May 18 2021
Keith Lawrence | Messinger-Inquirer
Memorial Day activities in Daviess County were mostly canceled last year by the coronavirus pandemic.
But they’re coming back in force this year with at least 10 events scheduled.
Cathy Mullins, spokeswoman for Kentucky Remembers and her family’s Brandon Scott Mullins Memorial Foundation, said a new event is planned for 8 a.m. on May 31.
She said the Brandon Scott Mullins Memorial Foundation in partnership with the Kentucky Chapter of American Gold Star Mothers, the Woody Williams Foundation and Carry The Load are sponsoring a walk/run for the community that day.
It begins with an 8 a.m. opening ceremony and prayer at the Gold Star monument in Smothers Park.
“It’s free and not timed,” Mullins said. “It’s nothing intense. We just want people to come out and be part of it. We would love for families to come out together and start their day remembering and then go have a picnic or whatever.”
She said that at the foot of the Col. Charles E. Shelton Freedom Memorial in Smothers Park “are etched the words, ‘Enjoy your freedom. It was paid for.’ That is the sentiment and philosophy of this new event for our community.”
Her son, Spc. Brandon Scott Mullins was killed in Afghanistan on Aug. 25, 2011.
“Brandon paid it for us,” Mullins said. “Freedom is not to be taken for granted. But a lot of young people don’t realize the price that was paid.”
Memorial Day activities begin with the Rolling Thunder motorcycle group’s annual ceremony at the Shelton Memorial in Smothers Park at 6 p.m. on May 25.
The organization has been coming to Owensboro for more than three decades to honor Shelton, an Owensboro native who was long listed as the last prisoner from the Vietnam War.
At 5 p.m. on May 27, the Lt. Robert Moseley chapter of Sons of the American Revolution will honor the memories of 32 veterans of the Revolutionary War who once lived in Daviess County in a ceremony in Moseley Square Cemetery at Fifth and Triplett streets.
