Avery Volunteers Working to Honor Veterans
- Jul 10
- 2 min read
By Kenny Mitchell
Members of the community in Avery have come together for a common purpose, and that purpose is to honor those who have served our country in the armed forces.
An effort is underway to honor and all of the veterans laid to rest in the Avery Cemetery by placing a special commemorative wreath on their final resting place for Christmas this year. The work being done now is to identify all of the veterans in the cemetery and that is where the organizers need the help of the community.
Volunteers are working to identify and mark each veteran’s grave on a master map so that no one is overlooked. They currently have nearly 300 veterans listed, but believe there are more. Some graves are marked with military headstones or footstones, while others have no visible indication of service.
Organizers of the effort are asking the community to come forward if you have a family member buried in the Avery Cemetery who served in the military, but whose grave is not marked as a veteran. They want to ensure that every veteran laid to rest at the cemetery is honored.
Organizer Cheryl Megason told the West Bowie Post, “It just hit me as a burden, and I thought to myself that we ought to be able to do this here for our veterans. It is like Wreaths across America. It hits home with our generation I believe. When I was thinking about it I knew I couldn’t do this by myself so I reached out to several of them that I thought would help, and they did, and with their help we have already received some donations. Prayerfully it will come to pass, and we can do this to honor our veterans.”
Megason and the other volunteers hope to get the project done late November and have the wreaths on each gravesite for Christmas 2026.
With that many wreaths to place, donations are needed to support the effort, and they have several different ways to make a donation.
An account has been established at State Bank of DeKalb and you can make a donation to the cause there by telling the bank your donation is for the Avery Remembrance Project Account.
You can also make a digital donation via several options including CashApp, Venmo and PayPal with the following information:
Cash App: $Sondrarustgray
Venmo: @sondrarustgray
PayPal: @sondrarust
Lastly, if you choose you can mail in your donation to Cheryl Megason at P.O. Box 197, Avery, Texas 75554
The organizers also plan to have a booth at the upcoming 4th of July festivities in Avery, and you can learn more about the project, volunteer to help, or make a donation in person.
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