On Tuesday November 10, 2015, twenty students from St. Gabriel the Archangel Junior Senior High School attended the No Stone Left Alone Memorial Service held at the Garden of Peace Cemetery just off of Highway #1.
Despite the chilly weather, the students that participated found the experience to be a deeply personal way to remember those that have given us the freedom we so enjoy. The ceremony was led by Sergeant Gibson and Corporal Weir from Edmonton as well as Rocky View cemetery staff and “was a touching, true to life experience for many of the students”, said Diana Baker of St. Gabriel the Archangel.
The “No Stone Left Alone” program is designed so that students can attend ceremonies at cemeteries across the country and participate in the ceremony by placing a poppy and a Canadian Flag at each of the gravesites in the Field of Honour. When asked, the students found this to be an extremely memorable way to acknowledge the actions of our veterans and to participate in Remembrance Day. The students could also show this sign of respect knowing that when relatives of these fallen heroes arrive on November 11, there will already be a sign at each gravestone that a student has already been there to also remember their loved one.
No Stone Left Alone Memorial Foundation is a non-profit organization working directly with the Canadian Armed Forces, educators across the country, and numerous volunteers to educate, act and honour our military fallen that lay in the Fields of Honour across Canada.
Their purpose is to recognize the sacrifices of our military and place a poppy, the symbol of Remembrance on every headstone. Through our ceremonial efforts, our main goals are to educate and engage the next generation as well as to help raise awareness and funds for our Canadian veterans, serving soldiers and their families.
2015 marks the 5th annual commemoration ceremonies for No Stone Left Alone Memorial Foundation.
This initiative was launched by Mrs. Maureen G. Bianchini-Purvis in recognition of the sacrifice of the Canadian men and women who have lost their lives in the service of peace, at home and abroad. Maureen Purvis was inspired by her own deceased parents, who both served for Canada in World War II, as well as her daughter, Mrs. Keely Yates, who had a big idea as a young child. After placing a poppy on her grandparents’ headstones every Remembrance Day, she couldn’t help but notice that many soldiers’ headstones were without a poppy year after year. It became her mission to see that one day all of the soldiers’ headstones would have a poppy placed in their honour and the cemetery would resemble the idea of Flanders Fields where the poppies grow “row on row.”
