27th Annual Trinidad Memorial Ceremony
The 27th Annual Trinidad Memorial Ceremony will commence on Sunday, May 29,
2021 at 2 p.m. The ceremony will be held at Trinidad Bay Memorial Park at Edwards and
Trinity Streets in front of the Memorial Wall honoring those lost or buried at sea.
The ceremony begins with bagpipe music by Matthew Marshall. Dana Hope, Trinidad
Civic Club Co-President, will preside over the ceremony and will welcome guests,
followed by the flag ceremony and pledge of allegiance led by McKinleyville Boy Scout
Troop 99. The Rev. Nancy Streufert, Priest Associate, St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in
Arcata, will give the invocation and vocalist Samantha Day will sing “Amazing Grace.”
A representative from the Coast Guard Sector Humboldt Bay will address the
audience. A stanza from the poem “Terminus by Ralph Waldo Emerson will be read
by Patti Fleschner, Trinidad Civic Club Historian. Trinidad City Mayor Pro-Tem Jack
West will ring the Trinidad Head Lighthouse Keeper’s cottage bell. Janine Volkmar,
Trinidad Civic Club Recording Secretary, will read the 276 memorial names, followed
by a USCG helicopter flyover. Saxophonist Matthew Brogdon will play “Taps” to close
the ceremony.
The memorial, approximately 45 minutes long, takes place rain or shine with no
seating available. COVID protocols will be followed. To preserve the solemn
nature of the event, the roads surrounding the immediate vicinity will be closed from
1 to 3 p.m.
Beautiful wreaths are created by Lynda Moran, Trinidad Memorial Secretary
with flowers compliments of Sun Valley Floral Farms; sound services provided by
Dj-Kev; photography by Jack West.
The Trinidad Memorial Lighthouse was built by the Trinidad Civic Club as a replica of
the 1871 Trinidad Head Lighthouse and was dedicated at the historic location on June
26th, 1949. Earl and Neva Hallmark donated the land to house the 1871 Fourth Order
Fresnel oil lantern, the last coal oil burning revolving light retired from use on the
Pacific Coast, previously housed in the Trinidad Head Lighthouse. The United States
Coast Guard placed this lens in the Memorial Lighthouse when an electric lens was
installed in the original Lighthouse in 1947. The Fifth Order Fresnel Electric lens has
been on permanent loan to the Trinidad Museum since 2013, when an LED lens was
installed at the Trinidad Head Lighthouse. The LED lens is observable 20 miles out to
sea.
The 4,000 pound 1898 bronze fog bell was placed at the historic Memorial Lighthouse
site in 1949, from its previous location on Trinidad Head. This occurred when the fog
warning system on the Head became automated. Both the Memorial Lighthouse and
the Historic Bell are presently located at the Trinidad Harbor on property owned by the
Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria.
For information about the event, please call (707) 677-3655 or go to:
www.trinidadcivicclub.org https://www.facebook.com/trinidadcivicclub.org/