A husband-and-wife truck-driving team from the Pilot Corp. pulled into Crab Orchard Wednesday morning for a patriotic pit stop to deliver wreaths at the Crab Orchard City Hall.
There, Kenny and Jeanette Dunnivant, the driving team, were enthusiastically greeted by members of The Crab-Orchard Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution, Crab Orchard officials and city employees. They were anxiously awaiting the delivery for Cumberland County’s only Wreaths Across America ceremony.
This is the second year Crab Orchard will host the wreath-laying ceremony at Haley’s Grove Cemetery. The event will be Saturday, Dec. 13 at noon. The ceremony will be held regardless of weather conditions.
“We’re very honored to do this,” Kenny Dunnivant said.
Dunnivant is a veteran of both the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army.
“It’s our first time delivering these wreaths,” he said.
Saturday’s ceremony will be a solemn affair during which wreaths will be placed on the headstones of roughly 200 fallen service members.
The ceremony is coordinated by The Crab-Orchard Chapter and led by the city of Crab Orchard. Individuals and sponsorship groups have raised funds throughout the year to sponsor the wreaths to be placed at Haley’s Grove Cemetery.
Dunnivant said the couple were hauling approximately 8,200 wreaths in a 53-foot trailer. Cumberland County got 234 wreaths.
“We’re very excited to be doing this again this year,” said Diana Benoit, first vice regent of The Crab-Orchard Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution.
Benoit said the group raised enough funds to get 300 wreaths and donated 20 to a cemetery in Sparta and 60 to a cemetery in Jamestown so they could meet their numbers to qualify.
The ceremony in Crab Orchard will be at noon Saturday at the entrance of Haley’s Gove Cemetery off Hwy. 70 East west of Cox Valley Rd.
The historic cemetery in Crab Orchard is one of 5,200 cemeteries in which various groups and individuals sponsor Christmas wreaths to honor those who served across the country for National Wreaths Across America Day.
The annual event seeks to further the Wreaths Across America’s yearlong mission to remember the fallen, honor those who serve and teach the next generation the value of freedom.
Wreaths Across America is a nonprofit organization founded to continue and expand the annual wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.
Remember, honor and teach — ensuring that the memory of those who served endures is also the mission of Wreaths Across America.
It is carried out each year by coordinating wreath-laying ceremonies in December at thousands of veterans’ cemeteries and other locations in all 50 states and beyond.
The wreaths were in large boxes and were unloaded off the trailer by the Dunnivants, city of Crab Orchard employees and Mayor Emmett Sherrill.
“We’re glad to be a part of this again. It’s really special,” Sherrill said.
Saturday’s ceremony is open to the public. There will be veterans’ organizations, family members, church members, sponsored groups, school children and others who will participate.
The public is encouraged to attend and take part.