(Editor's note: the following is an essay provided by North Penn School Board Director Jonathan Kassa.)
A community is only as strong as its willingness and ability
to remember. Thankfully, each Memorial Day at the corner of Penn Street and
Church Road, North Penn High School’s Key Club carries forward a solemn
tradition. We couldn’t come together last year at the Penndale Memorial Garden,
but we can once again attend and rededicate ourselves to honoring the 18
students of our community who made the ultimate sacrifice for country,
community and family.
As we prepare for the celebratory graduation of the class of 2021, we should reflect on the class of 1961 that was just as hopeful and full of promise 60 years ago. That class lost one of their own members in Vietnam, which led to a single tree being planted by North Penn students to honor a life cut short during an era of tumultuous change. Over the years, an orchard of 14 crabapple trees would mark the toll of a protracted war in a foreign land — sons that never returned to walk across the same school ground that now hosts a permanent reminder of their valor.
To upgrade and sustain the memorial, our community invested countless contributions from community members, businesses and the school district. Through the generosity of Kiwanis Club of Lansdale and the leadership of the Key Club, a monument was dedicated in 1994. In 2010, another monument was dedicated for graduates lost after Vietnam. Four names have since been added, representing sacrifices in Beirut, Lebanon; Kuwait and Bahrain.
This past weekend, fresh flowers were planted by Key Club Advisor Linda Hallman-Law (NPHS ’71). She is in a small group of dedicated club advisors who have carried the torch across generations, leading hundreds of North Penn students over the decades that have made an annual event possible. Final touches are being made to prepare the garden for Memorial Day, including new lights and refurbished benches. Last year, the district hired an arborist to maintain our hallowed grove and a new sapling was planted recently to replace one of the original trees.
The ceremony culminates with each name being read while a family member or representative places a flower at the base of the monument. I’m forever influenced by the family and friends of their loved ones — and especially the fellow vets who survived to share the memories and dreams of the fallen. Their numbers are dwindling as time marches forward, and it is the duty of the North Penn community to never forget. We honor them in thoughts and prayers but also through action, unity and the shared values that demonstrate the best of what our community represents.
Remembering is much more than the act of not forgetting, it is the pursuit of forever honoring those who embodied and defended the very essence of what defines our community. Please learn the names and stories of these cherished North Penn students so we can share their legacies with future generations.
The North Penn High School Key Club ceremony will take place at 11:15 a.m. on Memorial Day. Parking is available at Penndale Middle School.
Remember their names:
See also:
Towamencin DAR Holds Memorial Day Ceremony
Penndale Memorial Garden Revitalized for Memorial Day Weekend
Photos: Lansdale Memorial Day Parade
Private Ceremonies Overlap At Memorial Park On Memorial Day: Photos
Towamencin Chapter DAR Scrubs Tombstones Clean At Wentz's UCC
