RECENT Events

MAY,

The Auxiliary’s first Friday dinner was in celebration of Cinco de Mayo. Dinner consisted of Mexican chicken casserole, yellow rice, pinto beans, chips and dip, dessert, and Margaritas were available (on request).

We had a very nice turnout and everyone enjoyed the food and the Margaritas.

During our May Membership meeting the Officer Nominating Committee, consisting of Chuck Gantos (Chairman), Bill Ford and Donnie Williams, nominated the following officers for FY2027(which starts 1 July 2026).

Dave Beckley Commander 314-488-8760

Rodney Smith First Vice Commander 336-449-7550

Tommy Harris Service Officer 336-260-1375

Chuck Gantos Adjutant 336-516-0766

Gene Yax Finance Officer 336-534-7455

Donnie Williams Sgt. at Arms 336-260-5365

Ron Allred Chaplain 336-901-8159

Kathleen Yax Parliamentarian 336-421-9593

Lou Popowsky Historian 336-524-6127

Bill Ford Director 1 36-214-6099

Ronnie Sapp Director 2 336-675-2162

Bob Gerstenmaier Director 3 210-341-4374

There were no other members that were nominated from the floor, so the nominations of the Committee were accepted by acclamation.

Installation will probably be in June.

Memorial Day is in May and we always have a very busy weekend. On Friday and Saturday we put flags at the graves of veterans. Friday we place flags at the Northlawn Cemetery and Saturday we place flags at the Pine Hill Cemetery.

On Memorial Day we place a wreath at the Memorial Wall in Graham during the Memorial Day ceremony to honor the fallen of Alamance County.

Then on Tuesday we have to take up all the flags, dry them out and put them in storage for next year.

This year things changed a bit. We were having bad rain storms predicted for Saturday, so when we were finished at North Lawn Cemetery Dave suggested we go to Pine Hill Cemetery and place the flags there as well.

The following pictures at both cemeteries look like they were taken on the same overcast day because they were. It was overcast, but not raining, so we were able to finish both cemeteries.

The ground is so hard that we use a drill to make the hole before placing the flags.

The group at North Lawn Cemetery. There are two veteran’s sections at North Lawn. This is the older section.

Pine Hill only has one veteran’s section. The same problem of the extra hard dirt, so we use a drill here too.

This is the entire veteran’s section in Pine Hill Cemetery.

We were able to add another helper here, so this one was a little easier. We were still pretty tired when we finished. The Obelisk was placed here by Post 63 many years ago. We haven’t been able to find a record of when it was placed here.

Walter B. Ellis and his family plot is also in Pine Hill Cemetery

Then on Saturday, the Post provided breakfast for all that participated in the flag placements. Lee and his wife cooked breakfast for us.

The Memorial Day Ceremony was held inside the courthouse again this year.

Here’s Dave presenting the wreath for Post 63

Janet and Karen presented the wreath for the Auxiliary

Rodney presented the wreath for the 40 & 8

Landon Crockford playing Taps

On Tuesday we picked up the flags and it had just rained at the Pine Hill Cemetery, so we hung up the wet flags and let them dry out in our shed.

Our next scheduled event is the First Friday dinner. That will be grilled chicken.

Then, we would normally have a U.S. flag retirement ceremony on Flag Day, but the Post main hall was busy so we will have our Flag Retirement Ceremony on Saturday 27 June. Girl Scout troop 13012 will be helping by folding the flags that are slated for retirement and presenting the flags to the approving officials in the ceremony.

MARCH

Our First Friday dinner was a very nice celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. Our special St. Patrick’s Day chef Kyle did a great job of cooking up the two nice entrees (mentioned above) and Diana made 2 kinds of traditional Irish bread and a couple different deserts. The Auxiliary put out some great decorations. Everyone said their meals were great.

Photo by Lisa Hall

Chef Kyle (his usual smiley self)

FEBRUARY

We spent most of February recovering from the two snow storms in January. We did manage to have a small Super Bowl party, so I have a couple pictures from that.

