HANOVER TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- With Memorial Day weekend getting underway, plenty of people made the most of Friday’s nice weather by prettying up the grave sites of their loved ones who served in the military.
Newswatch 16 visited a cemetery in Luzerne County.
While Carol Lippincott makes room for flowers on the grave site of a friend who served in the military, she also digs up memories from the past.
“It's such a lovely day and Memorial Day, of course, is Monday so I'd like to do something for my family who have passed away and my friends who have passed away,” Lippincott said.
Red, white and blue flags flowed in the wind at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Hanover Township.
Each honored every person who was buried there and served.
Lippincott said she wasn’t the only one taking advantage of the nice weather to give back.
“I just bought flowers and it was so crowded. Everybody was doing the same thing and I'm sure they're heading to cemeteries just as I was,” Lippincott said.
St. Mary’s Cemetery in Hanover Township has a long military past. Some of the first people buried here served in the Civil War.
“Pennsylvania is a big military state. So, we should give back at least,” Shawn Viadock of Duryea said.
Shawn and his wife Jennifer were hired to touch up the cemetery’s fence.
Viadock said he has been working before Memorial Day at the cemetery for 30 years and it never loses its meaning.
“Well if anything they do deserve it. They put their time in so it's the least we can do,” Viadock said.
Grounds people and families hope all their hard work pays off for all the veterans on Monday.