Marion woman ready to pass on flag tradition

CEDAR RAPIDS - For the past 40 years, Jerene “Jeri” Thomas has awakened at the crack of dawn on the weekend before Memorial Day to place flags on the graves of thousands of veterans at Cedar Memorial Cemetery in Cedar Rapids.

Thomas, 74, a longtime Marion resident and part-time Linn-Mar school bus driver, hopes that volunteers will not only help with this year's flag placement on Saturday but someone agrees to assume the responsibility for the future.

“I know the process of finding veteran's graves like the back of my hand, but I've been doing this for 40 years - I'm hoping to get somebody trained so that I can step away,” Thomas said.

Thomas began placing flags on veterans' graves at the cemetery in the 1960s and '70s with her late mother, Irene Roscoe. Thomas continued the tradition with her own children and fully took over the operation in 1995.

Thomas starts matching veteran deaths to nearly 6,000 burial plots in Cedar Memorial beginning in early April and finishes in mid-May. The process is not always easy, but Thomas said the task is important and the tradition needs to be continued.

“Putting the flags out has to be done, needs to be done, and I'm going to see to it that it does get done,” Thomas said.

She said the actual placement of the flags can take as little as three hours or all day, depending on the number of volunteers.

She's a little worried about this year because she has not heard from as many volunteers as in the past.

Volunteers can choose to help in areas that have as few as 125 flags to place, or areas with as many as 700 graves to mark.

“One person will read the names, another will put a hole in the ground near the grave for the flag staff and the last person will put the flag in,” Thomas said.

Individuals and organizations of all types are welcome to attend, but the project is not suitable for young children, Thomas said.

“When we're finished and Cedar Memorial has all the big flags up, it's just awesome to see,” Thomas said. “It's a sea of red, white, and blue, and I feel very honored to be a part of it.”

The work of Thomas and her volunteers is greatly appreciated.

“I see Jeri in here working tirelessly to make sure the veterans receive their flag,” Cedar Memorial President John Lingey said. “We assist her in every way we can, but she's the one who goes through the records and organizes volunteers for this - she is a remarkable woman.”