Veteran Norman White shares conversation on Wednesday morning with 10-year-old Charlie Proctor after the boy and his fellow students from Wyoming Valley Montessori School sang, read poems and distributed hand-colored cards to patients at the VA Medical Center.
Mark Guydish | For Times Leader
Montessori students thank veterans at VA
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Veteran Charles Remaykas, 86, leans in to get a better look at the hand-made card Wyoming Valley Montessori School student James Murphy, 9, is showing him. Montessori students visited and entertained veterans at the VA Medical Center on Wednesday morning.
Mark Guydish | For Times Leader
Music teacher Dirk Dekker accompanies Wyoming Valley Montessori School students on guitar as they sing ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ and ‘My Country, ‘Tis of Thee,” during a recent program held in honor of Veterans Day at the VA Medical Center.
Mark Guydish | For Times Leader
“Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and Coast Guard,” Tommy Belles said. “We thank you for your service.”
“You saved this country countless times,” Zaki Mian added.
“Thank you, families, for sharing them,” Norah Kazimi said. “I’m sorry for the lives that were lost.”
Tommy, Zaki and Norah, were three of 16 students from the Wyoming Valley Montessori School, all in fourth, fifth and sixth grade, who visited the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Wilkes-Barre Township on Wednesday morning.
Standing before a group of about 35 patients, volunteers and staff in a recreation room at the center, each student read a short poem he or she had written. The sentences above came from their poems.
Accompanied by music teacher Dirk Dekker on guitar and conducted by music teacher Lee Ellis, the young people also sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee.”
And they distributed thank-you cards made by the whole student body.
Explaining the school’s goal was to “educate the whole child,” not just academically but in “grace and courtesy and gratitude,” head of school Justin Kleinheider told the audience the students had come “to express our gratitude to you for being such wonderful veterans and serving our country.”
“It was nice,” 86-year-old veteran Charles Remaykas said after the performance, noting that seeing and hearing the children sing the patriotic songs reminded him of when he had learned those same songs as a boy.
While some students served cookies to the veterans, most of whom were old enough to be their great-grandparents, others sat down with their elders and had a conversation.
Veteran Norman White, for one, was pleased to hear the career ambition of 10-year-old Charlie Proctor of Dallas.
“I want to be in the military,” Charlie said.
Why?
“To serve my country!” he said with a smile.