Burrellton Garden Club to dedicate Blue Star plaque May 29 to honor veterans

The Burrellton Garden Club is sponsoring a Blue Star plaque dedication on Memorial Day weekend.

The organization earned approval from a national club to bestow a Blue Star marker honoring all military veterans. The marker is a project of the National Garden Clubs.

The event will take place Saturday, May 29 at the existing memorial in front of Stewart Elementary School.

It will include an appearance by the honor guard from the Lower Burrell American Legion and a performance of the national anthem by Houston Middle School student Elliana Koulouris.

The public is invited to the free event. Veterans and their families are encouraged to attend, said Leeanna Ryba of Lower Burrell, a longtime member of the Burrellton Garden Club and the first vice president of the Garden Club Federation of Pennsylvania.

“The Blue Star designation and plaque adds another important feature to Lower Burrell’s war memorial,” Ryba said.

The club has invited the members of the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Westmoreland County Marine Corps League, Lower Burrell officials and members of the Garden Club Federation of Pennsylvania District VII.

The club maintains the gardens at the site. It has been refurbishing the gardens at the memorial for the past several years. Its members redesigned the garden, added cement edging and installed new plants, she said.

The American Legion donated money to help with the gardens.

“We thought the memorial needed to be updated and made into something people can appreciate more,” Ryba said.

The Blue Star Program honors all men and women who serve in the U.S. armed services. It began with the planting of 8,000 dogwood trees by the New Jersey Council of Garden Clubs in 1944 as a living memorial to veterans of World War II.

In 1945, the National Council of State Garden Clubs (now NGC Inc.) adopted the program and began a Blue Star Highway system that covers thousands of miles across the country.

The Blue Star was adopted because it had become an icon in World War II. It was seen on flags and banners in homes for sons and daughters away at war as well as in churches and businesses.