Memorial Day: Time Marches On...

The picture below is from Memorial Day 1962. My father and his cousin, Glenn Williams, are playing the fifes. The drummer is Bill Thorne.

It was the first year, ever, that Edward C. Williams ( 1880-1961 ) did not play the fife on Memorial Day at the Forty-Fort Cemetery since he began this longstanding tradition in 1891 at the age of 10. 

Fifty-one years later, I will be playing the fife for the first time without my father, Donald Williams ( 1930-2012 ), either by my side or watching from his wheelchair. I am slowly beginning to understand how my father felt in the weeks leading up to Memorial Day in 1962.

In Marching Order: Memorial Day 2006.
2005 was the last year my father was able to play the fife.