Activities Office
The PebbleCreek 2023 Salute to Veterans event in the Renaissance Theater on Nov. 9 was a lovely event that featured moving stories, inspirational remarks, beautiful music, and a heartfelt thanks to all veterans. The program featured a wide variety of presenters and performers as follows:
The Posting of the Colors by Luke Air Force Base Honor Guard. The National Anthem was sung with patriotic spirit by A Few Good Men: Kirk Brown, Dan Croy, Bernie Dant, Jerry Drake, Jeff Harrison, John Husk, Jerry Miller, Rex Nelson, Russ Kittel, and Monte Sriver and directed by Bev Griggs. The Pledge of Allegiance was led with honor by Jean Gwyn.
Master of Ceremonies (MC) Lt. Col. USAF (ret.) Dr. Keith Haar, MD, did a brilliant job! The program continued with a dance tribute to America the Beautiful by Dance Fusion, choreographed by Karyn Horst, and featuring the graceful beauty of dancers Lynne Carlyle, Nancy Clyne, Nancy Crooks, Dale Everson, Barb Faler, Laurie Farquhar, Diana Ho, Kathy Luders, Becca Maier, Patti Reed, and Ann Roman.
The special guest speaker this year was Lt. Col. USAF (ret.) Jack Gregory. This is the second time we have heard from Jack over the years, and his remarks are always extremely moving. God Bless the USA was performed beautifully by Becky Trimble.
Always a moving highlight was the Presentation of Quilts done by the PC Quilters who select a group of veterans each year and give them patriotic quilts made by the group. This presentation was led by Linda Rowe and PC Quilters club members. The club presented each veteran with a patriotic quilt created especially for him/her. This year’s honorees included: Gregg Archer, Robert Bowman, Bruce Brown, Patricia Chernow, John Cipro, Mark Clark, Dennis Hagen, Dawn Hangen, Bill Harris, Susan Higgins, Robert Higgins, Robert Lewis, Bill Matteucci, Ted McGovern, Edward Morrison, Chris Pelikan, John Robinson Biggs, Jerry Santy, Kevin Stephan, Tom Tenne, and Ted Thompson. Committee members included Marka Locker, Carol Moonan, Carla Peccianti, Diane Rottman, Karen Winn, and Linda Publicover. The club thanked the 2023 PebbleCreek veteran honorees for their service and the sponsors who supported this event.
Next the audience favorite Medley of Military Songs had attendees standing in song to sing along to their military branch. As the afternoon drew to a close, a wonderful performance of This Is My Country combined the talents of A Few Good Men, Dance Fusion, and Becky Trimble to the delight of the audience.
MC, Lt. Col. USAF (ret.) Dr. Keith Haar, MD summed up the gratitude and thankful feelings felt by all in attendance with his moving closing remarks before the Retrieval of Colors ceremony by The Luke Air Force Base Honor Guard.
Special recognition and thanks must go to the beautiful Sandra Hand whose moving slideshow featuring our community veterans (and family) in uniform graced and greeted the audience as they arrived and departed. In addition, her work honoring veterans was shown on the lobby TVs in the clubhouses during the Veterans Day weekend.
A special thank you to Maj. Richard Froncek (dec’d) and Jym Snider for donation of the military flags; Matt Drui, lights and sound; the Activities Office; and Patti Wegehaupt, chairperson of this event. Everyone worked so hard to make this a special event to truly honor all those who served.