do a needed cleanup.

We got a lot done. We removed piles of broken branches and grapevine and stuffed it into the woods, hiding the mess. We raked away tons of leaves and weeds. We didn't get the whole cemetery done, but it definitely looked better.

And Red was smiling down on us. Because the cemetery he'd worked on brought the family together that day.

We laughed and enjoyed ourselves as we worked and visited and joked with each other as we cleaned up the cemetery on that bright April afternoon.

It's exactly what Red would have wanted on his birthday.

Come to find out the whole town of West Rutland, it seems, is also thinking about the Whipple Hollow Cemetery.

Forgive me, here, because I don't know the names of most of the people who have been helping, but I do know the town has the cemetery's back. And the backs of all those who came before them.

I know Stanley Dziubek has been up there at Whipple Hollow, clearing a LOT of brush and grapevine that we missed earlier, and doing a ton of other work. My sister Laurie tells me a nice woman in West Rutland who has donated flowers to dad for the Whipple Hollow Cemetery in the past, has done so again.

People raised a flag on the cemetery flag poll, and planted American flags at gravesites.

Today is Memorial Day, when we remember the veterans who served our country and thank them for their incredible service (Red was a veteran, too!)

People from West Rutland have been called "Stone peggers," a legacy of marble quarry labor riots back in the 1930s.

Metaphorically, West Rutlanders have been embracing the grave stones at Whipple Hollow Cemetery.  They remember the importance of the past, and the people who lived in those days.

Like my dad, Westsiders know they've built their lives on the shoulders who came before them, like those buried back in the 19th century in this cemetery.

They're remembering the veterans who served. They're remember my dad, which is an honor for the Sutkoski family. They're remembering the people who built West Rutland, They're honoring the way people in this rugged little town help each other out, and honor memories.

Want more proof? Just check out the amazing World War II memorial in front of the West Rutland Town Hall. That was another major community-wide undertaking that drew in the whole town.

The unveiling of that memorial last August was one of the final  public events my father went to, and as a World War II veteran, he told me how humbled and proud he was of the way West Rutland remembered its veterans.

I guess you could call the warmth and giving and remembrance as seen at the Whipple Hollow Cemetery a new form of being a "stone pegger."

I'm proud to be a West Rutland Stonepegger.

Gorgeous People Acting Gorgeously

Hottie Thomas Schwendeman deploys for
the Korean War in 1950 

The stereotype is that often, beautiful gorgeous people can be divas and self-centered.

But, not always as the two stories in this blog post thingy prove. I'm a sucker for nice people anyway, because it's a break from all the not-so-nice people in the news.

Recently, a guy named Derek Schwendeman posted a photo of his grandfather, Thomas, which was taken as grandpa deployed into the Korean War in 1950.

As you can see by the photo, republished in this post, Thomas Schwendeman was quite the hottie.  The photo went totally viral.

He probably dabbled in the war briefly, just to prove how manly he was, then became a male model, with a different lady every night, right.

Totally wrong, of course. The good news is a woman named Fleecie snagged him first and Thomas has been devoted to her ever since. Sorry ladies, Thomas is Fleecie's guy, ever since they married in 1951, according to People magazine.

They're still happily together, by the way,

Instead of living a life as a dashing international man of mystery, Thomas Schwendeman worked for Bell Telephone for decades, retired, worked as a school bus driver, and now, at age 86, dotes on his three children and six grandchildren. A great-grandchild is due any minute now.

Mikal Bartosic, a popular high school
cheerleader, with her soon-to-be prom
date Jonathan in Florida.  

Fleecie says she's gotten a kick out of the viral photo - what she calls the "funny notoriety - but Thomas told her that she was the one, and if he had to do it all over again, wouldn't marry another woman, People reports.

The couple are still active, and still often go out bowling. That's how the two met. In a bowling alley.

I wish them many more happy years together.

Our next gorgeous person is Mikal Bartosic, currently a popular pretty blonde cheerleader at Park Vista High School in Florida.

It's getting to be prom time, so as you can imagine, a lot of guys there would love to take her to the prom. You know the stereotype: She'd end up going with the football quarterback, or the school track star, or the resident stud muffin.

Nope, Mikal had other ideas and she figured she'd do the asking, reports the Palm Beach Post.

She has a classmate named Jonathan who is on the autism spectrum. He didn't think he was going to the prom, that's for sure. Until Mikal presented him with a cake that signaled that Mikal wanted to go to the prom with Jonathan.

He said yes, very enthusiastically, as you can see in the very sweet video below. I LOVE the joy in the room when she asks him out.

I hope the pair have a great time on the big night!

A Vermont "Sentimental Journey" Honors World War II Vets, LIke My Dad

My dad, Henry "Red" Sutkoski, 95, catches up with
friends during a World War II Memorial unveiling
in his home town of West Rutland, Vermont Saturday.  

My father, Henry "Red" Sutkoski, now 95, says he remembers when World War II ended, the troop ship carrying him and fellow soldiers returned home and prepared to dock in Boston Harbor.

A tug boat pulled up along side the troop ship dad was on. Suddenly, a band on the tug boat started playing "Sentimental Journey" to welcome the returning soldiers.

To this day, "Sentimental Journey" is just about dad's favorite song.

Fast forward 70 years later and there we were, in West Rutland, Vermont Saturday, where dad has lived most of his life, taking another sentimental journey, this one returning back to World War II.

