{"id":15165,"date":"2025-12-19T16:59:28","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T23:59:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/volunteers-lay-nearly-1000-wreaths-to-honor-veterans-in-cortez-mancos\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:45:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:45:16","slug":"volunteers-lay-nearly-1000-wreaths-to-honor-veterans-in-cortez-mancos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/volunteers-lay-nearly-1000-wreaths-to-honor-veterans-in-cortez-mancos\/","title":{"rendered":"Volunteers lay nearly 1,000 wreaths to honor veterans in Cortez, Mancos"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Evergreen
Evergreen wreaths honor veterans at Cortez Cemetery on Friday. About 800 wreaths were placed during a nationwide remembrance event in December. \u201cThe meaning is remember, honor and teach \u2013 to remember the lives of veterans and not their deaths, to honor them and to teach the children,\u201d said Crystal Oveson, president of VFW Auxiliary Post 523. (Anna Watson\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

With armfuls of evergreen wreaths, volunteers spread out across cemeteries in Mancos and Cortez earlier this month, stopping at headstones bearing military insignia to honor buried veterans.<\/p>\n

About 800 wreaths were placed in Cortez and more than 100 in Mancos this holiday season, and organizers say planning for next year is already underway.<\/p>\n

Members of the Sleeping Ute Mountain Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the VFW Auxiliary Post 5231 placed wreaths Dec. 13 on about 930 graves. The effort coincides with the national program Wreaths Across America. Although this year\u2019s ceremony has passed, sponsorships now will fund wreaths for December 2026. Organizers are asking for help to expand the program in Cortez and surrounding towns.<\/p>\n

\u201cEventually, we\u2019d like all the veterans\u2019 graves covered,\u201d said Crystal Oveson, president of VFW Auxiliary and local coordinator for Wreaths Across America.<\/p>\n

\"A
A wreath rests on a headstone in the veterans section of Cortez Cemetery. \u201cIt\u2019s a big national thing, and they only ship them once a year. Everything purchased now goes toward 2026,\u201d Oveson said. (Anna Watson\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cThere are approximately a thousand in the Cortez cemetery, but that doesn\u2019t include veterans\u2019 sections, which add another 300,\u201d Oveson said.<\/p>\n

The local program started about five years ago, and families commonly take wreaths they purchase to Mancos Cedar Grove and other cemeteries across Montezuma County. Oveson said this year was particularly successful thanks to support from local businesses.<\/p>\n

On National Wreaths Across America Day, about 5,200 cemeteries participate, including Arlington National Cemetery. All wreaths are made from balsam fir in Maine and shipped to Cortez. They arrive in early December, and volunteer truck drivers transport them. Because of logistics, the cutoff for this year\u2019s placement was the end of November.<\/p>\n

Community members may sponsor wreaths year-round. Oveson said sponsors should order through a local group link so wreaths are credited locally:<\/p>\n

Either links for VFW Auxiliary, https:\/\/www.wreathsacrossamerica.org\/pages\/163639<\/a>, or the Sleeping Ute Mountain Chapter DAR, https:\/\/www.wreathsacrossamerica.org\/pages\/170261<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Volunteers
Volunteers during the national wreath-laying day. (Facebook\/VFW Auxiliary Post 5231)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Evergreen
Evergreen wreath is decorated with a red bow. (Anna Watson\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Wreaths cost $17, and purchases made before Dec. 31 are doubled through a buy-one-get-one offer. Sponsors can make a grave-specific request by entering a veteran\u2019s name or may opt to place a wreath themselves instead of a volunteer.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the sponsorship groups, we are also the custodians responsible for placing the wreaths and removing them once they start to look bad,\u201d Oveson said.<\/p>\n

More than 100 wreaths laid at Mancos cemetery<\/div>\n

Cathy Stone, a member of the Sleeping Ute Mountain Chapter DAR, participated in the Mancos wreath placement alongside family members, friends and local children, including Mancos third graders.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about honoring our veterans,\u201d Stone said. \u201cWe would love all veterans to have a wreath. We have a lot, but we still don\u2019t have enough wreaths to cover every grave.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said involving youths is central to the program\u2019s mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe tried to explain to them what a veteran is, why it was important and why their sacrifice means a lot,\u201d Stone said. \u201cI think it helped change their understanding of remembrance a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"On
On Dec. 13, third graders Makayla Griglak, Josie Cropp and Lena Birsch place wreaths at the graves of Josie\u2019s great-grandfather, William Small, and the headstones of great-great-grandfather John F. Wagner and cousin Sean Small at Cedar Grove Cemetery in Mancos. (Courtesy Cathy Stone)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Lena,
Lena, Josie and Makayla place wreaths at the graves of the veterans from the Bader and Kelly families at Cedar Grove Cemetery in Mancos on Dec. 13. (Courtesy Cathy Stone)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Organizers said by expanding the program to Mancos, they hope to designate it as an official Wreaths Across America location in future years. Oveson estimates there are thousands of veterans\u2019 graves in Mancos.<\/p>\n

For Stone, honoring through wreath-laying is deeply personal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have many relatives buried there \u2013 my granddad, my dad, great uncles, and my great-great granddad,\u201d Stone said. \u201cMy great-great granddad, Francis Herman Wagner, served in the Civil War.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

years, organizers hope every veteran locally can have one<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15166,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-15165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15165"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19514,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15165\/revisions\/19514"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15165"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=15165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}