Post 11 to hold Veterans Day programs in Lovell, Cowley

A patriotic community will honor those who have served our country in the armed forces with a series of Veterans Day programs Tuesday in Lovell and Cowley, followed by a veterans breakfast on Saturday.

Programs are being held for Veterans Day in both School District No. 1 and School District No. 2.

The program for Lovell schools at the LHS Johnny Winterholler Gym will begin at 8:45 a.m. Tuesday with the combined middle school and high school band playing a prelude.

After welcoming remarks by Supt. William Hiser, members of Post 11 will post the colors, and the audience will be asked to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. The choir will lead in the singing of the National Anthem.

The program will include student narrators Kylie Nicholls, Callie Henderson, Damion Craw, Rick Jensen, Rylee Mayes, Piper Marchant, Jaylee Davila, Gabbie McIntosh, Ella Spanier, Mallory Sanders, Quinn Hitz, Jamen Crosby, Clara Sanders, Ashlynn Hitz and Madelyn Craw, plus principals Craig Lundberg, Lydia McCracken and Chris Jensen interspersed by numbers performed by the high school and middle school bands, Lovell Elementary School students and combined middle and high school choirs.

As the combined choirs sing “A Tribute to the Armed Forces,” veterans in attendance will be asked to stand when choir members sing the hymn for their branch of the military. Students Thayne Walker, Cinch Bischoff, Johnny Allen, Ellis Miller and Hawk Hecker will announce the branches.

A moment of silence will be held for those who made the ultimate sacrifice, and Nathan Cornia will play “Taps.” The band will play the recessional “God Bless America.”

Rocky Mountain

Rocky Mountain Middle/High School will hold a Veterans Day program Tuesday at the RMMHS Gym, starting at 1:15 p.m.

According to music director Gerry Burton, the guest speaker will be Captain Mark Hyde of Green River, who is serving in the 141st Battalion of the Utah Army National Guard (Linguistics) as a chaplain.

The program begins with the posting of the colors and the song “God Bless the USA” performed by the grades 6-12 combined choir. Next, some videos of a few of the local students who are in the military will be shown, and then the song “God Bless America” will be sung by students grades K-12.

After Captain Hyde speaks, grades 3-12 will sing “Armed Forces: Pride of America” accompanied by the RMHS band. The colors will then be retrieved.

“The public is welcome to come and celebrate, and everyone will be wearing red, white and blue,” Burton said.

Senior Center

Robert Boyd StewartAmerican Legion Post 11 will hold a Veterans Day program Tuesday at noon at the North Big Horn Senior Citizens Center. Air Force veteran Stuart Morthole will be the guest speaker.

Master of ceremonies Nicolle Laffin will introduce all veterans in attendance, and honor quilts will be presented to three local veterans.

Taps will be played by Ray Messamer and David Peck, and the colors will be presented by Post 11 members Mike Kitchen, Tom Dillon, Tim DeFuentes and Bruce Dempster. Jim Thomas is the chaplain of Post 11.

Singers from the Bible Church will provide special music.

Morthole grew up in Cheyenne and served in the U.S. Air Force from 1969 through 1989 as a member of the flight crew on B-52 bombers, serving as a navigator and bombardier for missions over Vietnam and Cambodia during the Vietnam War, based out of Thailand. He retired with the rank of major and lived in Sacramento County, California, working as an engineer and supervisor at the Sacramento Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant in Elk Grove, California, putting his civil engineering degree from the University of Wyoming to work.

He moved to Lovell in 2015 with his wife, Sherry Spragg Morthole, a Lovell native and the daughter of the late Dorothy Spragg. His daughter is Kristi DeFuentes of Lovell.

Veterans breakfast

Kristi DeFuentes and Sherry Morthole will host a veterans breakfast on Saturday, Nov. 15, from 8 to 10 a.m. at the Lovell Fire Hall, assisted by Tim DeFuentes. Students from The Point youth house at Lovell High School will serve, and members of the Bible Church will help set up and prepare the meal, led by cooks Steve Lillard and Jackie Hudon.

The crew will serve breakfast burritos, biscuits and gravy, eggs and ham. The meal is for all area veterans and their families, as well as active duty members of the military and their families. The meal is free, though donations will be accepted.