Interview: Steven Fox talks Wreaths Across America for town of Leyden
When Morrill Worcester was only 12-years-old, he had the opportunity of visiting Washington, D.C., including a trip to Arlington National Cemetery.
His first trip to our nation’s capital was one he would never forget, and Arlington National Cemetery made an especially indelible impression on him.
This experience followed him throughout his life and successful career, reminding him that his good fortune was due, in large part, to the values of this nation and the veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.
Morrill, from Maine, the owner of Worcester Wreath Company, found himself with an excess of wreaths during the Christmas season of 1992 and still hadn't forgotten his boyhood experience in witnessing Arlington National Cemetery.
He took an opportunity to honor our Nation's deceased Veterans by making arrangements for these leftover wreaths to be placed at Arlington in one of the older sections of the cemetery that had been receiving fewer visitors with each passing year.
Morrill and his family quietly made these wreath donations to Arlington National Cemetery for nearly 15 years before a photo set them on a path they hadn’t dreamed about.
The photo — of the company’s wreaths at Arlington covered in snow — went viral in 2006. Shortly thereafter, the Worcester Wreath Co. began receiving unsolicited money from people who were touched by the wreaths and what they represented, and who wanted to participate by sponsoring wreaths themselves.
This money was returned to donors because there was no mechanism in place for the family to accept the donations at that time.
The rest is history - Wreaths Across America was eventually born and according to the Town of Leyden chapter coordinator Steven Fox: "It has grown substantially over the years, even here locally," he told us.
As tradition follows, wreaths will be placed on Veterans graves at 12:00 noon this Saturday, December 17 in Talcottville Cemetery. A procession will then continue to other cemeteries throughout the Leyden township and even new this year into Constableville.
For a list of other nearby communities who are participating this year, visit Wreaths Across America.org.
For more details, be sure to listen to our latest on-air segment with Steven Fox:
Image via Wreaths Across America.
