12/11/2025
Good afternoon everyone! Here are the details for Saturday’s Wreaths Across America Ceremony at Sky-View Memorial Park, Inc.
To all of our volunteers, scouts, sponsors, individuals, and donors:
Message for all Wreaths Across America Volunteers
Thank you for volunteering for Wreaths Across America at Sky-View Memorial Park on December 13, 2025. The 2025 WAA theme is “Keep Moving Forward”, and the greater Tamaqua area has done just that: we are proud to report approximately 608 volunteers have registered and 3,204 wreaths have been sponsored at Sky-View, so each volunteer will have multiple opportunities to place a wreath at a veteran’s resting place.
The event will take place regardless of weather conditions. Bathroom facilities will be available at Sky-View, and there will also be complimentary coffee and hot chocolate for volunteers.
Please continue reading for information about parking, the ceremony, and laying wreaths.
BENEFACTORS AND COMMUNITY SPONSORS
Basile’s Italian Delight Restaurant, American Family Services Foundation, and the Sky-View Memorial Park Board of Directors are the primary benefactors this year. Kistler Transportation and the Hometown Farmers Market likewise made contributions of facilities and services for this event.
To all benefactors, donors, volunteers, and wreath sponsors, we extend a sincere “thank you” for your generosity – we are proud to partner with you in honoring our American heroes.
PARKING
All parking for the event will be at the Hometown Farmers Market, 125 Mahanoy Avenue, Tamaqua. Volunteers will be shuttled back and forth to the cemetery by school buses, and the buses will run continually in both directions from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM.
Handicapped Parking will be available at Sky-View only for those with a handicapped placard or plate. Parking at the cemetery is very limited.
Rush Township Police and Fire Police will be stationed in front of Sky-View to dissuade people from parking in the office lot or on the highway.
Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts and their leaders are asked to be in front of the mausoleum by 11:40 AM to receive special instructions for wreath laying.
BALD EAGLE
Our friends at Carbon County Environmental Education Center are bringing Rennie the Bald Eagle to Sky-View Memorial Park for an educational program beginning at 11:00 a.m. The program will showcase Rennie and speak to all things Eagles (not the football team). The program will also discuss why Bald Eagles have a specific connection with Veterans and other patriotic facts.
CEREMONY
The Wreaths Across America ceremony will begin promptly at 12:00 noon and will include lay-minister Ruth Gardiner and Bugler Thomas Graham. John Buglio and the Tamaqua Area High School Jazz Chorus will perform the “America the Beautiful” and “God Bless America.” The National Anthem will be performed by Rebecca Hinkle.
Ceremonial wreaths will be laid by Jack Kulp and Chris Whippel (Army), Mark Urick (Navy), Charles Greer (Marines), Dale Kline (Coast Guard), Kelly Sevetz (Air Force), Greg Dancheck (Merchant Marines) Sharon Gladski(Space Force), Nate Johns (POW/MIA) and several Gold Star Families.
It is expected that the ceremony will take no more than 20 minutes and will include instructions for laying wreaths.
LAYING WREATHS
No wreaths will be distributed until after the ceremony has concluded. There will be NO exceptions.
Volunteers should only take one wreath at a time. Wreaths should only be placed on graves that are marked with either a metal American flag holder or small, red surveying flag. Proper etiquette is to lay the wreath on the grave immediately underneath the name of the deceased with the bow at the 12:00 position for uniformity. It is requested that you say the name of the veteran aloud and take a moment to say any words of remembrance, prayer, or thanks.
The markers of veterans that are demarcated with a small, neon-green surveying flag are places of distinction -- they are the cenotaphs of the 89 war-dead that are memorialized at Sky-View and are primarily located next to the trees that line the roads. Family members of these men and women, along with the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, will be given the honor of laying wreaths on these veterans’ resting places.
There are also a handful of blue surveying flags throughout the cemetery. These are used by the grounds staff to identify graves that need to be re-sodded and should not necessarily receive a wreath unless the site is also marked with either an American flag holder or with a small,surveying flag - color will be announced at the ceremony.
If you are putting a wreath at a columbarium, lay the wreath at the foot of the column in which the veteran is interred. Even if there is more than one veteran in that column, there should only be one wreath placed per column to represent them all. Likewise, if you place a wreath in the mausoleum, place it at the foot of the column in which the veteran is entombed to represent all in that column.
If you need directions to a specific veteran’s place of rest, you can get assistance from one of the cemetery staff (wearing red WAA hats) or by calling the Sky-View office at (570) 668-4100. The office will be open during the event. Note that you can also search Sky-View’s website for the section and lot of any burial in the cemetery.
PICTURES
Professional photographer, Manda Jean Beers, will be present, but you are invited to take your own pictures as well.
In addition, you are encouraged to post your pictures on social media, especially any picture that bears the names of the veterans that you have honored with a wreath.
In all aspects (including the photos), please remember to show proper respect for the day’s activities.
Thank you again for participating in Wreaths Across America at Sky-View, and we look forward to seeing you on Saturday!
We 4 WAA and Sky-View Memorial
Wreaths Across America at Sky View Memorial
