WREATHED IN MEMORIES

As temperatures dipped into the 40s early Saturday hundreds of people fanned across Sacramento Valley National Cemetery in Dixon, pine boughs topped with red ribbons in their arms.

With reverence and care, the Christmas decor was laid on the burial sites in honor of the men and women who served.

An annual project since the cemetery opened in 2006, the event is part of he National Wreaths Across America project. Due to the efforts of the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery Support Committee, the project continued this year despite the pandemic and the resulting cancellation of the annual ceremony.

Carmel Ewers and her son, Layne, both of Sacramento, were thankful.

The family comes frequently to visit the grave of Carmel’s brother, John C. Kessler, and also participates in Wreaths Across America.

“He’s been gone for five years,” she shared.

“He was so funny. He was a jokester. He was the best

brother I could have,” she continued, taking a moment to compose herself.

Kessler had been in the Army since 2003 and had served in Iraq and Afghanistan. His aim had been to make the military his career.

Just 35 when he died suddenly, he leaves behind a wife and two children.

“I think of him every day,” Carmel said.

Rachelle Cole of Vacaville visits the gravesites of her “Gammy,” Josephine Tompkins, and her next door neighbor’s grandson, Holden Philbrook.

“We’ve been coming for

seven or eight years,” she said, of her family. “This is my birthday weekend so I ask my family to do this with me.”

It’s an emotional visit, one full of reflection.

Philbrook, Cole said, was “always such a good kid. … So inquisitive.”

About a year after achieving his goal of becoming an Army Ranger, he died in a motorcycle crash, she remembered.

Tompkins, meanwhile, was a loving surrogate “Gammy” to Cole and her brothers. They met and al

PHOTOS BY JOEL ROSENBAUM — THE REPORTER Amberly Watts of Rocklin pays her respects to a family friend after she placed a wreath and an American flag on his headstone during Wreaths Across America Saturday at the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery in Dixon. The event started at Arlington National Cemetery over 20 years ago and has spread to veterans’ cemeteries and other locations in all 50 states.

Despite the recent spike in Coronavirus cases, volunteers spread out across the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery in Dixon to place more than 40,000 wreaths on headstones of the veterans and spouses interred there during the annual wreathlaying event.

Monica Thomas of Travis Air Force Base laces a wreath on a headstone at the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery as she participates in Wreaths Across America Saturday in Dixon.

Eliana Briggs, 4 of Vacaville carries an armful of wreaths to place on the headstones at the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery in Dixon.