Stroud American Legion Auxiliary (ALA) and Town Talk are planning an event on December 16th to honor our deceased veterans. We will be hosting Wreaths Across Stroud. There will be a wreath laying ceremony at the Stroud Cemetery in which the community will be asked to participate. Our goal is to place one wreath on every veteran’s grave. They will be artificial wreaths with a single red bow. We will pick them up after Christmas and store them to use for future years. If you would like to be a part of the “in memoriam” to our veterans, you may donate to the ALA. We will accept any donation amount but $20 will purchase wreaths and bows for two veterans. Checks should be made out to ALA and mailed to Cindy Mason (Treasurer) 426 South 10th Avenue Stroud, OK. Senior members of the ALA, Maxine Jordan, Aleta Smalley, Thelma Mauldin, Jo Braden and Keturah Brown and American Legion member David Carroll kicked off the fund raiser with the women each donating $100 and David Carroll matching and raising them with a $150 donation. This enabled us to purchase 65 wreaths.
Many of you have been asking when the bricks you purchased were going to be engraved. I am in constant contact with Nelson Monument, and they are working on the project. They must design a template for each brick and then we will proof it before they come to engrave. As soon as I have a definite date, I will let you know here in this column and on Facebook.
Activities over the next few days include Clothing Ministry open today Thursday September 21st from 8:00 a.m. to noon on West Highway 66, Metal Detecting Club also today, Thursday, 7:00 p.m. City Hall, Stroud High School football game Friday, September 22nd at home against Liberty with a kick-off time of 7:00 p.m., Stroud City Wide Garage Sale Friday through Sunday September 22nd – 24th, Stroud Tigers Middle School football game Monday, September 25th in Kellyville at 5:00 p.m. and Stroud Food Pantry Tuesday September 26th 9:00 a.m. – noon.
Congratulations to the Middle School Tigers football team on a solid win over Okemah Monday night and to McCammon’s 8U coach pitch baseball team on defeating Meeker also Monday night.
A friend of mine’s grandson (who was a twin) recently passed away unexpectedly at the young age of nine years. My friend has always lived in larger cities while his grandson lived in the small Oklahoma farming community of Morrison. He was overwhelmed with the outpouring of love that his family received from this “small town.” He talked about all the people who stopped by his daughter and son-inlaw’s home to offer food and emotional support and whatever else the family might need. His grandson loved big-rig trucks, fire trucks and tractors. Because of this on the day of his funeral the main street of town was lined with these vehicles with balloons tied to them flying in the breeze. Businesses had their signs and marquees lettered with the words “fly high.” My friend talked about Jason Aldean’s song “Try That in a Small Town” and said it made more sense to him now. Casey Smalley wrote a song titled “This is My Home” and one of the lines says, “this is my home, this is my town, these are my friends through the ups and downs.” Such a true statement.
As he was talking to me about this great “small town” I couldn’t help but smile inside as I thought about our hometown – Stroud. It’s a way of life we need to preserve. There is something special about being a part of a small community. Many times you hear people complain that in small towns everyone knows their business. That’s really one of the perks – they know your business and want to help. It’s another reason we need to continue to shop and dine locally and support those people who have invested in our community.
Thank you for choosing to shop and dine local………………first.