Memorial Day - It's Not About the Hot Dogs

Since I was a young girl, I never saw Memorial Day as a "day off for a cook-out". It became ingrained in me, at that time in my life, that it was a day to honor those who died for our country.

Those of us with food issues, might have a better time coping with the temptation for that extra scoop of potato salad, if we stop to truly think about what Memorial Day means.

Did you ever have a relationship with someone you never even met? I don’t mean a celebrity or a secret crush. I mean a real person, someone who touched you deeply and perhaps even helped shape the person you became?

In fifth grade our class walked from Mary Thurston Elementary School to Thomas Edison Junior Senior High School in Elmira Heights NY. I saw my first play, The Music Man, and the performance by the lead, Alen Gardner as Harold Hill, was so amazing that it instilled in me a love of theater that I hold to this day.

The tragic death of this incredible talent, also planted in me a lifelong devotion to our veterans especially those from the Vietnam War.

Here is my tribute to the boy I never met.




“The Music Man”By Ellen M. McCauley

In Memory of Alen Gardner, Class of 1965
Thomas A. Edison High School
Elmira Heights, New York


SPRING 1965

Even now my mind still sees
Muddy, brown patches
Where grass used to be.

Mid-day posed as deepest night
To hide winter’s trees
From their naked plight.

Found inside, the brilliant sun,
Shining on stage for
The Play had begun.

Velvet seats, the room so grand,
A boy named Alen
Was “The Music Man”.

Far out in the last of rows,
A girl, he would touch,
But would never know.


SPRING 1967

Still I see the new display
By the very room
Where the music played.

Such a handsome smile stared back
From the frozen glass
With its frame draped black.

Few words told about a lamb
That was sacrificed
Far in Vietnam.

Walked home slow that saddest day,
Past the budding trees,
Nature gone astray.

“God?” I questioned as I tread,
“How can spring bloom, when
“The Music Man’s” dead?”


SPRING 1991

I stood still before “The Wall.”
The list of those who
Bravely gave their all.

Traced his name “The Music Man.”
Over twenty springs
Later, understand.

His spirit rose years ago.
He laughs and he loves
For he lives, I know.

In my soul he will remain
If we remember
No life was in vain.

My children and now, you, I trust,
Know forever he’ll
Sing, inside of us.

PHOTO:http://hypergene.net/blog/images/uploads/vietnam-wall-halo.jpg