Next up is March and we are planning to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day during our first Friday dinner. The main courses will be a choice of Beef Stew or Corned Beef and Cabbage.

JANUARY

At our January meeting Rodney presented certificates of appreciation from the 40 & 8, to the volunteers that helped with last year’s Flags for First Grader’s Program. There were 18 volunteers last year, but not all 18 were in attendance at the meeting.

Also, during the meeting, the Auxiliary announced that they will begin having a birthday party every month for those Post, Auxiliary and SAL members that are having a birthday that month.

The following is a picture of the presentation.

Picture by Kyle Potter

L – R: Rodney Smith, Ron Allred, Lou Popowsky, Chuck Gantos, Lisa Hall, Ron Sapp, Tim Little, Carl Sichi, Dave Beckley, Janet McFarland, Connie, Bob Gerstenmaier, Tom Byrne

Note the 250^th Anniversary pin on the bottom of the certificate.

The end of January was very eventful. We had 2 big snows and you can imagine a heck of a time clearing our parking lot and drive way. But as luck would have it, while Dave and I were putting in our 4^th hour on the parking lot we noticed a large pick-up (with a plow on the front) sitting in the street watching us. When we paused for a short break, he pulled in and offered to push the rest of it out of the way. Seems that he comes from a long lineage of military service members and just wanted to help us out for his good deed for the day. His 15 minutes saved us several hours of work and enabled us to hold Bingo the next night. We probably would not have been able to clear enough of the parking lot to hold Bingo.

So, I’m giving a shout out to Mr. Steve Waltman, who runs the Natural Gardens of Elon, commercial and residential landscaping and maintenance services. 336-584-7210. Thank you, Sir.

DECEMBER

For the year 2025 we believe the following Post 63 members passed to Post Everlasting.
1.   John Ralph Bennick Jr., passed on 27 January 2025, 81 years old, Navy, Vietnam era, 1 year of Legion membership.
2.   Glen W. Anderson, passed on 4 February 2025, 89 Years old, Vietnam War era, 19 years of Legion membership.
3.    Robert Ockenhouse, passed on 24 February 2025, 97 years old, Marines, WW2, 7 years of Legion membership.
4.     James Bean, passed on 17 March, 2025, 87 years old, USAF, Vietnam, 18 years of Legion membership.
5.    Thomas Edward Ragan, passed on 7 April 2025, 90 years old, Air Force, Korea, 12 years of Legion membership.
6.     Richard Arnold Dickerson, passed on 3 April 2025, 91 years old, Army, Korean War, 41 years of Legion membership.
7.    Darrell Braxton Holmes, passed on 15 April 2025, 90 years old, Army, Korean War, 23 years of Legion membership.
8.    Charles Maye, passed on 2 May 2025, 84 years old, Amy, Vietnam Era, 10 years of Legion membership.
9.   Tyrone C. Edgerston, passed on 24 August 2025, 65 years old, Army, Lebanon/Grenada, 7 years of Legion membership.
10. Bobby Ray Jones, Passed on 31 December 2025, 92 years old, Air Force, 15 years of Legion membership.

We decided to have our Christmas party in conjunction with the first Friday dinner. The Auxiliary donated the ham and everybody brought a dish. The Auxiliary did a very nice job of decorating the main hall and took full advantage of all the shelves that the sound absorbers provided. We had much better participation for this event and lots and lots of great food. We were even surprised when we got there and realized that Walt had decided to play and sing some Christmas songs for us while we ate. Thanks Walt that was a real treat.

Diana outdid herself baking deserts again

We did a pretty nice job of filling up the main hall and had some people eating in the Lounge as well.

There’s Walt playing the guitar and harmonica at the same time.

The Forty & Eight Veterans Honor Society, Voiture 1237, of Burlington with the help of American Legion Post 63 and American Legion Auxiliary 63 have completed the Flags for First Graders presentations for the 2025-2026 School Year. We had a total of 18 volunteers participate in our presentations this year. The 40 & 8 and Post 63 have been making these presentations at elementary schools in Alamance County since 1997.

