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TwitThisWreaths of Remembrance
By Gary SledgeHarrington, Maine, is a long way from the temples of pomp and power in Washington, D.C. It's a long way from the awesome monuments and austere fields of white markers at Arlington National Cemetery. Harrington is one of the poorer towns in a sparsely populated state where industry is not always robust and is sometimes seasonal -- especially for the Worcester Wreath Company, owned by Morrill Worcester. You don't make the Forbes 400 selling green boughs. But it's a feel-good business -- one that transforms the winter-worn front doors of thousands of American homes with a bright green symbol of joy and giving. Morrill Worcester has a lot to remember and a lot to be thankful for. When he was 12 years old, he won a trip to the capital, and it was the groves and white marble memorials of nearby Arlington that impressed him the most. He never forgot it. Every year since 1992, he has given thousands of wreaths to mark graves at Arlington Cemetery, stenciling the snow-covered earth with rings of remembrance. His company makes them, and a local trucking firm hauls the wreaths down. For all of us, every year.
Last year 150 people, veterans and members of the military and Civil Air Patrol, came together to place wreaths on some 5,000 graves, including four at the Tomb of the Unknowns.
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