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Edmonds Community College’s Veterans Day Celebration

Several VFW members, including three of our own, will be featured participants in Edmonds Community College’s Veterans Day Celebration this year. The event will be held on Tuesday, November 10, at 10:30 AM in the college’s Black Box Theater.

Among those speaking at the event will be our Commander, Jim Blossey, and Ron Clyborne, the chair of the community’s Veterans Plaza committee. Post 8870 member Carl Kurfess will lead the attendees in the Pledge of Allegiance. The Honor Guard from Lynnwood VFW Post 1040 will present the colors.

The celebration is for the entire community, not just students, and veterans are especially invited to attend. The college has particularly encouraged VFW members to be there. Please wear your cover.

The Black Box Theater is located near the south side of the campus; parking is available. Refreshments will be served at the conclusion.

Edmonds Community College Veterans Day Event

NL1115_ECC_Veterans_Day

Several VFW members, including three of our own, will be featured participants in Edmonds Community College’s Veterans Day Celebration this year. The event will be held on Tuesday, November 10, at 10:30 AM in the college’s Black Box Theater.

Among those speaking at the event will be our Commander, Jim Blossey, and Ron Clyborne, the chair of the community’s Veterans Plaza committee. Post 8870 member Carl Kurfess will lead the attendees in the Pledge of Allegiance. The Honor Guard from Lynnwood VFW Post 1040 will present the colors.

The celebration is for the entire community, not just students, and veterans are especially invited to attend. The college has particularly encouraged VFW members to be there. Please wear your cover.

The Black Box Theater is located near the south side of the campus; parking is available. Refreshments will be served at the conclusion.

Veterans Plaza Fund Raising Campaign Commences

Ron Clyborne kicked off the official fund raising for Veterans Plaza at the Edmonds Community College Memorial Day ceremony sponsored by the Student Veterans Association. In the coming months, we will ask each of you to help us but at the current time we are trying to secure corporate and foundation donations. We have a big nut to crack as the Plaza will cost $450,000 and be funded solely by private donations.

Edmonds Community College Student Veterans Host 2nd Annual Memorial Day Ceremony

A number of us attended the Memorial Day ceremonies at ECC and organized by the Veterans Resource Center. Our own Buck Weaver lead the audience in “America the Beautiful” while Ron Clyborne described the Veterans Plaza project. Opening remarks were made by Dr. Jean Hernendez, College President, who deserves special thanks in making ECC one of the most veteran friendly schools in America. As a Vietnam veteran and a product of the U of W in the early ‘70’s, no one is a better position to see the contrast better than me.

The featured speaker was Colonel Bruce Meyers, USMC retired. He served as a platoon leader in WWII, a rifle company commander in Korea, and was the Marine commander at Khe Sanh. The Col. had a remarkable military career and we thoroughly enjoyed his presentation. Interestingly, following his retirement from the Marine Corp, he became a practicing trial attorney for many years in Seattle and later served as a associate dean and associate professor of law at a West Coast law school. I’d would have hated to answer a question wrong in his class—you’d probably be dropping for 20.

City Council Approves Veterans Plaza Design

Edmonds WA VFW 8870 City Council Approves Veterans Plaza Design

On January 20th, the Edmonds City Council approved our design concept for Veterans Plaza. Above is the Memorial Wall with waterfalls segmenting a granite wall. Each segment will feature a branch of the service. Below is an aerial view of the Plaza, the wall separating the parking lot from the Plaza. The large green area in the lower left will be the Memorial Garden with a circular seating area. In the plaza itself, the round objects are existing trees with seating provided on granite cubes interspersed through the Plaza. The committee recommending this design included Jim Blossey, Post Commander, and Ron Clyborne and Jim Traner of Post 8870. Ron and Jim are also members of American Legion Post 66. The design was selected from a number of submissions of ideas from around the country and even one from Mexico. SiteWorkshop of Seattle was chosen unanimously by the committee who has been meeting since last summer. Other committee members were from the community and included a wide representation of various interests.