The 31 schools visited consisted of 20 public schools, 8 private schools, and 3 charter schools with First Grade class sizes ranging from a low of 12 to a high of 139.

Volunteers drove a total of 4,161 miles, expended 405 man hours and distributed 2,342 flags to first grade students and teachers.

Our presentation consists of a short history of our flag, the meaning of the Pledge of Allegiance, proper flag etiquette, how to correctly fold the flag and the meaning of each fold. A poem “Our Flag” is read at the end of the presentation. We give each teacher a condensed copy of the program and a DAV Pamphlet on how to care for the flag, then we present each teacher and student with a small flag to keep. The program is supported by the following organizations; Voiture 1237 of the Forty & Eight Veterans Honor Society; American Legion Post 63; American Legion Post 63 Bingo Committee; and Office Depot.

We appreciate the cooperation of the administration, principals and teachers at all the schools we visited in Alamance County and we look forward to continuing these presentations in the years to come.

The following are just a few of the many pictures taken during the presentations.

AO Elementary

Presenters: Ron Allred, Rodney Smith, Chuck Gantos, Linda Woody

EM Holt Elementary

Presenters: Ron Allred, Katherine Yax, Rodney Smith

Faith Christian Academy

Presenters: Lou Popowsky, Rodney Smith, Tim Little, Ron Allred

Smith Elementary School

Presenters: Lou Popowsky, Ron Allred, Rodney Smith

NOVEMBER

Ron Namest thought we needed a bigger TV in the Lounge, so he donated a very nice Samsung. We were able to install it just before the Chili Cook-Off, so we had big TVs going in the Lounge and the Main Hall during the Chili eating festivities.

But before the Chili cook-off was Veteran’s Day and the Graham Veteran’s Parade the Saturday before. We had 4 trucks in the parade and a pretty good representation of members to ride in the trucks.

And since we were really near the front of the parade this year, the Alamance County Sheriff was right behind us and we all got to meet him and got a picture with him that was later included on the Sheriff’s Facebook page.

You will see with the first picture that Ron availed himself of the county run special bus for the parade participants from the middle school to the beginning of the parade.

Here’s Ron being helped off the bus by Bill.

Donnie’s Truck

That’s Ed and Donnie leaning against the truck. Dave is looking at his truck.

Dave’s Truck

There’s Donnie, Dave and Ron.

Rodney’s Truck

The two Rons and Bobby are in the front and Rodney is getting something out of the back seat.

Bill’s Truck

You can see the Sheriff’s lead car directly behind Bill’s truck.

Bill imbibes in a cup of coffee while we wait for the parade to get started.

I guess he didn’t get the memo that everyone is supposed to look away while I’m taking pictures.

We are still waiting for the parade to start.

It was a really long wait for the parade to start.

This is the only picture anyone got with our whole group. No the Sheriff is not a member of Post 63, but he’s already campaigning for next year’s election.

The Chili cook-off was the next day. A little subdued compared to last year, but still a very nice time with lots of good food and good member participation. We had 2 TVs going with games on, and 6 chili entries. We also had several different corn breads and several different deserts. I think everybody got plenty to eat.

The winners from the cook-off.

L – R: Toni first place, Kyle second place, Kathleen third place.

Kyle’s place of employment, “Merritts Grill” in Chapel Hill donated a $30 and a $15 gift card for the first and second place winners, so that was a nice addition to the prize money chips that were given to the winners (3 chips for first place, 2 chips for second place, and 1 chip for third place). Since Kyle won second place, he gave his gift card to Kathleen

OCTOBER

The furniture committee purchased a new sofa, chair, desk, and 2 end tables for the foyer.

Here are some pictures.

We held a Trunk or Treat on the last weekend of October for the local families. The Trunk or Treat was a real success. Our members donated candy all through the month so there was plenty to give out to the kids that came out, and this year we had 6 cars that were decorated for the event.

