Liz Weston: Should seniors consider a reverse mortgage now?

Nationals players decide to wait for in-person ring ceremony

WILKES-BARRE &mdash; Don Williams never saw his great-grandfather march in the West Side Memorial Day parade, but he knows he did participate in the event for 70 consecutive years.
				&ldquo;Making it to 70 consecutive years tells me it was obviously important to him,&rdquo; said Williams. &ldquo;No one ever offered a specific explanation as to why he started, but that Civil War fife of his has been carried and/or played on every Memorial Day for all 129 years.&rdquo;
				Carried and played for those 129 years by a member of the Williams family &mdash; a tradition that continues today with members of the fifth generation of the Williams family.
				Don Williams, 64, talked about his great-grandfather and how this patriotic family feels about honoring America&rsquo;s fallen heroes and why they believe all Americans should as well.
				Williams grew up in Kingston and later moved to Wilkes-Barre. He now resides in Harleysville.
				Williams offered this information on his family&rsquo;s participation in the West Side Memorial Day Parade, which was canceled this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic:
				&#8226; His great-grandfather, Edward C. Williams, first marched in the parade in 1891. He last marched in 1961 &mdash; 70 consecutive years.
				&#8226; His grandfather, Samuel Williams, participated for several years until he moved out of the area.
				&#8226; His father, Donald Williams, first marched in 1952 and last participated in 2012 &mdash; a 60-year run.
				&#8226; Don will hit 40 straight years of marching in the parade in 2021.
				&#8226; Don&rsquo;s three children &mdash; Lauren, Lisa and Bryan (5th generation) &mdash; have participated over the years, playing the trumpet, drums and, yes, that Civil War fife.
				&#8226; Don&rsquo;s sister, Diana LeVasseur and her husband, Dennis, and their son Andrew, have also particpated in the parade for years.
				All in all, five generations and 129 years of patriotic participation in honoring America&rsquo;s fallen heroes.
				&ldquo;That&rsquo;s why I will be there every year,&rdquo; Williams said.
				Williams said he only has one distinct memory of his great-grandfather, Edward C. Williams &mdash; a face he said was later verified by one of his Eddie&rsquo;s grandsons.
				Edward Williams died in 1961, when Don was no more that 5 or 6 years old. The family lived at 173-1/2 South Wyoming Ave., just a block away from Kingston Corners. Edward worked at Blue Ribbon Bakery as an engineer.
				Don Williams shared some of his thoughts/memories about his family&rsquo;s participation in the West Side Memorial Day Parade.
				Don&rsquo;s father (Eddie&rsquo;s grandson) marched in the parade for 60 years, and was the Co-Grand Marshall in 2004. Over the years, Don said the parade was cancelled for weather or other reasons once or twice, but his father absolutely refused to break the string of consecutive years.
				&ldquo;So we either went to the Forty-Fort cemetery for a quick fife and drum roll-out, or to the American Legion post where my daughter played Taps one year in front of the building,&rdquo; Williams said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve never missed a year since Eddie died in 1961. We will not miss this year.&rdquo;
				Don&rsquo;s grandmother (his dad&rsquo;s mom) died of TB in 1941, when his dad was 11 at the time. &ldquo;Eddie&rdquo; and his wife raised Don&rsquo;s father.
				&ldquo;I&rsquo;m guessing his exposure over the years to what Memorial Day meant to Eddie was why my dad kept the tradition going.,&rdquo; Don said. &ldquo;Whatever word you might choose &mdash; respect, honor, etc. &mdash; he felt an obligation to continue what Eddie started.&rdquo;
				Don&rsquo;s father was a graduate of Kingston High School Class of 1949. He enlisted and served in Korea from 1951 to 1953, and was a front line medic.
				&ldquo;He never said too much about the war, but the man spit-polished his boots and ironed everything, including his hankies,&rdquo; Don said of his father. &ldquo;He was proud of his service.&rdquo;
				Later in life, Don said he made it a point to get his dad to Washington D.C. to see the World War II and Korean War Memorials.
				&ldquo;He was a rock star that day, and as stoic as my dad was most of the time, I could see he was truly touched by the many who thanked him for his service that day,&rdquo; Don said.
				Pride is the centeal theme for the Williams family when it comes to honoring veterans, especially those who have made the ultimate sacrifice to defend our freedom.
				Don began marching with his dad at every parade starting in 1982, first playing the drums and then later the fife. His last year playing the fife was in 2005, and the last time he dressed and marched was 2012. As a side note: Don&rsquo;s dad was born on Flag Day and died one day short of Veterans Day.
				So what does Memorial Day mean to Don and his family?
				Don said many years ago, a reporter was asking his dad about his military service after the parade and what it felt like to be a hero. He said his dad&rsquo;s answer was polite, but quick and direct.
				Paraphrasing his dad&rsquo;s response, Don said the answer to the question went something like, &ldquo;In my mind, the heroes are the ones that didn&rsquo;t come home. We are here to honor them today.&rdquo;
				Talk about hitting the nail on the head.
				Don said he marches out of sincere respect for the three generations that preceded him and to continuing honoring the heroes that did not come home.
				Don also noted that all five of his mother&rsquo;s brothers served in the military &mdash; two in the Marines, two in the Navy, and one in the Air Force. Three were in WWII, one did not make it home &mdash; killed by a Japanese mortar shell in March 1944 and buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
				&ldquo;I also march in his memory,&rdquo; Don said.
				/
				/

125028492_web1_Don-Williams-civil-war-fife-5-25-15

125028492_web1_MEMORIAL-DAY-1

125028492_web1_MEMORIAL-DAY-2

125028492_web1_MEMORIAL-DAY-3

125028492_web1_MEMORIAL-DAY-4

125028492_web1_MEMORIAL-DAY-5

125028492_web1_MEMORIAL-DAY-BAKER

125028492_web1_Joe-BarnaCMYK-1

129 years of honoring those that paid the ultimate price