Saturday was the 70th anniversary of World War II's end, and also the day West Rutland unveiled a memorial to all the people from West Rutland who'd served in World War II.

There was a lot of 'em, considering the town only had about 3,000 residents at the time. About 600 West Rutland residents served in World War II, or about 20 percent of the town's population.

Few World War II veterans survive to this day, of course. My dad was an honored guest at the memorial unveiling, along with a few other surviving West Rutland veterans like Joe Czachor, Leo DiGangi, Charlie Katomski and Stanley Wos.

The story of how West Rutland's new World War II memorial came to be is its own sentimental journey, one graced with an overwhelming need to honor the town's World War II heroes.

On Facebook, people began to wonder what happened to an old memorial that had to be taken down years ago because it had deteriorated.

A nice crowd gathers in front of the West Rutland, Vermont
Town Hall Saturday for the unveiling of a
World War II memorial.  

The town's historical society had a World War II discussion one night and somebody came up with the idea for a new memorial.  The idea took hold, big time.

Lots of research, lots of community fundraising and lots of planning over several years led to this new World War II memorial that was unveiled Saturday.

The memorial, listing all 609 men and women from West Rutland who served in the war, is in a place of honor at the most prominent place in West Rutland, right in front of the community's handsome Town Hall.

On Saturday, the guest speaker was retired Senior Master Air Force Sergeant Rick Aldridge. He's too young to have served in World War II, but the West Rutland native who served a long, proud career in the military announced at the beginning of his talk that he would take the audience on a sentimental journey back to those war years.

I don't know if Aldridge's announcement that his talk would be a sentimental journey was a nod to my dad or not,  but Aldridge told the story of the quarry workers, farmers, merchants and others from West Rutland who answered the call of duty to fight in the war, because that's just what had to be done.

Aldridge described how everyone else left behind in West Rutland during the war coped with strict rationing, the worry over what the Axis dictators would do if they were not defeated, and fear for the fate of their loved ones literally battling to save democracy.

After the war, the returning West Rutland veterans picked up their lives. Some stayed put in the quarrying community, others set off to start educations, careers, families elsewhere in the nation.

Aldridge remarked how the people of the World War II era are always referred to as the "Greatest Generation."

He's right, of course. If I had to judge a "Greatest Generation" by the way my father has lived his life, he truly lived the life of someone who deserves that title.

Through the decades, through his successes, his mistakes, his fortitude, cheerful stubborness and especially his sense of humor, dad has always been a model of how to live a life with dignity and grace.

So many people from the "Greatest Generation" are like dad, too. In this era of screaming, bickering TV pundits, a "gimme gimme" culture, opportunistic politicians, corrupt business people, routine dishonesty and other ills of today's society, we'd all do well to take careful notes on how the "Greatest Generation" lived their lives during and after the war.

My generation, the ones after that, and the ones who aren't even born yet should just take a sentimental journey and look back at what the World War II generation did.

They say the Greatest Generation made America great. That's true. They also say America isn't as great as it once was. Maybe that's true, too.

All the more reason why we should really embrace the ethos of the World War II veterans. Like the ones gathered in West Rutland on Saturday. Like my dad.

The World War II memorial unveiling in West Rutland Saturday sent me on my own sentimental journey, reflecting on the lessons my dad taught me. The example if his life, teaches me, teaches everyone, how to live honorable.

I don't measure up to my dad's level, of course, but at least he's a guide that puts me on the right path and keeps me from veering off course into too much laziness, meanness, or selfishness.

Maybe if we all follow the steadiness and honor of World War II veterans, this country might yet have another "Greatest Generation"

That would be the ultimate way to thank all the World War II heroes, like my dad.

Also, dad? Here's that song you like. Thank you. For everything.

On Veteran's Day, WWII Hero Gets A Proper Sendoff

You've probably never heard of Harold Percival, who served in the RAF bomber command for Britain in World War II.

Harold Percival, and his obit seeking people
to attend his funeral.  

Percival died last month in Britain at the age of 99.  He was pretty much alone, and there are really no surviving family members to see him off.

His obituary had a lot of hearts skipping a beat, with this line: "Any service personnel who can attend his funeral service will be appreciated."

There are few things worse than the passing of a veteran remaining unnoticed, unmarked and ignored.

So a man named Sgt. Rick Clement did what many people do in situations like this. He took to social media and asked for help.

According to the Blackpool Gazette in Britain, Clement, who lost both legs serving in Afghanistan wrote this on his Facebook wall:

"I need a big favour from ay military or ex-serving members. This fallen soldier at 99-years old is having a funeral on Monday and he has no family to attend. If you're in the area give him the send off he deserves. This guy needs and deserves your help."

A big crowd in Britain braves the rain
to bid an Armistice Day farewell to
RAF World War II veteran Harold Percival,
who died recently at age 99. dd caption

Yes, he does.

Of course, adding to the poignancy of the situation is, it's Armistice (or Veterans) Day, when we give thanks to people who made the world safe for us.

Social media being what it is, or what it can be, would people respond?

I'm happy to report that yes, they did turn out in droves.  In a video that makes me and my eyes think it got awfully dusty in here all of a sudden, hundreds of people ignored a cold rain and turned up at Percival's memorial service.

I think what's really going on here is a lot of people want to thank all veterans for their service to us all. Percival is an honorable, cherished veteran who can help us do just that.

Thank you, veterans.

Here's what the scene looked like at Percival's funeral today: