NEWPORT – The historic Eureka Cemetery & Mausoleum will be honored by the U.S. Air Force 142nd Wing with a military flyover during its Memorial Day observance on Monday.
The community is invited to join in the observance at 11 a.m. at the cemetery, 1101 NE Yaquina Heights Road, Newport. As is tradition, the cemetery will be decorated with thousands of flags, placed on the graves by volunteers to honor the veterans who rest there.
The celebration will begin with prayers offered by Rev. John Smithies of Atonement Lutheran Church and posting of the Colors by the U.S. Coast Guard. The event will include additional short speeches, poetry and student Dylan Gibson sounding TAPS on trumpet.
Eureka Cemetery is the oldest in Lincoln County and is known as a Pioneer Cemetery. The initial 22 acres, once rich farmland, were donated in 1879 “to the public of Yaquina Bay for use as a cemetery.”
The cemetery sponsors an “Adopt a Grave” program for veterans buried there who may have no family in the area to maintain their marker or headstone. People can contribute $75 toward one year’s resurfacing or repair of a marker in need of maintenance. A donor may select a specific grave to serve or contact the cemetery office for help in determining a recipient.
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