Veterans cemetery poppy event still grows
A 12-year-old Edmonton girl was in tears in 1971 when her mother was about to die from breast cancer.
“I was by my mother's bedside when she stroked my head and with a smile asked me not to cry and not to forget her on Armistice Day,” Maureen Bianchini-purvis said Saturday.
“I didn't know what the word armistice meant, but I nodded my head. I associated it with the military. My mother, Lillian Hidson Bianchini, had served as a sergeant in the Canadian Women's Army Corps for four years during the Second World War.
“It was sometime later I found out Armistice Day marked an agreement to end the First World War, which took the lives of 61,000 Canadians and wounded 172,000.”
Armistice Day, which later became known as Remembrance Day, officially ended hostilities between the Allies and Germany at 11 a.m. on Nov. 11 — on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.
“Since I was 13, I have never missed a year of going to the cemetery on Remembrance Day to lay a poppy on my mother's headstone,” says her daughter.
Later, her husband Randall Purvis accompanied her and later still, when they could walk, their daughters Sara Mcneil and Keely Yates joined them.
“We would quietly look out over more than 4,000 headstones of our military who lie in the Field of Honour at the Edmonton Beechmount Cemetery, the final resting place of men and women in the military who gave their lives to fight for our freedoms and restore peace in the world,” says Bianchini-purvis.
Both her parents — her dad had fought with Canadian troops in France — lie next to one another and the family always placed poppies on both headstones.
“The girls, aged about seven and nine, one day asked,
` Why don't the others receive a poppy,' ” says their mom. “I had provided possible reasons when they were younger and later often toyed with the idea.
“But the thought became more serious when I noticed talks of remembrance and statistics were not registering with children at their school assemblies.
“Having children lay a poppy at each headstone would be a moment they would understand and remember.”
A bonus before the first Leave No Stone Left Alone poppy-placing took place on Nov. 10, 2011, was when Bianchini-purvis and her husband met Lt.-col. Trevor Cadieu, then the CO of the Edmonton-based armoured regiment, the Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians).
“He was very enthusiastic of the idea,” says Bianchini-purvis. “`Let's do it,' ” he said. “`I'll meet you out there.' ”
The Purvis' discovered there were 4,189 military graves and that first year, Maureen bagged every poppy herself.
“My fingers were so full of pin pricks they became a bright red,” she says. “It was worth the effort. Poppies are a great symbol of endurance. They grew on the barren battlefields and later on the graves of soldiers.
“First World War Canadian Army doctor John Mccrae helped find their place in history when he wrote the world-famous poem In Flanders Fields.”
The couple and their supporters felt warmth and magic in that first year and decided it must be repeated.
“The next year, Alberta Lt.Gov. Don Ethell called to say he would like to attend,” says Bianchini-purvis. “We needed a podium.”
That second year, the Leave No Stone Alone Memorial Foundation was created and poppies were placed on headstones on all 21 cemeteries in Edmonton where former military men and women lie.
“More schools became involved and so too were more cemetery directors,” says Randall Purvis, foundation vice-chairman and secretary-treasurer. “Hot chocolate was being offered in reception areas.
“Participation exploded in the third year. We expanded across Alberta and then across Canada. But this year, because of the COVID pandemic, we mark our 10th anniversary with a Nov. 7 virtual gala.”
Last year across Canada,
12,297 students from 127 schools placed 64,503 poppies in 121 cemeteries at 134 locations.
Records from the last decade show 45,892 students have placed 298,277 poppies on Canadian headstones.
The foundation has received in less than a decade, some
5,000 letters from students telling of what their participation meant to them. “Our wish to teach younger Canadians about what another generation sacrificed to help make our country so respected hasn't gone unnoticed abroad,” says Purvis.
“The U.S., England, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy, Malta, Sicily, South Korea and New Zealand have all expressed interest in working with us. And to date we have helped Poland stage three Leave No Stone
Alone youth events.
“Maureen's mom had no idea what she was starting when she requested her daughter never forget her on Armistice Day,” says Purvis.
“It's a proud Edmonton moment that has the potential to spread around the world.”
The Purvis family and friends have paid at times for poppies and bus transport, but the couple hope their foundation might be better supported and allow them to help other countries, especially where Canadian soldiers lie.
To donate, text NOSTONE at 20222.
On Nov. 5, watch the No
Stone Left Alone livestream on globalnews.ca at 10:30 a.m.
A Dance to Remember, a Canada-wide virtual Zoom gala, can be seen Nov. 7 at 6 p.m. Included is an online auction, the proceeds will ensure youth continue to engage in honouring the Canadian military.
Info: dancetoremember.ca.