SPRINGDALE -- Bonnie Cherry wants younger generations to know something about a little red flower and its connection to World War I.
Cherry, a retired teacher, was at the front of a classroom again Friday as a guest presenting a lesson on poppies to Kacee Scott's fourth-graders at Hunt Elementary School. It's a lesson she's given each year to Scott's classroom for about five years.
VFW Post 2952
The Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2952 Auxiliary in Springdale is interested in growing its membership. Auxiliary members must be close relatives of anyone eligible for membership in the VFW. The auxiliary meets the second Thursday of each month at 6 p.m. at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, 2898 S. 48th St., Springdale.
Source: Staff Report
Cherry's father, Fred Cruse, served in World War I in the Army for two years.
"He was in France and he came home," Cherry told the class. "But a lot of people didn't."
Cherry talked about the war. She explained the armistice signed between the Allied forces and Germany on the 11th hour of the 11th day of November 1918. Armistice Day, which later became Veterans Day, was established on Nov. 11 to remember the millions killed in the war.
She also gave out artificial poppies for each of the students. Poppies became a symbol of remembrance of the war because of Canadian John McCrae's poem "In Flanders Fields," which called attention to the poppies growing among the soldiers' graves in Belgium.
Cherry read the poem to students and showed them a picture of real poppies. She used to sell poppies when she was a little girl, she said.
"When you see that red poppy, you remember, that is to remember the men who died protecting us," Cherry told the students. "We owe these people that have served a lot of respect."
She also discussed Arlington National Cemetery and its Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, as well as the soldiers who guard the tomb continuously. That was one part of Cherry's lesson that stuck with Miles Watson, 10, a student in Scott's class.
"I think it's good that she does this, even though she's a retired teacher," Miles said.
Cherry visits Scott's classroom about once a month to give various kinds of lessons. She met Scott several years ago when Scott was teaching at Parson Hills Elementary School, where Cherry's daughter was doing an internship.
Cherry buys her poppies from the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2952 each year to give to students. Dorothy Cardiel, a member of the post's auxiliary unit, attended Cherry's presentation Friday.
Cardiel, who's also a retired teacher, said she appreciates Cherry's efforts to bring kids some history lessons, which she said are "kind of back-burner" these days in schools.
"In our generation, we knew the story of the poppy. But these younger generations don't," Cardiel said.
Cardiel and other post members stand outside local busineses around Veterans Day and give out the poppies they make to passing customers and ask for donations in return. The post uses that money to help veterans and their families in the community, she said.
Cherry taught for 28 years in Springdale, first at Westwood Elementary School and then at Jones Elementary School. She retired in 2002, but continued to do some substitute teaching until 2015, she said.
NW News on 11/02/2019