Saturday (12/14) will be a Day of Remembrance at the Clark Lake Cemetery. Clark Lake will be one of 4,600 locations nationwide participating in a program called Wreaths Across America. Wreaths will be placed at the graves of the more than 50 veterans who are interred at Clark Lake. Members of the Brooklyn American Legion will fire a 21-gun salute at 11 am this Saturday. Taps will be played, and veteran Walt Reed will say a few words.
All are invited to attend.
This event also commemorates the Clark Lake Spirit Foundation’s Clark’s Lake Memory project – the straightening and cleaning of headstones by Jackson Monument and the Build the Bell Tower project. As viewers of this website know, the bell from the first Clark Lake church is now in place on a pillar in the cemetery. Shortly after it was positioned, it rang for the first time since 1912. That’s when it crashed to the ground as that first church building, founded in 1868, was consumed in flames.
Construction of Build the Bell Tower took place under the direction of the Foundation’s Mike McKay. The initial phase of straightening and cleaning was guided by Mike, John Karkheck and Rick Belcher. Generous financial support for that part of the project came from donors whose names will be inscribed on a plaque to be mounted on the Bell Tower pillar. Another plaque will recognize the Michael Ibold Wilger Foundation that made possible the building of the Bell Tower. On the east face will be a plaque recounting the history of the church written by Walt Reed. The plaques will soon be finished and become a permanent part of the pillar.
John Karkheck arranged for Saturday’s 21-gun salute, the playing of taps, and Wreaths Across America. Walt Reed’s donation made possible this year’s wreath program. Helping to place the wreaths on the markers will be kids from Clark Lake Montessori. The Montessori pre-school now occupies the former church building. The bell itself is a gift of the former members of the Clarklake Community Church.
Here are the plaques that soon will be mounted on the pillar:
Come out on Saturday and participate in this inaugural event. See the fabulous work that has been done to improve the cemetery, and help honor our vets by placing a wreath.