Here are some pictures.

Of course we had a Best Trunk Decorations judging.

#1 – Lorie

#2 – Christina

#3 – Tom Leamey

SEPTEMBER

During the September board meeting Dave announced that we should change the furniture in the Foyer and set up a committee to purchase the new furniture.

The old furniture will be donated to someone who needs it.

The whole renovation included new light fixtures, new HVAC diffusers, new receptacles and switches, and removal of the smoke eaters.

Here are a couple pictures of the completed Main Hall project.

AUGUST

Our next work project is painting the main hall. We have tentatively scheduled that to begin on 20 August. We have some preparations to do before we can paint, so that will have to be started soon.

First though, Rodney and I finished installing the parking lot bumpers in the handicapped spaces.

We had a very good crew that worked on painting the main hall and were able to get all the painting done in two days. That was a real surprise that it went so fast.

Here are some pictures of the painting crew.

As you can see, we had a lot of help from Home Depot employees who volunteered their own time to come over and help paint. They really did a great job and a lot of work. Without their help it would have taken us several days more to complete the painting.

Here’s a list of the folks from Home Depot that came over to help us.

Mary K. Jenney M.

Kristi B. Tyrone B.

Morgan B. Janebah P.

Bob K. Joseph A.

Bernadette K. Tommy A.

Chuck S. Tienette C.

I also want to thank Home Depot for their contributions to our Post. The Home Depot Foundation of helping veteran’s organizations has again enabled our Post to do renovations that we could not have afforded to do on our own. Home Depot donated all the materials including the paint, rollers and handles, drop clothes, paint brushes, scaffolding, light fixtures, HVAC diffusers, receptacles and plates, and electrical switches and plates.

JULY

We dispensed with a July meeting in favor of a picnic on the 4^th. Lots of Post, Auxiliary and SAL members and families came out to celebrate Independence Day and enjoy a nice meal with friends and family. We were in the main hall to beat the heat of the outside.

The Auxiliary did an exemplary job of decorating the main hall and getting all the food on the table. Andy did most of the cooking of the hamburgers and hot dogs, of course with several “helpers” out there with him. Diana made a boat load of desserts, including a home made marsh mellow and chocolate pop on a stick that was wonderful, and we had several other desserts (I couldn’t tell who made what), as you’ll see in the picture.

During his greetings, Dave announced that Home Depot has approved their donation to our main hall painting project, and we already have the gift cards in hand. So we will be planning the beginning of that project very soon.

We drew the 6 raffle ticket winners. We sold most of the 700 tickets, and brought in a total of nearly $11,000.00. But I don’t remember how much all the prizes cost. So we’ll get a final result during the July Board meeting.

Here are the winners:

Robert C. – Henry 4.10

Carlos C. – Colt 1911

Bob G.- Colt AR-15

Darryl Van F. – Lowe’s gift card

Issac R. – Home Depot gift card

Andy W. – Home Depot gift card

Huddle F. – Beach gift package

Danny H. – Dinner/movie passes

The Post provided hamburgers, hotdogs and soft drinks. Everyone brought a side dish or desert.

Dave is greeting everyone

Since the parking lot has been resealed, Dave thought it might be nice to have some parking stops at the end of the parking spaces, so people don’t park on the grass in the future. So he ordered them and we had a couple work details to install them.

Here’s the parking lot after Pot Holes USA resealed, striped and painted in the Handicap signs. They really did a nice job.

Who knew that Dave could swing a hammer?

Bobby is leaning on the electric hammer

We had all but the three stops for the Handicap parking spots. We’ll get them on our next work project.

At the end of our fiscal year, I thought it fitting to recognize the Legionnaires that have passed this year. I’m sorry to say there are several that passed earlier and we didn’t know about them, so I have included their information at this time.

1. Steven Keith Hunter, Passed on 22 January 2023, 68 Years old, Air Force, Vietnam War era, 21 Years of Legion membership.

