By Tanya Connor
The Catholic Free Press
A local pastor and Catholic high school students received thanks for their service at a Veterans Day cemetery celebration.
Theirs wasn’t military service. But it was service that in some ways recognized service people.
Father Francis A. Roberge, pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Baldwinville, received a plaque of recognition at the annual Veterans Day ceremony Monday at Massachusetts Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Winchendon.
Students from St. Bernard Central Catholic High School in Fitchburg got a certificate of appreciation for helping with the event.
Presenting Father Roberge’s award was Coral May Grout, whose father, Charles Grout, secured the land from the town of Winchendon so the Veterans Administration could create the cemetery, said Claude Poirier, cemetery administrative officer. He said the state now facilitates the cemetery.
“Father Roberge has been very gracious,” giving his time to celebrate more than 50 percent of the committal services in the cemetery chapel, he said.
Funeral homes often ask Father Roberge to conduct a service if the deceased person was Catholic, and sometimes even if not, Mr. Poirier said. If families request the cemetery’s help in finding a clergyman, the cemetery refers them Father Roberge.
Father Roberge said the plaque meant “an awful lot” to him – he was not expecting it. He said clergy serve because there’s a need, not to be recognized. But it’s nice when they are recognized.
He said he started conducting services 15 years ago, when he arrived at the parish and the cemetery opened. People come from everywhere to bury loved ones in this veterans cemetery, so their pastors can’t always come, he explained. He said he probably gets a stipend of $25 to $100 half the time – if a funeral director requests his services.
“I’ve done it all these years because I will not say ‘no’ to a veteran,” he said, adding that his brother, father, uncle and grandfather were veterans.
The 28 St. Bernard’s students didn’t say “no” either, even though that meant getting up before 7 a.m. on a day off from school to board a bus for the cemetery.
Once there, they distributed programs, helped seat guests, led the Pledge of Allegiance and lit a candle for the POW/MIA Missing Man table, Mr. Poirier said. He said about 140 people attended the celebration, which also featured talks.
“We presented the student athletes with a certificate of appreciation,” he said.
“We’re trying to teach the kids that they need to give back and have some responsibility in community service,” said Faith Merchant, St. Bernard’s athletic director. “We had a great participation. It was the students’ day off (which) really showed that they do care and wanted to be involved. … I think they were happy that they did it. I thanked them and they said it was their pleasure.”
The school is always looking for things for students to be involved in, said Mark Pinard, whose son Jonny is a junior there. He said he knows Mr. Poirier and asked him if he would like students to be involved in any ceremonies at the cemetery. He said Mr. Poirier suggested the Veterans Day event.
So, Mr. Pinard presented the idea to Mrs. Merchant and to the principal, Linda D. Anderson, and “they thought it was a great idea,” he said.
Mrs. Merchant said they decided to do this with the athletic department, inviting students to sign up to attend. Then they opened it to the whole school. She said 22 football team members, three girls’ soccer team members, two girls’ field hockey team members and one student who is not an athlete went. She and Paul Constantino, dean of students, took them.
Mr. Pinard said several students have ties to the military, but his son was the only one who had a family member buried in the cemetery – his grandfather, retired Army Master Sgt. Donald Scales. So Jonny lit the POW/MIA table candle, along with classmate Lindsey Daw, whose grandfather, retired Navy Cmdr. Joseph P. Belotti Jr., is still living.
“Lindsey, who’s only 17, said she was tearing up,” Lynne Daw, her mother, said. After the ceremony, which she couldn’t attend, Ms. Daw said Lindsey texted her, “That was really moving.”
“She was a little nervous at first,” Ms. Daw said.
Lindsey also asked her mother to thank Mr. Pinard for asking her to participate.
“It makes me feel good as a parent” that young people appreciate what veterans have done, Ms. Daw said.
“People do get emotional – especially the ones that have loved ones buried here,” said Mr. Poirier. “We’re all on the same wavelength. It doesn’t matter what political party. We all appreciate our veterans, past and present.”