Have you ever passed a public building, seen the flag flying at half-staff and fleetingly thought to yourself, “I wonder who died?”
When Doug Nonast, a parent at Rosa Parks Elementary School, was walking his son to school one day, he took the time to ask fourth grade teacher Jim Anderson the reason why the flag wasn’t fully raised.
“One of my ‘hats’ is to serve as our school’s safety patrol coordinator. This includes being sure that our flag is raised and lowered by patrol kids each day,” Anderson explained. “The school district occasionally sends me notes requiring us to fly our flag at half-staff. This year, we have been doing it so very often. In fact, it was at half-mast so often, it started to lose its meaning.”
At his school in the Redmond Ridge neighborhood, Anderson decided to post signs so that parents and students could know the name of the deceased and if possible, see a photo of them, too.
“It really seems to make it real for the kids who stop to look and learn and be able to attach a face with the tragedy,” he said.
On the morning of June 8, Rosa Parks Elementary and other public buildings in the state of Washington flew flags at half-staff to honor Samuel D. Stone, a 20-year-old Washington National Guard Specialist from Port Orchard, who died when his vehicle overturned in Iraq.
“It’s so powerful. They can relate so much better. This is somebody’s brother,” Anderson pointed out as he affixed a sign with Stone’s photos to the flagpole at a level that was easy for the children to see. “I feel good about the fact that kids will stop and take a minute to connect. It used to be a President of the United States or a Supreme Court Justice,” that warranted the honor of a flag at half-mast.
“Now it’s a common soldier,” he added.
As students and parents headed into the school, many stopped to glance at the photos of Stone.
Anderson asked kids, “Does this guy look like a soldier? How does he look to you?”
One of the photos showed Stone in uniform, holding a rifle. Another photo showed just his smiling face.
“Give me words to describe this guy,” Anderson said. A young boy offered, “I think he looks happy.” Anderson responded, “Yes, he looks happy. I also think he looks really young.”
As students entered the building and began their school day, Anderson concluded, “I hope kids and our public stay aware of Americans who are serving and making an incredible sacrifice.”
Last November, Rosa Parks Elementary hosted a Veteran’s Day luncheon to honor community members who fought for our freedom or served in any capacity in any branch of the service. The school principal, Jeff Newport, is a veteran of Vietnam.
In addition to honoring fallen soldiers, another day this year, the Rosa Parks community honored a Spokane Valley Community College instructor who died in an accident at a bowling alley.
