Dove Tree ceremony different this year

Wrangell's Dove Tree was set up in the downtown pavilion last week. The tree, an annual tradition by the Hospice of Wrangell, serves as a holiday memorial for loved ones who passed away that year. Community members are invited to visit the tree, write the names of loved ones on dove ornaments, and hang them on the tree. As of Dec. 7, over 50 doves are hanging on this year's tree. There was no in-person ceremony for the Dove Tree this year, due to COVID-19, but an on air ceremony was held last Saturday on KSTK.

"Every year since 2003, Hospice has organized the Dove Tree ceremony in the Nolan Center as a way to support those who are grieving lost loved ones during the holiday season," Alice Rooney said, during the ceremony. "2020 has been a very challenging year. We have not been able to gather and socialize due to pandemic restrictions. More significantly, we have not been able to follow our usual customs of funeral and memorial service events that help us to say goodbye after a death."

The on air Dove Tree Ceremony featured many community leaders. Don McConachie read "The Story of the Dove," where he spoke about the symbolism of doves throughout history and different cultures. Mayor Steve Prysunka read the names of those who passed away. Father Steve Gallagher of St. Rose of Lima was the ceremony's speaker, and Lt. Jon Tollerud of the Salvation Army gave the closing prayer. Heidi Armstrong and other community members provided music for the ceremony.

"My dearly beloved let us give thanks to God the father, through his son Jesus, in the Holy Spirit," Gallagher said, quoting St. Leo the Great, who served as pope from 440 to 461 A.D. "Because of this great love for us and we were dead in our sins, he brought us to life with Christ, so that in him we might be a new creation."

The names read during the ceremony included Robert Armstrong, Carolyn Lentz, Gene Hiebert, Randy Ferdinand, Mel Sather, Sydney (Dub) Jenkins, Mike Ottesen Sr., John Maxand, Harriet Stokes Bangs, Joanne Petticrew Anderson, Gregg Wilson, Alice Frank Thomas, Barbara Crabtree, Todd Harding, Floyd Steve Ramsey, Fred Thurston, Sylvia Casey Wells, Cathy Warner, Teresa Colberg Wallace, George A. Casey, Janet Teague, Dave Johnson, Joyce Philips, Hollis Hayes, Siguard (Sig) Decker, Helen Decker, Donald Covalt, Roberts Naumann, Darrel Gross, Henrietta (Hankie) Hoyt, Royann Churchill, Minnie Kalkins, Roy Guthrie Sr., James Hiebert, Robert (Bob) Grant, Leonard Ingle, Lena Marshall Gilman, Wayne Jabusch, David Cummings, Kimberly Anderson, Tom Wynn, Madeline Stella, Margaret Hall, Vera Mae Harto, and Kattie Davies.

"We are grateful to have known those who have gone on," Tollerud said in his closing prayer. "We are excited to reunite with them in your glory. We ask that at this time you comfort those who knew those who we've lost and remind them, as the scripture says, that in your eternal glory we will fellowship with you and with other believers. Bless us this day, and give us a clear heart and mind, and help us to remember those things which bring a smile to our face for those that we mourn at this time."