At above, the Department Command Staff is shown presiding at Mid-Winter.
Post 8870 was represented at Mid-Winter by (LtoR) Sr. Vice Commander Duane Bowman, Commander Carl Kurfess, House Keeping Chair Parnia Parvini and Quartermaster Jim Traner.
District Commander Otis Wolf and District Auxiliary Tami Wagoner presented awards to the students and teachers hosted at VFW Post 2100 in Everett, WA.
Present during the District 1 awards ceremony was VFW Washington Commander Paul Herrera. Paul thanked the students, parents, and teachers for their efforts in the VFW essay and teacher of the year competition. Paul also told a story about citizenship and how we as leaders, educators, and parents can teach future generations. Big thanks to VFW Post 2100 for hosting yesterday’s District 1 awards ceremony and their hospitality.
Sure could use your help!
Our annual holiday get together was held on Saturday, December 17, at the Edmonds American Legion Hall. Around 50 members and guests were in attendance, a bit lighter turn-out than our normal pre-COVID affairs, but a large enough group to make it a lively party.
The Posts provided some of the food and members brought a variety of side dishes and desserts, as well as supplementing the turkey and ham provided by the posts. The food was delicious (at least in your editor’s mind) and there was certainly plenty of it.
Commanders Kurfess and Walderman opened the proceeding and then presented Mike Reagan with the two post’s annual contribution to his Fallen Heroes Project. Mike has now done in excess of 8,000 portraits of fallen comrades and continues every day.
Our usual raffle was held with a variety of prizes, including copies of Mike Reagan’s work and some particularly nice beverages. Background music was provided by a live performer with keyboard and accordion.
The annual toy drive was topped off at the party and those toys, added to those collected earlier at Teri’s Toy Box in downtown Edmonds, were delivered the the Edmonds Food Bank toy drive for what appeared to be a record result. Well done Comrades!
This past holiday season, I was very fortunate to obtain these two fabulous prints from renowned artist Michael Gerald Reagan . The Seahawks print is signed by the artist, all the players and Pete Gross’s wife Beverly. I won the “John Wayne” print from a fun contest that Michael put together. They will hang proudly in my art room!
Al Boyett We lost another of our brothers when Al Boyett, who had served as our Post Surgeon for a number of years, passed away recently. Al had been suffering from a long bout with cancer.
Boyett was born June 30, 1937 in Williamsburg Alabama and moved to Seattle in 1948. Married Jo Nazworthy December 6, 1963 to Jo Nazworthy he became father to Tahnya Boyett 1966. The family moved to Bothell 1973, where they have lived since.
Al was drafted into the Army and served in Korea. After the war, he joined BBoys Auto Parts from 1956 until he purchased the auto parts store which he owned from 1974 to 1981. He then worked for an auto parts warehouse, Mar- Lac Distributing until he retired after 2011.
B-Boys was a founding member of the Washington Automotive Industry Association, in a effort to bring support to the automotive industry and to provide health insurance to employees.
Al graduated in 1955 from Lincoln HS and later technical school for space and missile electronics. He became a pilot in 1970 and belonged to Bellevue Air club. Al was a Member of Northlake Lutheran Church since 1974 and a past member of the Bellevue Air club, Elks, and a Good Sam’s member serving the Tired & Retired chapter of Good Sam’s.
On November 8, Edmonds Woodway H.S. held a Veterans Day observance, featuring veteran speakers and appropriate music from the school’s band, chorus and orchestra.
Among the featured speakers was Post 8870’s own Charlie Gaul. Other attendees from our post included Commander Carl Kurfess and Past Commander Mike Denton.
Gaul is pictured speaking in the photo at left.
A monument dedicated to the families of fallen U.S. military members was unveiled Wednesday November 2 in Lynnwood’s newly redeveloped Veterans Memorial Park.
Hundreds gathered in the park – located at 44th Avenue West and 194th Street Southwest – to witness the unveiling of the Gold Star Families Memorial Monument. During the ceremony, Lynnwood Mayor Christine Frizzell thanked the Gold Star Mothers in attendance and assured them they were not alone in their grief.
To fund the project, the Washington State American Gold Star Mothers partnered with the Hershel Woody Williams Medal of Honor Foundation, which is dedicated to honoring and paying tribute to families who have sacrificed a loved one in service of their country.
Williams was a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient from WWII who had plans to see a monument dedicated to Gold Star Families in all 50 states. Though Williams died in June of this year, his work will continue through his foundation, said speaker and U.S. Marine Corps veteran Michael Reagan.
Lynnwood’s monument is unique compared to others. In addition to honoring those who were POW/MIA, it is the first monument to recognize Indigenous veterans and those who died by suicide, said keynote speaker retired Lieutenant General Mark Wise.
Surrounding the monument are 22 stone seats in honor of service members who died by suicide after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Under the monument, sand from Iwo Jima, Japan; water from Belleau Wood, France and three military challenge coins were buried in its foundation.
The monument is the 200th to be installed in the country and the third to come to Washington state. During the ceremony, Deputy Director of Washington State Department of Affairs David Puente, Jr. read a letter from Gov. Jay Inslee, who praised the Gold Star Mothers for their tireless work to bring the monument to Lynnwood.
Photos and article excepts courtesy of MyEdmondsNew.com
On Jan 7 we held the District 1 2022-2023 Youth Essay and Teacher of the Year Awards. We would like to congratulate all of this year’s winners at the District level and wish them luck at the Department level in the coming weeks!
Voice of Democracy – Steven Locke
Patriots Pen – Brendan Stinson
Youth Essays – Eloise Liao
We would also like to recognize this year’s Teachers of the year!
High school – Heather Hunsberger submitted by Arlington post 1561
Middle School – Michelle Bannon submitted by Sultan post 2554
Elementary school – Kevin Mandoske submitted by Monroe post 7511
Our National headquarters recently announce the 30 Departments who have achieved 92% or more in membership by January 1, which includes the Department of Washington! Edmonds VFW Post 8870 is part of this achievement and we urge all of our members to reach out to local eligible veterans and bring them into the fold. We can only do the work on behalf of our nations war fighters if we keep our membership strong.
A belated Happy Veterans Day to you all and I hope that everyone had a great one. I’d also like to wish all Marines a Happy Birthday and hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving! Our General Fund is running low. Donations will be accepted by our Quartermaster. Thanks to all those that volunteered to hand out Buddy Poppies during our Veterans Day drive, & contributing to its success. Thanks, as well to Sr. Vice Commander Duane Bowman for organizing it. Our annual Toy drive at Teri’s Toybox in downtown Edmonds runs from Nov. 15-Dec. 15. Drop by and purchase a toy or two for our collection box.
Report your volunteer activities by phone, email, or text to our surgeon ([email protected].) Please submit before our meetings, to cut down on our meeting time and report by the end of each month so we can report to Department in a timely manner.
There will be no Post meeting in December. Instead, VFW Post 8870 & American Legion Post 66 will be having our annual Christmas Potluck party on Saturday, December 17. (See this article of this newsletter for details.) There will be an auction with great items to bid upon, so bring money! Also please bring canned food and an unwrapped toy. Earlier that morning, there will be a Wreaths across America event at Evergreen Washelli Cemetery from 0900-1100.
Have a Merry Christmas!