Boerne’s cemetery was filled with dozens of people Saturday morning, placing Christmas wreaths at graves. It was in the low 40s and raining steadily. One wonders what would compel those people to spend an hour or two in the cold and rain.
Turns out a woman in a dark coat and braids knew what was going on, as well as its backstory: “Heather Boyett, and I'm with Synergy here in Boerne.”
Golf carts came and went the whole time she spoke, carting people and wreaths throughout the city’s only cemetery.
“Today, we're hosting our Wreaths of Honor event,” Boyett said. “We asked volunteers to come out and help pay their respects and honor the veterans in the Boerne cemetery by laying wreaths on their graves.”
28 Songs Brewhouse funded the largest part of this effort. Other companies funded t-shirts, and another provided several golf carts for the day. They needed those golf carts because there were a lot of wreaths to place in this peaceful, live oak-covered place.
“There's over 800 wreaths. We do use faux wreaths so we can re-use them, and then we just replace the bows,” she said.
Each wreath came with a bright red bow. Boyette cited honoring veterans as her motivation, but she also had specific veterans here that she held dear.
“My grandfather is buried in the cemetery, Mac George. He served in World War II,” she said. “And so there are two of my great uncles. They're buried in the same area. And then my great grandfather is buried here, too, and he served in World War I.”
On Saturday, about 75 Boerneites were out in the rain, placing wreaths on 800 graves. “It is pretty cold and it's rainy," she said, "but it hasn't deterred the volunteers from coming out and helping.”
Their sacrifice was significant, but small compared to some.
