"On the Sunday before Memorial Day, my father would already place flowers on the family graves."
"He referred to the flowers as 'decorations,' being an original Ozarker who knew the holiday by its old name."
"As a child during yearly rituals, I'd sit under a tree, bored, listening to him read names on gravestones."
"His meticulous preparations for Decoration Day perhaps stemmed from the fact that many men in our extended family had served in different branches of the military."
"His meticulous preparations for Decoration Day perhaps stemmed from the fact that many men in our extended family had served in different branches of the military."