Addie McCluskey
Elmore Autauga News
The Captain William Bibb Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR) hosted Wreaths Across America, Dec. 13, 2025, at Wetumpka City Cemetery.
Wreaths Across America is a non-profit organization that coordinates wreath-laying ceremonies at veterans’ gravesites every year on National Wreaths Across America Day, usually the second Saturday in December.
“Today, as we honor those who have served, may we leave with deeper gratitude for the freedoms we enjoy and the goodness that God continuously places in our paths,” said John Rawls, guest speaker. “May we also recognize the refining power of life’s bitter moments, which shape us into who God wants us to become.”
The purpose of Wreaths Across America is to remember fallen heroes, honor those who serve as well as their families, and teach the next generation the value of freedom by ensuring the sacrifices of America’s service members are never forgotten.
“We aren’t here to just decorate graves,” said Paul Wolbeck, master of ceremonies. “We’re here to remember the lives of the fallen. A person dies twice: The first time when their souls leave their bodies, and the second time when their name is spoken for the last time, so I ask, as we lay the wreaths today, that we say their names.”
Following the ceremony, veterans, families, and community members moved through the cemetery, placing wreaths at gravesites and pausing in quiet reflection to speak the names of the fallen, ensuring their service and sacrifices were remembered and honored.