2. Colin Jeffries, Passed on 7 July 2023, 78 Years old, Air Force, Vietnam War, 8 Years of Legion membership.

3. Wilbert Baxter (Bob) Harkey, Passed on 6 March 2024, 91, Navy, Korean War era, 58 Years of Legion membership.

4. Dale Edwin Wolfe, Passed on 7 August 2024, 83 Years old, Air Force, Vietnam War era, 1 year of Legion membership.

5. James Glenn Blake, Passed on 12 July 2024, 70, Navy, Lebanon/Grenada, PUFL, 25 years of Legion membership.

6. Roger Dale Stutts, Passed on 27 July 2024, 77, Army, Vietnam, 12 years of Legion membership.

7. Roger Felt Whaley Sr., Passed on 30 July 2024, 82, Army, Vietnam, 20 years of Legion membership.

8. Winford Eugene Rainey, passed on 31 August 2024. 89 years old, Army, Korean War, 28 years of Legion membership.

9. Vincent “Kurt” Larkin, Passed on 27 September 2024, 81 years old, Air Force, Vietnam Era, 6 years of Legion membership.

10. Robert Bruce Hubbard, Passed on 30 October 2024, 95 years old, Army, Korean War, 27 years of Legion membership.

11. Elmo Oscar Hatley, Passed on 10 December 2024, 103 years old, Army Air Corp., WW2, 46 years of Legion membership.

12. George Amash, Passed on 16 December 2024, 74 years old, Army, Vietnam War, 42 years of Legion membership.

13. Glen W. Anderson, Passed on 4 February 2025, 89 Years old, Vietnam War era, 19 years of Legion membership.

14. Robert Ockenhouse, Passed on 24 February 2025, 97, Marines, WW2, 7 Years of Legion membership.

15. James Bean, Passed on 17 March, 2025, 87, USAF, Vietnam, 18 Years of Legion membership.

16. Thomas Edward Ragan, Passed on 7 April 2025, 90, Air Force, Korea, 12 years of Legion membership.

17. Richard Arnold Dickerson, Passed on 3 April 2025, 91, Army, Korean War, 41 years of Legion membership.

18. Darrell Braxton Holmes, Passed on 15 April 2025, 90, Army, Korean War, 23 years of Legion membership.

19. Charles Maye, Passed on 2 May, Amy, Vietnam Era, 10 years of Legion membership.

JUNE

We had a very quick June meeting so we could have the installation of our 2026 officers.

District Commander Charles Johnson presided for our officer swearing in ceremony.

Our 2026 officers are listed from L to R.

Commander = Dave Beckley

1st Vice Commander = Rodney Smith

Adjutant = Chuck Gantos

Finance Officer = Gene Yax

Chaplain = Jim King

Historian = Lou Popowsky

Sgt at Arms = Donnie Williams

Parliamentarian = Kathleen Yax

Director 1 = Claude Campbell

Director 2 = Ron Sapp

Director 3 = Bill Ford

On Flag Day (14 June) we had a Flag Retirement Ceremony.

Our Post in conjunction with Girl Scout Troop 13012 held the ceremony at our Flag burn pit that had been provided by Girl Scout Troop 13012 last year. The weather was sunny, hot and dry and perfect for a Flag Retirement Ceremony.

The following were the participants:

Acting Commander for the ceremony was Ron Allred

1st Vice Commander – Rodney Smith

Second Vice Commander – Bobby Gerstenmaier

Chaplain – Jim King

Sgt at Arms – Donnie Williams

Bugler – Dave VanWormer

Fire Detail – Ron Namest, Lloyd Dosser

The ceremony went very smoothly and professionally. After the ceremony most of us went back to the Lounge to cool off and relax before heading home.

Here are some pictures from the ceremony.

Standard procedure is to fold the flags that are to be retired before the ceremony.

The Girl Scouts and their leaders came in early to fold the flags and were helped by Rodney, Jim and Carl.