Parma Heights Memorial Day Tradition To Continue

The Parma Heights Memorial Day ceremony, thought to be the oldest continuous service in the state, will take place on the front lawn of the Parma-South Presbyterian Church, 6155 Pearl Road, just as it has for the past 143 consecutive years. 

This year as we celebrate our city’s Centennial, I am pleased to announce that the ceremony will be followed by the parade to the Parma Heights Cemetery once again. The service at the church will begin at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, May 30, with the ceremony at the cemetery, also on Pearl Road, scheduled to begin at about 10:45 a.m. with the arrival of the parade participants.

The parade had been cancelled in 2010 due to budgetary constraints. As promised, we are pleased to be able to reinstate the parade this year. However, I urge residents to focus on the fact that Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service. The continuation of these two ceremonies is the heart of the Memorial Day observance in the City of Parma Heights.

To emphasize my point, I will refer to the diary notes of Winifred P. Stroud, great-granddaughter of Amos Hodgman, one of the founding fathers of Parma Heights, dating from 1907,  which reads: “Memorial Day was originally intended as a day of mourning for those who suffered in the war and to bring to our minds what a terrible sacrifice had been made to free our country from the sin of slavery and preserve the Union…..Instead of a serious observance it is fast becoming a day for sports, amusements, and merrymaking….Let every one of us resolve this very day that we will never be careless of Memorial Day.” 

Memorial Day was officially proclaimed as a national day of observance on May 5, 1868, by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on May 30, 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. After World War I, the holiday changed from honoring only those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring all Americans who died fighting in any war. The City of Parma Heights has celebrated Memorial Day with the two services since its inception in 1868.

Michael Byrne

Mayor, City of Parma Heights

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Volume 3, Issue 6, Posted 9:37 AM, 05.24.2011