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Routt County towns commemorate Memorial Day

Scott Franz
Boy Scouts, from left, Grant Pohlman, Zeke Kinnison and Kendall Hood place a flag in front of David Fogg’s grave Thursday in the Steamboat Springs Cemetery. Fogg, a Soroco High School graduate, was killed in action in Vietnam when he was 18 years old.
Scott Franz

Memorial Day services

■ Steamboat Springs

11 a.m. Veterans memorial at the Steamboat Springs Cemetery. Steamboat Springs Transit will provide free bus service from the Stock Bridge Transit Center. Buses to the service will run from 9:45 to 10:45 a.m.

■ Hayden

6 p.m. at the Hayden Cemetery. A community potluck dinner will follow the ceremony being led by American Legion Post No. 89

■ Yampa

11 a.m. at the Yampa Cemetery





Boy Scouts, from left, Grant Pohlman, Zeke Kinnison and Kendall Hood place a flag in front of David Fogg’s grave Thursday in the Steamboat Springs Cemetery. Fogg, a Soroco High School graduate, was killed in action in Vietnam when he was 18 years old.
Scott Franz

Memorial Day services

■ Steamboat Springs

11 a.m. Veterans memorial at the Steamboat Springs Cemetery. Steamboat Springs Transit will provide free bus service from the Stock Bridge Transit Center. Buses to the service will run from 9:45 to 10:45 a.m.

■ Hayden



6 p.m. at the Hayden Cemetery. A community potluck dinner will follow the ceremony being led by American Legion Post No. 89

■ Yampa



11 a.m. at the Yampa Cemetery

— At cemeteries across Routt County on Monday, veterans will play taps on bugles. They will read the names of deceased soldiers. They will honor their service and sacrifice.

“There’s no way we can ever thank them enough,” Hayden resident Carlyn Staudt said about the veterans. “And whether they died in action or in old age, they all served and gave whatever they could to keep us free.”

Staudt, a member of the American Legion Post No. 89’s women’s auxiliary, helped decorate the graves of veterans Friday with American flags in preparation of Memorial Day.

“It leaves you a little chocked up when you see how many there are and all the different branches of service and when they all served,” she said. “We have so much because they have given us so much.”

Staudt and her husband, Ron, have attended Hayden’s Memorial Day services for the past 17 years. Post No. 89 Commander Seth Huntington said this year’s service, which begins at 6 p.m. Monday at the Hayden Cemetery, will include a memorial speech, flag-lowering ceremony and rifle salute. He said it won’t stray from the programs put on in previous years.

“We hope that it brings a lot of people out and makes them remember those who have fought for the freedoms we enjoy,” he said about the service. “We focus on service members that have passed on, and we try to remember the life they had. It’s nice to reminisce. Although we all served at different times, we can relate to the person next to you because you’ve essentially fought the same battles.”

The service will be followed by an annual potluck dinner.

In Steamboat, the service will have a rare focus. The 11 a.m. Memorial Day program will pay tribute to Routt County’s Vietnam- and Cold War-era veterans, including two young men who were killed in action while they served in Vietnam.

“I thought this was a good time to take a group of vets that never really got their recognition and say, ‘thank you,’” Vietnam-era veteran Jim Stanko said. “We thought this was an opportunity to put an end to that chapter and make sure those people get the recognition they deserve.”

Down in Yampa, veterans and community members will pay tribute to soldiers who served in many wars ranging from the Civil War to current conflicts.

American Legion Post No. 189 adjutant Ed Farrington said nearly 100 flags grace the cemetery to mark Memorial Day. He said the service is an important annual obligation.

“It really seems like there is more patriotism in these small communities,” he said. “Every one of us knows the people who are buried. (This service) brings back memories of some of the good times and some of the more sincere times.”

Veterans buried or memorialized in Steamboat area

Vietnam veterans killed in action

David Fogg, Marines

John Vialpando, Army

Vietnam veterans

Robert Acree, Army

Ralph Anderson, Army

Myke Baar, Air Force

Pat Barber, Army

Jan Bensenberg, Navy

Gerald Boggs, Army

Grant Bryant, Marines

Douglas Buchanan, Army

Fred Camilletti, Marines

James Chew, Army

Frank Chotvacs, Marines

James Cullen, Army

Stephen Damelia, Army

Russell Dodd, Army

James Dorr, Air Force

Newt Dorr, Army

Edward Evans, Army

David Flood, Navy

Irwin Freiberger, Navy

Robert Fry, Air Force

Louis Gabos, Marines

Ernie Girard, Army

Dean Girard, Army

Frank Guire, Army

Corky Heid, Army

Tom Hickman, Army

Douglas Holmes, Army

Roger Horn, Army

Terry Hughes, Army

Richard Johnston, Army

Joseph Lake, Air Force

Roger LeFever, Army

Frank Leonard, Army

Stephen Maloney, Army

Roger Russell, Army

Vernon L Seaman, Army

Albert Sena, Army

George Serenko, Army

Douglas Sherrod, Navy

Allan Simillion, Navy

William Smith, Air Force

William Stonebrink, Navy

Mario Vigil, Army

Dan Wagner, Marine

Gordon Weiss, Army

Jon Westfield, Air Force

Chester Wheeler, Army

David White, Air Force

William White, Army

To reach Scott Franz, call 970-871-4210 or email scottfranz@SteamboatToday.com


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