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PLAINS TWP. &mdash; So much has been lost because of this coronavirus pandemic.
				Beyond the usual, every day things like freely going out and about and seeing our friends, socializing, cheering at our kids&rsquo; games, we have also lost meaningful events that honor veterans and graduates and our dearly departed.
				And just yesterday, we lost another opportunity to remember an historic event where hundreds of lives were lost &mdash; the annual July 4 ceremony to commemorate the battle of Wyoming. 
				One of the oldest annual ceremonies held each year in the Wyoming Valley was been cancelled for 2020. The annual commemoration ceremony sponsored by the Wyoming Commemorative Association each year on July 4 has been cancelled for 2020 because of the pandemic.
				The annual ceremony began in 1878 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Wyoming and a ceremony has been held each year since then for the last 142 years, except in 1972 following the Hurricane Agnes flood.
				According to Association President Frank Conyngham, said given the large crowd drawn to the event each year, the ability to social distance would have been difficult, if not impossible.
				This cancellation brought sadness to me because I have a rather unusual and meaningful connection to the Wyoming Monument.
				One person who never forgot the significance of the Wyoming Monument and what it represents was my late friend Dr. Joseph &ldquo;Doc&rdquo; Mattioli, founder of Pocono Raceway in Long Pond. Doc died in January 2012, nearly two years after he saved the Wyoming Monument from possible demise.
				I knew Doc for many years, but we will forever be connected to the Wyoming Monument and its preservation, although the story on how we got there is bizarre, to say the least.
				On July 4, 2010, I covered the annual Wyoming Monument commemorative ceremony at the site on Wyoming Avenue. Marcella Starr, president of the Wyoming Monument Association, spoke and she painted a rather dire picture of the lack of funds raised for the project. She said about $130,000 was needed, but they had only raised about $30,000 to date.
				A couple days after the story ran, I traveled to Wyalusing to seek out Jean Stevens, an elderly woman who had her deceased husband and sister co-habitating with her in her home. Stevens, 91 at the time (she is now deceased), was living with the corpses of her husband, James, and sister, June, in her home on Old Stagecoach Road in a section called Lime Hill.
				When I found her walking to her mailbox, she told me it wasn&rsquo;t anything other than loneliness and love that motivated her to bring her two closest loved ones home to be with her.
				Jean kept James&rsquo; corpse on a couch in the garage. Her sister was found on a couch in a spare bedroom wearing a housecoat and smelling of perfume.
				Stevens&rsquo; story was amazing to hear and to report.
				When I returned to the newsroom that day, my phone was ringing &mdash; it was Doc Mattioli.
				Doc told me to come to his home in Long Pond and he and Rose would donate $100,000 to repair the monument.
				And that was important to Doc. He talked about the sacrifices made in the pursuit of freedom. He told me it was important for that monument to stand to remind people of the brave men and women who fought to make us free and were willing to give their lives for that cause.
				I&rsquo;ll never forget Doc and what he did and I will never forget to remember the sacrifices made in the Battle of Wyoming.

Coping with Corona: Remembering ‘Doc’ and the Battle of Wyoming