Introducing Morrill Worcester
By BILL DUNCAN
The View From Here
Chances are you never heard of Morrill Worcester.
I’d like to introduce you to this man from Harrington, Maine because he understands the true meaning of Christmas — giving.
If this time of the year you visited Arlington National Cemetery you would discover an amazing sight — row upon row of the graves of the nation’s heroes who died for the freedom we all share — but at the base of each headstone there is a wreath of greenery with a red ribbon.
It is a sight to behold.
Morrill owns the Worcester Wreath Co. in Harrington, Maine, that includes 17,000 acres of greenery. In 1992 his company was faced with a surplus of wreaths, more than 4,000 wreaths. He remembered first visiting Arlington National Cemetery as a 12-year-old newspaper carrier, he’d won a trip to Washington, D.C., for selling the most subscriptions for the Bangor (Maine) Daily News.
One of the highlights of that trip was a visit to Arlington National Cemetery. The image of that visit stayed with Worcester.
When his company, which manufactures wreaths at Christmas time, ended up with a surplus of thousands of wreaths, he decided to invite ten volunteers to help him place the wreaths at Arlington.
It took those few volunteers about six hours to place the wreaths at the base of the headstones. Today, over 200 volunteers lay the wreaths in about one hour, including four wreaths at the base of the Tomb of the Unkown soldier.
A Maine newspaper quoted Worcester as saying: “We couldn’t do anything in this country if it wasn’t for the people who gave their lives to protect us. It’s a great honor to be able to pay our respects.”
The following year in 1993, he decided placing wreaths at the headstones of graves at Arlington would be his annual contribution. Since then, his company has trucked wreaths to Arlington every year. Those ten original volunteers have grown to hundreds.
Wreaths have been used as a decorative sign of Christmas for hundreds and hundreds of years. The wreath is made of evergreens, most often branches from the conifer species.
Arlington National Cemetery began 137 years ago as a burial ground for Civil War casualties but now includes casualties from every military conflict, including military personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The 2006 wreath-laying has begun this week at the Arlington, Virginia national cemetery. Today, 15 years of giving and over 60,000 wreaths later, the original group has been joined by the Civil Air Patrol, the Military Affairs Committee and the Vietnam Veterans of America in a program called "Wreaths Across America," expanding the wreath project with a special ceremony at each of the over 230 State and National Cemeteries, and Veterans Monuments throughout the country.
In Oregon, the Civil Air Patrol will lay wreaths at the Willamette National Cemetery, 11800 SE Mt. Scott Blvd., Portland.
The Worcester Wreath Company itself is committed to continue the Arlington Wreath Project, now including the "Wreaths Across America" campaign, but will not accept any donations. Readers who are interested in contributing to the project may support it by sending donations to:
Civil Air Patrol
attn: Wreaths Across America
PO Box 113
Columbia Falls, ME 04623
The official website of Wreaths Across America is: www.wreathsacrossamerica.org
In these troubled times when we as nation don’t seem to agree on our destiny, it is fitting that we pause to recognize the sacrifice the men and women who lie in Arlington and national cemeteries across America. Morrill Worcester has shown us the way.
(Bill Duncan can be reached by writing to P.O. Box 812, Roseburg, OR 97470, or by e-mail at elderstatesmansblog@yahoo.com)