Jim Andrew (left) and Donna (Ecklund) Sutton on Tuesday presented a check for $1,390 to the city of Jefferson to complete the fundraising for new flags at for the Avenue of Flags. Vicky Lautner (right), who oversees the city’s cemeteries as director of the park and recreation department, accepted the check.
The money was memorial gifts made in honor of Bill Ecklund, longtime commander of American Legion Floyd Brown Post 11 of Jefferson, when he passed away in 2013.
Legionnaire Andrew explained that the veterans discussed for many months how best to use the money. When they learned that 125 of the flags in the Avenue of Flags needed to be replaced, they decided that would be a fitting way to remember Ecklund. He had organized and presided over Memorial Day services at the cemetery for many years.
The check presentation was made at the Civil War monument at the Jefferson Municipal Cemetery, very near the place Ecklund stood every year on Memorial Day.
