Sisters marks Memorial Day

Last updated May 31, 2011 12:0pm0

Tom Salgado count

The High Desert Chorale offered a medley of patriotic songs.

Jim Cornelius count

Tine Thissen spoke of American war graves in The Netherlands.

Sisters marked Memorial Day with respect and remembrance at Village Green Park on Monday, its ceremony conducted by the Sisters VFW and American Legion. Veterans, friends and honored guests filled the damp grass for the traditional observances and salute to those who bravely made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

They came waving souvenir flags, decorated service caps, wearing red, white and blue shirts, wrapped in Marine Corps blankets and Old Glory sweatshirts to pay homage to veterans and their timeless legacy of service.

Following the posting of the colors by the Redmond JROTC, pastor Chuck Perry delivered a solemn invocation thanking the men and women of our armed forces. Above him, the American flag hung at half mast in honor of the special day. SMSgt Gene Hellickson, retired Air Force and American Legion post commander, led the program and introduced three Pearl Harbor survivors in attendance.

The High Desert Chorale offered a medley of patriotic tunes. Sisters High School Principal Bob Macauley was presented with a plaque in recognition and appreciation of all his support of Sisters area veterans.

Speaker Tine Thissen from the Netherlands welcomed everyone to "this beautiful little park" and gave a stirring account of her childhood during the Nazi invasion. The story of their family's survival at a small village hotel and the limestone caves where her father left a note written in charcoal of their 14-day ordeal was especially poignant. Fifty years later they traveled back to those same caves and discovered the exact alcove where they had fled, and re-read her father's message.

She also told of the famous American Cemetery at Margraten, six miles from her birthplace, where 8,301 U.S. soldiers are laid to rest.

"It's been called the most beautiful American cemetery in Europe," she said. "I visit the cemetery as often as I can and it always gives me goosebumps."

American Legion Adjutant Lance Trowbridge read the names of veterans who have passed since last year, with a symbolic tolling of the bell in accompaniment. Their names will be inscribed on the veteran's memorial stone in August.

Earl Schroeder, VFW vice-commander, thought it was a marvelous event.

"We had so many volunteer veterans giving their time and energies to put together a memorable memorial service," he said "Even the sun came out and shined down on us, considering all the bad weather of the past few days. It's so great when the veterans pull together to organize the event. It was standing-room-only."

Veterans from all branches of the service then rose as they heard the singing of their official service anthem before Chuck Perry gave the benediction, recalling the high price of freedom and the healing stories surviving veterans can all provide. Color bearers retired the flags, and Jody Henderson played Taps, bringing to a close a tearful and enlightening Memorial Day ceremony. Afterwards, guests enjoyed a barbecue hamburger lunch hosted by the VFW and American Legion.

Dutch woman has close ties to Sisters

By Jeff Spry, Correspondent

Tine Thissen, keynote speaker for this year's Memorial Day ceremonies, hails from the land of tulips and wooden shoes and vividly recalled her childhood years during the German occupation of The Netherlands during World War II. She was born in Maastricht in 1942, a 2,000-year-old town where Roman legions once forded the river Maas on their way to conquer Germany.

"We lived very close to the railway station, and because of that my father was afraid an accidental bomb might explode so he rented us a room at the Essers Hotel in the village of Valkenburg," she recalled. "It was much more rural and quiet there. Even after we were liberated in September of 1944 we still stayed there and got to meet many U.S. soldiers stationed in the hotel. That was my first connection to Americans and where my fascination with America began, all the pampering and kindness I was given by them as a child."

Her path to Sisters started with a summer teaching job in the Cascade mountains. In 1990, Thissen got a chance to work as a counselor with Camp Tamarack at Dark Lake, establishing many meaningful friendships in the Sisters area.

"I worked there for six summers and have stayed in touch with many friends and would come out and play with the horses."

For 15 years, Thissen owned a small equestrian school in Holland.

She still resides in her hometown, and recently sold the exact house where she was born with her sisters, where her family lived for 47 years. She'll go back to The Netherlands at the end of July and hopes to return to Sisters next summer.

"Too many friends, I guess," she said. "I just love it out here. It's the people and the wideness of it all and the snow on the mountains."