Edmonds WA VFW 8870 City Council Approves Veterans Plaza Design

Veterans Day Ceremony at Veterans Plaza

With the help of a lot of our Post members in setting up the Plaza for the ceremony, our first ever VeteransDay ceremony was a huge success. Our WWII veterans posted the wreath while Post Commander Jim Blossey MC’d the event with Mike Reagan being our featured speaker. Mike hit the correct tone in saying this Plaza would become a treasured spot for all the veterans in Edmonds and thanked the support of the city in making it possible. Dave Earling, Mayor, talked about how Veterans Day impacted him by the fact of family members serving and the loss of a close friend in Vietnam. It was a day to remember.

Veterans Day Ceremony at Edmonds Veterans Plaza

Veterans Day

On November 11th at 11AM, we will have our first Veterans Day ceremony at our new Veterans Plaza at 5th and Bell. Depending on the weather (although it never rains in November in Edmonds), we may have to put up some shelters for the speakers and honored guests. In addition, if Memorial Day at the cemetery is any indication, we will also have to put up chairs for our elderly citizens to use. Therefore, we will have a work party detail at 0930 to get things organized. Since this is our first attempt at this, the more hands we get to help, the quicker we can adjourn to the coffee shop before returning at 11AM. The agenda is still somewhat fluid, but Commander Jim Blossey will MC the event, Mayor Dave Earling will say a few words, and Mike Reagan, Post member and founder of the Fallen Heroes Portrait Foundation will be the keynote speaker. Our own Chris Edwards will play Taps to close the ceremony. Following the ceremony, we will need some hands to help us pack up everything. At that time, we will adjourn to the Edmonds Cemetery where there will be a tour of the notable veterans interred there. Hopefully, we can have a major showing of our VFW members so please wear your covers to the ceremony. This is our day at our Park so please make an effort to be there.

October Post Meeting

Our Meeting program consisted of dedication ceremonies for “Traner’ s Comer”, the new seating area across from the entrance to the Hall, which the late Jim Traner was instrumental in creating.
Jim worked with Charlie Gaul and his wife to arrange the acquisition of the seating for this new gathering area and the two Posts, VFW 8870 and American Legion 66 decided to name it in Jim’s honor.

Joining us for the occasion were distinguished guests Terry Traner, Department of Washington Commander Craig Daugherty, and District 1 Commander Terry Stenson. Senior Vice Commander Rose Gilliland filled in for the absent Commander Duane Bowman and is seen in the first photo below introducing Terry Traner. At right, Department Commander Daugherty, holding the commemorative plaque for the dedication with Terry at his side, points outs Traners Comer in the rear of the hall.

In addition to dedicating Traner’s Corner, Ron Clyborne was recognized for his key role (along with Jim Traner) in the creation of the Edmonds Veterans Plaza. (See separate article with photos of the new Veterans Plaza bench to be dedicated on Veterans Day.) Ron and his wife Michelle are shown below in the new Corner. In the background are the drawing of Jim Traner which was presented to Terry and the Post by our resident artist Michael Reagan, as well as a stained glass representation of the 11th Armored Cavalry in which Jim servced in Vietnam. At right below, District 1 Commander Stenson looks on.

Minutes of the Post Business Meeting which began at 1815hrs.

The minutes from the September meeting were read and approved by the membership.The Quartermaster’s report was reviewed and approved by the membership.

Expenditures were approved by the membership as follows:
$1,464.13 for the engraving for the memorial bench in honor of Jim Traner and Ron Clyborne.
$ 92.35 for the All American Red cover for Past Commander Carl Kurfess.The next District 1 Meeting will be at Post 2100 on 11/18/2023.

A motion was made by Fred Apgar to Name Post 8870 the Jim Traner Post 8870 in honor of all that Jim did for our Post. The motion was 2nd by Tom Hallums.

After discussion and input from several members the membership voted not to change the name of the Post. This was done mainly due to the fact that Jim had expressed to various members and family that he did not want his name to be part of the Post name. ( Or anyone else’s for the that matter, ed.)

A dedication ceremony will be held at 1:00 PM on Veterans day, 11/11/2023 at the Edmonds Veterans Plaza. At that time we will dedicate a bench to honor Jim Traner and Ron Clyborne for all of the work that they did to create the Edmonds Veterans Plaza.

The next Post Meeting is scheduled for November 15, 2023.

Veteran’s Day Ceremony to Dedicate Bench

Veteran's Day Ceremony to Dedicate Bench Saturday, November 11, 1 :00 PM

The Edmonds Veterans Plaza has been with us for a few years now, having been dedicated on Memorial Day in 2017. What many don’t realize is just how integral a part VFW members Jim Traner and Ron
Clyborne had in its creation. Without their vision and energy, in the initial concept and in putting together a team to bring their dream to fruition, it never would have happened.

Following Traner’ s passing this past summer, the Post decided to dedicate one of the benches in the circular setting area on the east side of the Plaza to our two comrades who had such a large part in bringing this jewel to Edmonds veterans. The photo above, shows the bench with it’s engraving complete. A dedication ceremony will be held on Veterans Day, November 11, 2023 at 1 :00 PM. Above right is a photo help us locate the bench within the plaza.

Veteran's Day Ceremony to Dedicate Bench

April Post Meeting 

Speaker Jeretta Scott
Jeretta Scott

Speaker 

Jeretta Scott 

At our April Post meeting our speaker was of OEI, an organization that seeks out veterans with hearing loss, who may qualify for a no cost “caption” telephone for their home. (One of these devices is shown here). Scott explained that the program is paid by government using revenues from a tax levied on communications companies. 

Caption Telephone

As the photo illustrates, the device puts the conversation up on on the screen in large type, to allow the user to more easily and accurately follow the conversation. 

Veterans interested in this service can contact Scott by phone at 206-910-9594, or via email: [email protected]. More information is also available on their website: https://oeius.org/ 


April Post Business Meeting Report 

New Members: Shannon Yates & Joe Gray were introduced and proposed as members by Membership Chair Jim Traner. Both were approved by vote of the membership and we are pleased to welcome them to the Post. 

April Post Business Meeting Report

We will hold election of officers for the 2023/24 VFW year at our May meeting. The members nominated for the elective positions are: 

Commander – Duane Bowman 
Sr Vice Commander – Rose Gilliland 
Jr Vice Commander – Carl Kurfess 
Quartermaster – Jim Traner 
Chaplain – Dan Doyle 
3-Year Trustee – Kerry Watkins

Post Service Officer Alden Gilliland has been quite busy assisting veterans was various issues regarding veterans programs. Gilliland feels that we need to look at increasing the Service officer’s budget, in order to be able to help more of our comrades. We discussed providing some money to the Everett Naval Base so that they can give gift cards to those in need as part of this increased effort. 

Seventeen applications have been received for the four scholarships that we have available this year. After review the chosen students will be invited to attend the May Post meeting to receive their award. 

VFW Auxiliary assisted our Post with the beach cleanup on May 6. They will also hold a Buddy Poppy event on May 25 at the Edmonds Waterfront center. 

The following were approved by the membership as delegates for the Department Convention in Spokane: Jim Traner, Duane Bowman, Dan Doyle, Mike Denton, Rose Gilliland & Alden Gilliland. 

Calvin Barnard, Mike Denton & Duane Bowman will work on the details for the proposed raffle of a Mike Reagan portrait of a celebrity, signed by the subject. The bulk of this effort will happen from late summer with the drawing of the winning ticket at the Christmas party in December. 

We have a Memorial Day ceremony at the Edmonds Memorial Cemetery at 11 AM and at the Edmonds Veterans Plaza at 1:30 PM. Volunteers will be needed for both services. 

Memorial Day Events Scheduled 

Memorial Day Events Scheduled

On Memorial Day, Monday, May 29, we have our usual two events on the agenda, starting with the ceremonies at the Edmonds Memorial Cemetery which begin at 11 :00 AM. We will need to gather at the cemetery at 10:30 to form up our color guard. A White Table ceremony will be performed and various speakers will observe this solemn event. 

Following the morning ceremonies, we will gather again at the Edmonds Veterans Plaza where that event will begin at 1 :30 PM. If you can help with moving chairs and the flags from the American Legion Hall to and from the Veterans Plaza, all available help will be appreciated. 

Wear your cover.